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okay, so as many of you know, we were originally planning on a vegas elopement. then everyone and their dog wanted to come, and i was becoming one great big ball of crazy just thinking about it! so, after realizing that we had so many people that love us and want to be there for our big day, we started looking for venues at home. that lead us to our DREAM venue....
isn't it beautiful?!
so, here's the dress dilema.....
the first gown that i'd tried on that truly made my JAW DROP was the "fiorella" by maggie sottero :
the only thing i didn't like about the dress at the time was the volume in the skirt. since i was planning a vegas elopement i didn't want to have to worry about flying with a big huge dress. i didn't feel like this was a "vegas elopement" dress. it felt so much grander than that to me. i was only trying it on for fun after i'd finished trying on slimmer gowns and coming up empty handed. this dress made me feel like a QUEEN so i was determined to find something similar, but with a slimmer skirt. i loved the diagonal pleats and the one shoulder look so much that i went home on a mission to find a dress that had those features, but without the fuller skirt, which lead me to the melanie....look at the similarities :
plus with the slit up the thigh, i thought it would be the perfect dress for vegas!
the problem i have is that this gown doesn't feel appropriate for my awesome, over a hundred years old, filled with beautiful antiques, more formal venue. sure i could have the slit sewn up, but even still, i find myself wanting something more. more volume at the bottom...more drama to compete with that GORGEOUS staircase i'll be getting married on...and perhaps some lace...but i'm not positive about the lace.
i never ordered the melanie because i was waiting for the next trunk show in december so that i could get a better price. so, there would be no money lost by changing my gown now. i wish i had pictures of me in the fiorella, but the salon i tried it on at wouldn't allow photos.
but wait...i found yet another gown i like! this one is "meagan" by sophia tolli and if i chose this gown i would order it in ivory over gold, instead of the white in my photos...
this dress is nothing like i ever thought i wanted, yet when i tried it on it felt amazing! i am planning on paying for my own gown, yet when my mom saw me walk out in this one she immediately offered to help me out with it. she HATES the fiorella gown that i loooove. she says the skirt looks like a wadded up down comforter :-( however, when she saw me try on the fiorella, it was literally FIVE sizes too big so i think it was hard for her to see past that. she just kept saying that it was too much dress for me (i'm 5'2" 115lbs). i also want to note that my mom and i are best friends and we agree to disagree on a lot of things and that's okay with both of us. if i choose the fiorella or melanie over this gown, she's not going to make a big deal about it because she's awesome like that :-)
i'm going to another maggie trunk show in december. the last one i went to, all of the gowns were pretty much in my size, so i'm hoping that the fiorella will be there and in my size or close to it. i'll also get a chance to try on the melanie gown again, too.
if you're still reading this novel of a post, thanks for your time! i hope it wasn't too confusing.
i like the last one the best.
the slinky vegas one also looks very awesome on you, too -- but, to be brutally frank, with the side slit and figure-hugging-ness, it also looks a wee bit like a 1950s stripper outfit.
the meaghan still has a bit vintage flair (but it's not quite so, you know, girlie-mag pin-up). i really like the way the skirt on the Meaghan kind of kicks up a bit in front. looks great. goes with venue. a winner.
I love the first two and I dont' like the Meaghan at all! It doesn't show off your gorgeous figure the way the other two do. I love the movement in the bodices in the first two and since it goes with your venue, I'd choose the fiorella.
I love the first dress - it looks it was made for you. The second one doesn't do much for me. In comparison, it doesn't do you justice. It's hard for me to envision the color change - so that might make a difference.
That first dress is glam and sass and WOW - all rolled up together!
That said - I LOVE fiorella - I think it's amazing - and might be the perfect combination for you - based on how you are feeling about the 1st dress.
I love the first 2 as well. They are gorgeous and you look stunning in that 2nd dress. I wish we could see you in the fiorella. The fiorella looks like a dress that belongs in your venue!
Ooops, I think I voted wrong up top, but I'm really diggin the dress with the slit!
