Not THE Dress, Just all the Rest!

As a celebrity gossip aficionado, I spend a fair share of my day on entertainment websites like Perez Hilton and The Superficial. This is partly due to an unwavering nosiness that requires me to be all up in other people's biz-nass, and partly to see who is dating whom in the celebrity sphere. Neither of these reasons has to do with fashion, but often, these sites are also where I pick up on new trends in clothing.

This was really helpful when it came time to consider what I'd be wearing to wedding celebrations. We've got quite a lot going on with my bridal shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner/welcome cocktail reception and post-wedding brunch. Y'all know how much I dreaded the idea of shopping for my wedding gown so you can imagine the stress of needing to find several more!

I'm pretty traditional in the sense that I really love the idea of making the most of my bride-ness and wearing white to all of our parties. I think it's cute, and quite frankly, I generally never wear the color white because of its affinity to staining, and because white clothing tends to blend in with my sexy, pasty white, Irish legs.

Despite the shortcomings of my natural skin pigmentation, I haven't been able to shake the vision of this:

Image via PopSugar.com

 This dress literally makes me shiver. I.LOVE.EVERYTHING.ABOUT.IT. Period. It's so delicate and beautiful. Rockin' this baby with a nude heal is all I can think about! Now, this is the Notte by Marchesa White Lace Dress and costs roughly roughly $700-$1,000. Not gonna happen. However, The Budgetista has some super swanky alternatives for a fraction of the cost:

Slash Neck Lace Dress. Image via ASOS - $80.57

Lace Dress with Scalloped Neck. Image via ASOS - $80.57

Totally cute, right? And super affordable. At this point I'm on the hunt for a shower dress and rehearsal dinner/welcome cocktail reception dress for the night before the wedding. While I'd love to show up to our post-wedding brunch looking flawless and fresh with a new I'm-still-the-bride outfit, more than likely I'll be in jeans, exhausted, with smeared eyeliner, crazy hair and one helluva hangover.

Macy's has been a great resource for dresses. They offer frequent sales with additional discounts for card-holders. Most of the dresses they have that are appropriate for these parties are on sale for under $55, like this pretty number:

One Shoulder Dress with Rose Detail. Image via Macy's. $46.99

As you can tell, I'm more excited about finding these dresses than I was about my gown and I am fighting my shopping trigger-finger to hold back on making impulsive purchases until we're a bit closer to the date and I've lost a bit more weight.

What are you wearing to your bridal celebrations? Have you already purchased your dresses? Are you going a more traditional route and wearing white or not?