January 21, 2009

Now that I had a dress on order and shoes in tow, it was time to complete the look.

I needed a veil.

Don't get me wrong.  I had tried to get a veil.

I had looked at veils online and I had tried on veils at the place where I bought the dress and two different David's Bridal stores, but I hadn't found one yet that matched my vision... and my vision of how much it should cost.   The idea of basically a thin piece of fabric costing more than $100 that I'm going to wear for 20 minutes (it's a Protestant wedding after all) baffled my mind.  Couldn't they cut a layer of crinoline from my dress so that my mom slap a it on my head and call it a day?  That's essentially what I did when I performed as Sleeping Beauty at my 6-year-old birthday party!

When I made an appointment Monday to try on veils at a Denver location of Priscilla of Boston (again, going with the idea that they have a chain in Boston should I have any problems) they told me that their veils STARTED at $150, but that they could probably custom design me one for less.  This sounded intriguing, particularly when they told me they could have it ready in two days.  (I move to Massachusetts in a week and a day.)

The first veil that they showed me was the $150 "Blusher" model, although unlike the one at the David's Bridal stores, it had two tiers. But it wasn't finished on the ends.  And it went in front of my head and behind it, but not on the sides.  It was OK... but just OK.

The sales clerk then said that she was going to check the back for any veils in my price range.  While she was doing that, I found this GORGEOUS three-tiered veil with very fine edging that laid perfectly against my head and came to a point right above my rear.  I knew this was the veil... until I saw it was $390!!?!!

At this point, the clerk came back out again and said she had found a discounted, discontinued veil for $99.99.  It had a thicker cording (like the ones at David's Bridal) and the lowest tier went several inches below my rear.  If only it wasn't so long!  And the edging wasn't so thick!

That's when the clerk said that the people in alterations could cut it for me!

The woman in alterations came out and said she could make this $99.99 veil look like the $390 one -- for $150!  And it would be ready by next Thursday, when I already have to go to that area to get my hair cut.  And when I went to pay, I found out that I didn't have to pay sales tax... because it was coded in as an "alteration."  So how cool is that!  A $390 veil for less than half the cost!  I can't wait to see what it looks like! -- POSTED BY COLLEEN