I agree w/ cheerful. The Melanie is just rockin on you!! But I also agree that it doesn't go with the venue. I love love love the Fiorella, and even though you don't have pics of it on you, since it's so similar to the Melanie, I'm sure it looks just as amazing!! I'm really not a fan of the third one at all =( I just don't think it shows your body off as well. I think the Fiorella was meant to be - it was the first one you loved but didn't go with your venue, and now it's the perfect one for your venue. Get it!! 
p.s. I actually did this same thing - we had planned on Vegas so I went with a crazy flowery, feathery, Vegas dress haha......once we decided to do it at home instead, I had to trade that baby in for something more "Virginia". hehe
I voted for Fiorella. And here are my thoughts:
I read your original post back when you first posted it and I thought, "wow, that dress is perfect for that girl." It's unique. I love the one strap on you, and you have great shoulders and back to pull it off! So really, I think you can totally pull off either Maggie dress. The Fiorella is a little weird looking in the back with that bunch of fabric under the right butt cheek, but will look awesome with the bustle (I've actually tried this dress on and didn't notice the butt bunch then, so it must just look different on the model). I think the vegas Maggie dress would totally work with your venue, even with the slit. It's not a hoop skirt and you don't get that belle of the ball look, but it is very elegant, classy and I think it would look antique enough with the venue. Also, your butt looks really good in melanie.
Pick whichever dress you feel most comfortable in. You will look fantastic in either!
I think the fiorella goes with the grandeur of the venue + it has the one strap/pretty sexy/ not at all boring look to it as well. Of course we also need to see you in it before jumping to conclusions. You are someone who can wear one-strapp dresses extremly well!!
I'm not too sure about the 3rd one though:) Nice dress, but you can do better.
Dear Bella Margot,
You look like a bangin sex kitten in the Melanie.
The Fiorella looks like everyone else's dress. I think I've seen some version of a dress that looks like that one about 1200 times this year.
That third dress is hideous. Sorry. HATE.
When I first saw the pics of you in the Melanie a few weeks ago this was my inner monologue:
"DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN."
The Melanie is YOUR dress. Don't fight it girl.
Love,
TexasLawGirl
I'm sorry, I just love Fiorella way too much, and I don't like the third one at all (you are way too cute and it's way too boring). Melanie is HOT, it's true, but you're right, it doesn't really seem to fit with your venue.
Can you do Fiorella and leave the crinoline at home for the elopement? Maybe it's not so poofy without it?
When I first saw pictures of you in Melanie I thought you looked absolutely amazing! You pull of that dress so nicely! I totally think you should go with the dress that you feel the most amazing in. If it doesn't go with the venue...so what. It's your day. No one is going to say "wow she looks great, but her dress really doesn't match this building that we are in." I'd love to see a picture of you in the fiorella dress. It has some of the same elements as Melanie so I think you will look beautiful in it and it can definitely stand up to the grandness of the location.
I agree with everyone on the 3rd dress. It just doesn't compare to the other two. I hope I helped!
@txlawgirl...hahahahaha i love you!
@marigold...we're not eloping anymore...we're getting married at the gorgeous old home i posted photos of :-)
Sorry...the original dress (Melanie) is the one. You truly look amazing in it. The others....the first one ,I agree with your Mom! The last is just not pretty to me,nor does it really 'do' anything for you.
I think if you want that 'jaw dropping' reaction from everyone,stick with the Melanie!
First off, you look SO amazing in the sexy slitted Melanie dress. Seriously, that dress is perfectly fit for you and you are perfect for that dress. Second, go with the one YOU love and that makes you feel the best.
I don't know what you'd look like in the Fiorella.... but if it hugs you like the first one you'll look just as amazing. Embrace your inner bride - no matter what she wants to look like!
Nevermind the venue, it will still go with it, completely... you're a bride!! If you were to match the venue, you'd end up with a big poofy number with pickups in it.
I agree with the others in that you look absolutely amazing in the Melanie. That said, I also agree that it might not be the best dress for your new venue. I also do not really care for the sophia tolli dress. I think you will look great in the Fiorella since it is so similar to the Melanie and I think that dress would be perfect for your new venue. But I think you should go with what you feel best in!
I love the second one on you- the one with the slit..I wouldn't worry too much about not matching the venue... I think it would be fine, but if your really worried then go with the first one, I don't like the 3rd one.
Good luck
You look amazing in the second dress and the third dress. I like them both equally, as a dress and how they fit you . They give two very different feelings however so I think you have to decide how each one makes you feel. However, know that they both look really good on you.
The second one is definitely more glam and vivacious and daring. If that's you're presonality, (as I think it might be), definitely go for it. I think there's a huge difference between looking sexy and looking cheap and I don't think the dress looks cheap at all. And there's nothing wrong with sexy.
the third dress is definitely more romantic and "bridal". Once again I love the way it fits you.
I don't like the first dress, Fiorella, at all. It's way too much dress for a petite person like you. On top of that, to agree with a previous poster, it looks like every other dress i've seen girls chosing this year.
