Life Lately: Wedding Festivities

March and April were busy, but fun. I spent two long weekends traveling to celebrate a college friend's wedding, once for her bachelorette and then for the wedding itself. It was my first time attending a wedding for someone in my immediate age group, and it was lovely. I even got a little teary during their first dance and during some of the speeches.

For the bachelorette, we had a low-key weekend in Newport, Rhode Island. It's an extremely cute town right by the water, though a little on the quiet side in winter. Some of the more well-known attractions in the area are a number of luxurious Gilded Age summer homes. We toured Marble House, which was originally owned by members of the Vanderbilt family. 

The wedding was in Grand Cayman, at the Westin. The beach was gorgeous. As someone born and raised in Northern California, where the ocean is far too cold to swim in without a wetsuit, I still get excited when I go to beaches where one can actually swim. Sadly, I wasn't really able to get any photos from the day of the big event: it takes a surprisingly long time to get the bride and the bridesmaids ready!  The wedding was outdoors at a gazebo, and that beach was the backdrop for the ceremony and many of the photos. 

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The bridesmaids wore the J. Crew Pamela dress in dusty shale. I went with a regular rather than a petite size for the dress, which in hindsight, was not ideal for a festive occasion. Regular dresses and skirts are typically a good fit for me, especially when it comes to my work wardrobe, where I prefer my skirts on the long side, hitting at the knee or close to it. That fit preference wasn't as well-suited for a cocktail-length bridesmaid dress, however, and the fabric part of the bodice also sat a little low. (For fit context, I'm 5'3'', but typically prefer regular sizing for tops and jackets because of the width of my shoulders and length of my torso. Being busty also makes petite tops and jackets difficult.) I would go with the petite sizing next time.

The dress has some boning and support in the bodice, though not enough for me to go without a bra. I was concerned about the difficulty of finding a strapless bra as I'd never previously owned one that actually fit. I tried a few designs, including one from Panache that was just really off in the sizing and one from Fantasie that was super uncomfortable because of the shape of the wires and how high they go. I ultimately went with the Wacoal Red Carpet bra, which proved to be a good fit in my usual size and quite comfortable for an all-day affair. The coverage was a little full and it peeked out a bit over the bodice of the dress, but because of the lace illusion neckline, it was still covered up.

I had a fun and relaxing time traveling for my dear friend's wedding, and I'm also looking forward to my next trip in a few weeks to see my and K's family. I felt a little awkward, work scheduling-wise, about taking so many trips in fairly quick succession, though early May was the best time for me to travel to Taiwan and there wasn't much I could do to move that travel date and I also kept it on the short side for an international trip that far away: just two weeks! I'm hoping to get back to a more regular posting schedule once I get back.