The following is a guest blogging special from a J.CrewAholic, GingerSnap. You can check out her personal blog, GingerSnap’s Daily Fashion Post. She wore a J.Crew wedding dress when she got married last summer.
My wedding date was June 21, 2008 and I got married to my long-time sweetheart “Hubby.” Hubby and I met up at college at Florida State University where he was a server in my Sorority house. In the Greek system, Sororities often “employ” Fraternity guys to “serve” at their house (i.e. help with meals) and in return the guys get free food and hang out at the house. Well, I was a new initiate at the time and Hubby had just started working there. He was immediately smitten with me, but I was not “interested” in dating anyone at the time. Thankfully, he was persistent, and about a month later we went on our first date…that was six and a half years ago.
We dated all throughout college and spent countless game days cheering for the Florida State Seminoles, attending Fraternity functions, and just being college kids. I even became his Fraternity’s sweetheart (I was on the composite photo with all the boys and got my own “badge number”). When college was nearing to an end, we decided to move to the same Gulf Coast town together and pursue graduate school. Our second year into graduate school, Hubby proposed!
He collaborated with my Dad to make a “sailor’s valentine” – a small octagon shaped wooden box filled with seashells arranged in a pattern. Sailors used to make them for their loved ones while they were away at sea. He presented the valentine to me in March of 2007. When I opened the valentine up, it had written “Will You Marry Me” in seashells, with the engagement ring tied to a sand dollar on the inside. I immediately said “YES!”
Fast forward a year and three months later, and we were getting married I always envisioned myself in a simple, elegant dress (nothing too frilly or lacey). I immediately was drawn to J.Crew dresses because of their clean lines and simple design. I was particularly taken with the “Jenelle” dress because it was very reminiscent of the dress Caroline Kennedy wore to her wedding. I ordered it from the sales associate in a Petite 0, and when it arrived it fit like a glove! No alterations needed, it was like the dress was made for me. It was a sign.
We got married on a rainy summer Florida day in June, and the wedding was perfect. We had our ceremony at a little chapel by the beach and our reception at a Country Club right on the water. It was picturesque and perfect in our eyes. We still joke about the rain on our wedding day…you know how they say rain is good luck?, well any more “luck” and we would have had a hurricane on our hands!
Overall, I was beyond pleased with the wedding and was happy to have had such a simple, beautiful dress to get married in. Sometimes the most beautiful things are the simplest…and boy did I feel beautiful.
Very exciting new for any J.Crew brides or brides-to-be! J.Crew will be hosting a trunk show featuring the J.Crew wedding dresses from their 2009 Collection.
For two days, Friday, April 25th and Saturday, April 26th, you can view the Wedding Collection at the J.Crew store located at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
Here are the details for the event.
April 25th & April 26th
9:00 am to 11:00 am
J.Crew 30 Rockerfeller Center
New York City
212-765-4227
To attend this event, please the J.Crew wedding specialist at ashley@jcrew.com by Wednesday, April 22nd.
Image from early J.Crew catalog featuring the Wedding Collection
J.Crew is also considering opening up a boutique in New York City just for its Wedding Dress Collection. How exciting! And don’t forget to the view the J.Crew wedding windows in the post, “J.Crew Wedding Store in NYC?“.
Are you a J.Crew bride who is excited about this event?
Update: This is the not first time J.Crew has hosted a Bridal Trunk Show. Back in 2004 when the company first decided to venture into the wedding dress business, trunk shows were hosted in their New York and Chicago offices. Sales at J.Crew were sagging and the Wedding Collection was a hit.
J. Crew [wedding dresses are] relatively simple and streamlined, like the brand’s clothing overall, with a minimum of beading and lace. “We like to think of our line as classic, clean, and playful,” Lyons says. “Many brides-to-be want to focus on summery, brighter colors — like a hot pink dress with coral shoes.” The line also features a wide variety of deep jewel tones for fall and winter weddings, complete with both longer and dressier gowns, she adds. (Click here for the rest of the article.)
Tammy of the website, Oligoville.com, is guest blogging this post about the J.Crew wedding collection. See her post below. You can also follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ttrujillo
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something J.Crew? It’s the most popular wedding time right now, where brides-to-be are busy making plans for their spring and summer weddings. One place not to over look, is nonetheless the fabulously chic and not budget-breaking, J.Crew.
J.Crew’s Bridal Collection is not too well-known to the average bride. So with all the choices these days, why J.Crew? First launched in February 2004, J.Crew has recently become one of the “must go-to places” for bridesmaid dresses in 2009 and recently highlighted in W Magazine’s January 2009 issue, and not to mention our breaking news of the rumored NYC store.
You can mix and match different styles of dresses, but all coordinate to one palette making the perfect bridal party accommodating each party member’s unique style and shape. And the best part is….everyone will look cute, chic, and be comfortable. These are must-have bridal dresses that you can accessorize-up and wear more than once.
