Dress Try-outs: Shopping Around

As someone who just purchased her wedding dress from a local boutique after visiting David's Bridal, I really really encourage you to visit multiple bridal boutiques.

First off, David's Bridal on a busy day feels like a dairy farm. We felt as though we were being herded through pens like cattle. And there constantly seems to be something that goes wrong, whether it is a forgotten appointment or a consultant doing double duty or teenagers shopping for their prom dresses.

All three happened Saturday morning. Seriously.

The consultant we had was much ruder than the other two times I have been to DB. I brought a list with me of dresses and she kept bringing out shit not on the list. I brought a list with me for a reason and I finally had to have my MOH look up the one dress on the list I wanted to show to my bridal party and my momma so we could demand it. It took forever, and then because she was doing double duty I ended up in dresses for sometimes 15-20 minutes. Are you kidding me?

I was not treated like one of a kind and made a come back appointment against my will. But it's not like I'll be keeping it anyway!

For the second stop, I had made an appointment at a local boutique that I have heard amazing things about and I was so very glad to have a spot after a mishap with another boutique that shall remain nameless.

Vera's House of Bridal is located maybe 5 minutes from my apartment and practically next door to the movie theater the fiance and I frequent. Unlike many local places, you can view the collections they have dresses from on their website, and even save a favorites list to take in with you. And perhaps the best thing - Vera, who began the business in 1964, is in her 80s and still comes to work every single day and manages the boutique very well.

Another thing I loved about their place is that there are actual rooms where you can try on your dresses with abundant seating, a special mirror to see the back of your dress - and they have plenty of bottles of water, which is great with my Sjogren's acting up lately.

After about 2 hours there, I walked back to the car having paid for half of a dress that will end up being probably two and a half times more than I was expecting to pay... but I'm also shopping local and getting amazing service, including free storage so I don't have to worry about wrecking my dress trying it on every day haha.

And now everything seems so much more real. I have a year and a half to go until the big day, and part of me feels like it isn't enough time - but another big part of me is ready to get this done and be Mrs. Schultz.

My precioussssss

Happy Valentine's Day

Cake Tasting

Mmmmm cake.

Cake shopping when you're gluten free can be quite a hassle. Going to wedding expos and shows is pretty fun, but the large majority of cake places (and a lot of catering places in general) unfortunately aren't equipped for gluten or allergen free events.

We found two locally here that can do more than one flavor that seem really really nice, so this post will be about tasting at the front runner, Bloom Bake Shop.

We live in a really progressive area and we like to support local businesses when we can, so Bloom is a natural choice. They're local, sustainable, organic, fair-trade - and have an AMAZING gluten free selection every day of the week... except for Sundays and Mondays but that's only because they're closed! They have a lot of gluten free things that are vegan too, which is important to me as I really do try to limit my dairy.

They also love to do cupcake weddings! They even have a tiny cake made to be the top of a cupcake tier. And their prices are not too shabby, especially considering we aren't planning on splurging horribly for anything.

When we got there tonight, we weren't sure just how it was going to go. Essentially what happened though is they brought us 2 plates of 4 cupcakes each, mine were all gluten free and his weren't, and we got to taste and talk to each other about it. In the end, I think we'll end up going all gluten free so I can eat allll the cakes!

We definitely need to try other places, but I really enjoyed getting to brainstorm a little with their main person and eating free cake. She was open to a lot of questions so I wish I had prepared some! But I've done a fair amount of research on them as well so maybe that was okay.

So here are some tips regarding cake testing!

• Ask questions - especially if you have an interesting theme or anything special you want to do with your cake
• If local and organic things are your preference, do your homework. Most bigger cities have at least one bakery willing to go the distance there
• And definitely do your homework when it comes to allergen issues and cakes. Bloom is not a GF specific bakery and so there is possible risk of contamination. However, they really do a great job to protect from that.

Next weekend, I head off to try on dresses with my nearest and dearest ladies!