Dress direction... need opinions of colors and things please

Okay I'm finally finally making progress on the dress. I found a Monique Lhuillier design I love but its from way back in the day... Which is fine since I want to tweak it quite a bit anyways. So I am having it made with my adjustments... i.e. different lace (maybe white rather than ivory) with a floral pattern rather than a paisley. I also do not want a beaded belt and I want to move a few of the seams, especially in the back since its quite low. I loved another look but it didn't really flatter my arms, rather than concealing it just drew attention to them. I have broad shoulders and big arms, they're not really "squishy" big but muscular big - its a love hate relationship, haha. Great for swimming, terrible for dress wearing! Anyways, this is the basic design, its ivory lace on ivory silk, what do you think?


Here's the next question - colors! So I'm thinking white lace over ivory for a slight contrast, but it will be very subtle not a yellowish ivory, more of a creamy, milky ivory. Then there is always the white on white look which this seems to show pretty well...


But they also showed me this option of a "cafe" colored silk that is kind of pretty but I wonder if it will be too dark against white lace?? This isn't a great example, but its the shade of this belt. I think it would make a lovely contrast with ivory, but too much with white??

And of course as a reminder, I'm trying to not clash, but not have a dress shade that looks sullied against this exact uniform (pics from whokilledkimmy :) how excited was I to see her pics, for ref she said her dress was ivory, it doesn't look dark at all compared to his uniform right?)

I know this is a really long and confusing post but thanks in advance for your help...four months to go and everything done but the dress so I'm kind of panic-stricken! THANK YOU LADIES!!

I love it! The dress is stunning, and all of your adjustments sound lovely, and I think the white on ivory will look gorgeous--just enough contrast to show the detailing of the lace, but still keep the crispness of the white to match your FI's uniform. I don't think you need the belt at all, unless you really want it...Go for it!

P.S. Be proud of your swimming shoulders and arms! You'll look fantastic. (muscular arms are better than bingo wings any day!!)

oooooo LOVE THE DRESS!I loved all the changes you described! I'm leaning towards the white on ivory..it'll really show off the lace! Not sure about the belt...but the cafe color you have on here is REALLY pretty, I'm with you that it might be too much against all white...but maybe not, I'm having a hard time imagining it...sorry not good with that sort of stuff! EIther way, I think the dress is gorgeous!!!! :):):):)

hoooray!!! finding "the" one is always the biggest challenge (maybe that's why i have more than one??? hahaha)

i like the idea of ivory and cafe color! however, either option sounds wonderful!!

lovely lovely lovely dress!!!

I love the dress, I think its beautiful. As far as color, I like either the ivory with white lace or the cafe with white lace. I think white on white would be too standard, if you know what I mean? Here is an example of a dress that has cafe silk. I know it wont be exactly the same, but probably similar? If I had to choose I would say ivory silk with white lace overlay. It would show the detail of the lace nicely and the colors would be soft and warm and not too in contrast.

haha chowbaby do I even want to ask what bingo wings are?

kohler, thanks for finding that pic! And I love the ghost chair she's sitting on... note to self, order some! I think you and soon2bmrs.napton have a good point about the white on white not showing the lace very well... I like the cafe because I think its such a sweet deep color but I'm pretty tanned from spending time swimming outside (except I have TERRIBLE tan lines because I'm naturally very pale but that's a whole different topic!) so I wonder if the cafe would just be too dark anyways, esp against the uniform... Maybe I'm making this harder than it has to be haha its just overwhelming!

Thanks dirty, yes, picking a flattering design is agonizing. I haven't actually tried this one on but I tried on similar cuts and have worn a lot of formal gowns so I have an idea of what looks okay and what looks HORRIBLE on me... so we'll see!

Thanks ladies for your feedback and believe me, the more opinions, the better because it lets me rest easy I made a good choice when I finally pick the fabric colors and everything! :)

I love the dress. I agree, I think you should go with ivory silk, white lace overlay. Especially if the ivory is more of a cream than yellow. It would be beautiful, expecially if you are tan.

Haha.. 'Bingo Wings': think when older, more sedantary ladies win at bingo and they raise their arms up and shout "BINGO!" and, well, their 'wings' go flapping...

How are you going to manage the swimmer's tan? My plan is to swim with a halter top suit (my dress is a halter) for long enough to swap out the perma-suit-tan.

Haha chowbaby, I had that cross back speedo tan too but I started swimming with a jcrew halter suit, its pretty comfortable because I got the wider straps. Normally I'm translucent white... its pretty bad! Start swimming at noon and you'll get a good tan fast :) I usually swim for about 45 min to an hour every other day (sufficient for a mini tri for now, still building endurance) and started building a tan after two weeks. My back and legs are really tan, my chest not so much but I put SPF 40 on my face and chest to prevent halter lines and goggle lines... mmm raccoon wedding pics! SPF the areas that are tanned already... like coloring in the lines, it helps to even out a little. Probably should start SPF'ing my whole self otherwise I will not look like myself! This is the suit, its pretty reasonable too:
http://www.jcrew.com/catalog/product.jhtml?id=prod68424161&catId=cat303234



Back to the dress, thanks a million ladies for your help! Any other thoughts welcome :) This is SO helpful! What do you think about the sash? I was originally thinking no sash and esp not beaded... I didn't want the sash to divide and truncate my torso. Do you think it needs a sash and if so what color? Ivory, white, cafe? Ugh so confusing!

I don't think you necessarily need the sash--I agree with you that it would break up the pretty long lines of the dress. I'd definitely go without! (just my two cents)

Thanks for the swimsuit rec! I'm planning on a good bit of aternoon swims to work out the tan issues. :)