We can honestly say that you can’t go wrong with any of the choices. We picked up our top favorites that we can wear as a bridesmaid, out on the town, or a Sunday brunch. Which is your favorite? Whichever you choose, it’s for sure that you can say “I do” to J.Crew.
According to Women’s Wear Daily, J.Crew may be opening up a store in New York City that features its bridal collection. I think that this would be a great move as I get so many inquiries from readers, wondering if any of the stores carry the items from the Wedding Collection.
At this point, they do not, but they may in the future.
Below is the excerpt from the article at WWD.
But while the company is proceeding with store openings slowly, it’s by no means sitting on the sidelines. In an interview after the conference call, Millard “Mickey” Drexler, chairman and chief executive officer, said the retailer is opening stores in select small affluent cities tailored to individual locations.
J.Crew is also working to develop a separate identity for its men’s business. The company opened men’s-only stores in TriBeCa here and Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., and is contemplating more. Drexler also has his eye on the bridal business; the firm already offers gowns, bridesmaids and flower girl dresses in its catalogue and online.
“A bridal salon store is something we’re talking about,” he said. “We have such strong demand and to reinforce that with a store in Manhattan would be great. We’re looking uptown and downtown. If the right location came up, we’d do it.”
Below are some photos of the windows at the J.Crew store on Madison Avenue. When I walked by and saw this, I thought the store carried bridal gowns, but they did not. I was a little disappointed that this window was rather misleading.
If you have been following this blog for some time, then you should know that I absolutely love the Daphne dress, a gorgeous wedding gown that J.Crew debuted back in January 2007.
I have written about the Daphne dress from J.Crew in the following posts.
And I even got to see the Daphne dress live in person when I attended the J.Crew sample last week. To read my review, please click the post, “Review of J.Crew Sample Sale.”
I was recently contacted by Katie, a reader who wore the Daphne dress on her wedding day. Her story, along with stunning photos, are below. Her photographers at Retrospect Studios did a great job. Enjoy!
When I first got engaged, I had absolutely no idea what kind of wedding I wanted.And with just a mere eight weeks to plan (that’s right…eight weeks), I knew the very first thing I had to do was find the perfect dress.
The J. Crew Daphne wedding dress was only the second dress I ever tried on.My mom found it online when she came across J. Crew’s wedding & parties collection and I was instantly enamored.So I ordered the dress (size 0) and it promptly arrived on my doorstep within a week.
At the risk of sounding unbearably cliché, the moment I tried on the dress, I knew it was the one – it was exactly what I never knew I wanted and it fit like a dream.So I began to plan my wedding around the dress: casual yet chic, simple yet sophisticated.
The dress is made out of silk organza and is more of an ivory hue than true white.It came with a raw hem so it could be altered to the correct length.The neckline plunged quite low on me, so I had an insert that was made from the extra fabric taken off the hem sewn in.Incredibly, those are literally the only alterations I had to have done.
Because I didn’t want to detract from the dress and to further integrate the casual tone I wanted, I decided not to wear a veil.Instead, I opted for crystal and pearl hair pins.I also decided to wear simple, white ballet flats (a wise decision, considering I was on my feet for nearly than 12 hours!).One of my favorite qualities of the dress was the fact that it was so incredibly light; I wasn’t weighed down by a heavy, bulky dress and I could move freely and comfortably (a must if you’ll be dancing).
Aside from the fact that I married the love of my life, my hands-down favorite part of my wedding was my dress.If I had a dollar for every sincere compliment I have received about my dress, I probably wouldn’t have to work!And I am not ashamed to admit that I bask in all that praise; it was certainly one of the more unique wedding dresses I have seen and I absolutely adored it.
The Daphne dress was available in a size 0 at the sample sale. I am not sure if it was sold and what Clothingline has done with it. If you are interested, pelsae email jordan@clothingline.com to find out more.
Also here is the Daphne dress on eBay.
And here are some other J.Crew wedding dresses that are currently on their website.
Many brides have been looking for the Daphne dress that J.Crew introduced into the wedding collection back in January 2007. I wrote about the dress in the post, post, “The Coveted Daphne Wedding Gown.”
In that post, a bride named Jamie contacted me to let me know she had the Daphne dress hand made for her wedding day. I posted her pictures in the post, “A JCrewAholic Gets Married in the Daphne Dress.”
Today, the Daphne dress popped up on eBay. A seller named Paisley Petunia is selling a size 0. (The same seller also has many other wedding dresses from J.Crew. Click here to see them.)
Good luck to anyone who wants this dress for big day!
Very exciting new for any J.Crew brides or brides-to-be! J.Crew will be hosting a trunk show featuring the J.Crew wedding dresses from their 2009 Collection.
30 Rockerfeller Center