Wow, you've got some diverse opinions. I saw your posts awhile back and I have to say the first two dresses I thought were stuuuuuuunnnnnnning, I literally thought wow. I'm really not digging the meagan, I like the off-white of the other dresses with your skin, and the meagan one I don't think does as good of a job flattering you.
hands down the fiorelli! and congrats on finding such a picturesque venue!
I vote Fiorella... but I still love your orignial dress. Fiorella keeps the flavor of the original (one strap) while being a bit more formal.
The Meagan doesn't seem to be the dress for you. Too boxy!
lady, i liked the dress you had before. But - i liked that for the vegas thing. It's still way fancier than my dress (so you know where i'm coming from), but your new venue - wow. You seem like you can pull off drama without being fussy so i say go for that Fiorella - it's pretty ridiculous, but on the right person and in the right place, could be just perfect. I'm not even a girly girl and i like that fiorella dress!
oh and i would like to add - you should definitely wear heels in that fiorella. Tall ones. You are on the petite side and I wouldn't want that dress to eat you alive.
AND i'd like to second DG's motion - that last dress doesn't flatter you like the others would.
I luuuurve your vegas dress on you, but everything I love about it is also incorporated in the first dress you fell in love with. So I voted for that. :)
The strapless one is not NEARLY as flattering on your figure (that might be because it's a sample though).
I love love love how the one shoulder accents your tattoo, and the way the shirring hugs your curves. You look amazing in the vegas dress, and I assume just as amazing in the dress that came before it. It suits your new venue beautifully, I say go for it!
Fiorella for sure!!! It sounds like this is your absolute dream gown! Plus, I know that it will look perfect on you because the Melanie was so flattering!! It definitely goes with your venue, you love it, you felt like a QUEEN, and it is gorgeous!
i just love the last one on you. I had loved the other dress on you too that you had posted a few weeks ago. But now this dress looks so young and fresh and poppy (in a good way)...
Fiorella ! but you look H-O-T hot! in the Vegas dress, I just think the queenly fabulosity of Fiorella is perfect for your gorgeous new venue!
I agree with the majority here. I LOVE the Fiorella HANDS DOWN, and as a Maggie bride myself, my second choice is of course the other maggie dress ... even though it is a bit Riskae, for that venue. Dont mind the "biggness" on the Fiorella, either, I'm 5'3 and everyone told me what a big gown I had for such a little girl, but once I put in on, all agreed it looked gorgeous.
The third dress (since you said be totally honest), well, there is just nothing I LIKE about it. The V cut in the front does, like DG said, make it look a bit boxy. Between that and the Mermaid fru fru bottom it completely robs you of your beautiful curves. I also feel like I'm stuck between the beading on either side of that washboard center rouching and can't get out back to your face!
I love Fiorella.
Melanie is an awesome gown, and in a color, great for a formal event. For a wedding though... only in Vegas.
I hate Meagan.
thanks girls! i think i've made my decision....FIORELLA!
now i have a question for anyone familiar with trunk show stuff. i have absolutely fallen in LOVE with the ladies at a local bridal shop (elizabeth's bridal in hurst, tx...think "truvy's" in steel magnolia's, but a bridal shop instead of a beauty shop!). they have the best prices in town on any maggie and the best service ever! their price for the fiorella is $1149 whereas i've seen it listed for as high as $1350. the place where the trunk show is being held in december has the dress for $1215, but they're offering 20% off during the trunk show, which would bring it down to $972. i would much rather give my business to elizabeth, but money is money. should i ask if she can match the trunk show price or would she be totally losing her ass to give me the dress for that much cheaper?
i say go for it!!! it doesn't hurt to ask!!! if she's able to do it she will if not than i guess you'll have to go to the trunk show!! but honestly i'm sure she can give you some sort of discount!!! and i gottta say you look hot hot hot in your vegas dress!!!! but good choice the first dress is amazing and looks quite similar to the vegas dress!!!! but just a little more glam!!!! can't wait to see it on you!!
I like the 1st the best and don't particularly care for the last...it doesn't look as much like you as the other two do...
OMG! Melanie! I looooove it on you. i think it *is* very dramatic - "old hollywood" with a twist. I would have been all over that dress if I had seen it.
Edit: oh I just saw you have chosen your dress. You'll look great no matter what, but I think I am obsessed with Melanie now.
tough one! since they do have a pretty decent price on it already, i'm not sure if they'd come down any more. but they could give you some kind of incentive with alterations or something else in house that wouldn't detract from their money, but give you more value. Good luck!
ok, A.) You. Look. GORGEOUS in both. B.) LOVE the glam vintage venue and dresses and your hair!!! C.) My vote is for the first one. It's jaw dropping. Really. Both are great, but number onbe is stunning.
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