Ohhh my wedding dress.
Where we left off, I had purchased an inexpensive dress. I loved it; my and my mom was doing the indecisive dance around it.
What to do? I considered the matter. In matters of family and conflict, honesty is always the best policy. A good approach would involve a sit-down, heart-to-heart discussion where each party can explain her feelings and come to an amicable compromise.
Taking all this into consideration, I decided the route I would take would be non-confrontational passive-aggression, whereby I uttered nary a word about my dress or dress shopping until forced to.
And it worked! I avoided bringing up the topic, until one day a month or so ago when I was at her house with Shoes #1 (the very big ones). I also had the matter of the sash to contend with: what kind and what color?
I tried on my dress with a couple different sash choices. First I tried it with a J.Crew belt that you likely recognize from the always-lovely Mrs. Cowboy Boot. It was pretty, but both my mom and I agreed that a wider, plain ivory sash suited me and my extremely short torso better. I have no photos of the latter, so I’ll show you the J.Crew belt. Don’t tell me you like it, because I’ve already worn the belt about a hundred times with cardigans and blazers to work!
And my mom finally conceded and announced she loved my dress! This is how the signal for dress-approval happened: She asked, “What kind of pearl necklace are you going to wear?”
Let’s deconstruct. The question was not, “Are you thinking about wearing a necklace?” or “How about some pearls?” The pearls were already implicit. To my mom, bride = pearls. Boom, done.
Pearls are my birthstone and I like them, and I decided this wasn’t a battle worth pursuing. So I tried on my mother’s very elegant single strand of pearls. They were pretty, but not very “me”. MamaChips agreed! She suggested adding on a pearl enhancer to make the strand funkier.
A what-now?
A pearl necklace enhancer. I’d never heard of it, but it’s just a pendant you clip onto a necklace. This is probably one of those common knowledge adult things that I somehow don’t know about, like pillow shams.
MamaChips suggested searching online for some pearl necklace enhancers. That’s what she entered into Google: “Pearl necklace enhancers”. And “pearl necklaces”. Both into Google and Google Image. I stood nearby, dying just a little and praying nothing inappropriate popped up on the screen.
If you are not giggling like a twelve year old boy by now, you are far more mature than I. And if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, wait until you’re home from work and look it up on urbandictionary.com—but don’t say I sent you!
Dirty business aside (29 years old, people! I am 29 years old.), we found some pretty contenders:
This vintage gold flower pendant was only $4 and I immediately regret not snatching it up—it was sold out the next day!
Sparkly but elegant!
But what I’m really eyeing is something like this:
I think cameos are so pretty! I like the Victorian vibe they give off. Are they even from Victorian times? I have no idea. But I like them. And one attached to a long string of pearls would complement my dress nicely, I think.
How did you choose what jewelry to wear with your dress?
This article was originally posted onWeddingbee.
