the story of us

I was going to write about my tuxedo story but Sarah already beat me to the punch. I’ll instead follow the template Sarah used for her Bridal Attire review and try not to re-tell the story aspect so much.

I had my tuxedo made to measure at Waxman Formal Attire by Billy Waxman. At first the entire process of having a tuxedo tailor made felt very overwhelming and intimidating. Aside from the inspiration picture that I had shown to Billy, I didn’t have a clue about the other little details that go into a tuxedo. But this is what totally made the experience for me. I learned so much about how to wear a suit/tuxedo.

The Jacket
The focus of the jacket is on the narrow shawl collar lapels. It’s what makes the tuxedo so unique. We knew that this would be the most complex feature of the jacket and up until the day I saw the finished product in person, I was worried that the collar wouldn’t be narrow enough. Thankfully, Billy did an amazing job. It turned out just the way I wanted it. The single button is set higher, which I like, because it avoids the “belly” that you often see in more traditional shawl collar tuxedos. The jacket is perfectly slim fitted with double vents and houndstooth interior lining.

The Pants
The tuxedo pants are low-rise, flat-front with a single silk braid covering the outer seams. Classic.
The Shirts
Based on the inspiration picture, I thought I would just be wearing a plain white shirt with a silk skinny tie. Billy had me try on a ruffled tuxedo shirt with a silk, cigar-style bow tie which left me with a choice to make. The plain shirt was safer but the ruffles were more edgey. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to pull off ruffles but I ended up choosing both. In the end, I actually think I like the ruffles better!

The Shoes
For the ceremony I went more formal wearing a pair of Steve Madden dress shoes with th e ruffled shirt and bow tie. For the reception I went more casual wearing a pair of black leather Chuck Taylor’s with the plain shirt and skinny tie.

Overall I was extremely pleased with how my attire turned out. I’d definitely recommend Waxman Formal Wear to anyone who is serious about getting a tuxedo/suit made to measure. Billy went above and beyond to make the perfect tuxedo for me. He walked us through the entire process giving his honest opinion along the way. Like I said at the start of this post, I learned a great deal from this man. Amazing experience. Amazing tuxedo.

I would recommend them to anyone and everyone. They offer amazing service. We had purchased my wedding gown, a mother of the bride dress as well as our flower girl dress.

We didn’t purchase them all at the same time, but since there was supposed to be a Maggie Sottero trunk show sale the week after I purchased my Maggie Sottero Fiorella gown, they offered to give me 10% off the purchase price anyway. I was happy with what I paid for this dress and the way it looked.

It was a last minute decision to go to here to purchase my mother’s and the flower girl’s dress. I had no idea, but mother of the bride dresses are super expensive. I’m talking about hundreds of hundreds of dollars expensive. However, Bea Shawn Fashions always has items on sale. And the mother of the bride dress happened to be one of them. Since it was about a month and a half or so to the wedding, we had no choice but to purchase a dress they had in stock/sample. Both of the dresses were still more than we wanted to pay, but that’s bridal for you… But I do have to mention that my mother and the flower girl both looked amazing.

What I really love about them is that they do alterations for free. So taking in my dress from a bridal size 10 to a bridal size 6 and adding a 4 point under bustle would have cost me $600, but I paid nothing. And to top it all off, I came to do my fitting the Saturday before our wedding. Well, it is a slow season for weddings, which is probably why I was able to have my dress done so quickly.

As for the flower girl, I wanted a matching purple bow with her dress, so I purchased the fabric and they made us one for free. But I don’t think we got the fabric back, so I think we’re even.

One thing I’d recommend to future brides is to NOT purchase your dress super early if you are planning to lose a lot of weight/inches AND if you don’t have to order early. I had purchased my dress in February 2010 (1 year before the wedding) and although they were able to do wonders with it, I did feel that the hips were a little larger than they should have been. I was told it was to give me room to sit down, but I think it’s because taking in that part of the dress would have ruined the look of the dress. There was pleating that met at my side, so taking it in would have been a nightmare. On the other hand, maybe if I did order smaller, it wouldn’t have looked the way it did.

Overall, Bea Shawn Fashions has a great selection, amazing service, and decent pricing (I’m pretty sure they are at par with all other bridal shops and would price match). I am very happy with our purchases and for any future formal occasions, I would shop there again. Well I know my mom will be for sure. We’re going to a wedding in March next year and she’s already looking at dresses.

So for the next couple of days/weeks I’ll be posting up our vendor reviews, the rest of the DIY projects I was keeping a secret, as well as some sneak peak photos and some overviews of the day.

Dennis and I had some time to reflect, and the only only things that continue to irk us was how his bow tie and tie weren’t always sitting properly in some pictures and how my necklace was off centre at the reception. Since that’s the case, then I think we had a pretty successful wedding. Oh wait, did I mention the priest called Dennis, Michael? LOL, actually that’s something we’ll always remember and will have a story to tell, but I’ll save that one for another post.

So bear with me… It’s going to be a long few weeks…