A Day of Dresses, Continued

After "lunch," our next stop was Allegria in Belmont. It had been recommended by several people as a fabulous boutique, and we weren't disappointed. The price range of dresses at Allegria is from $1,500 to about $6,000 and there were many gowns to choose from. However, since I'd already found "the One" at Vows earlier that day, Mom and I were both just there to have some more mother-daughter bonding and fun :-). Allegria doesn't allow pictures (as our consultant said, "because the designers would mind") so I just have some exterior shots below:

Allegria also has a full range of bridesmaids and flower girl (though not Mother-of-the-Bride) dresses. (fun fact: It is also next to one favorite high school hangout, Rancatore's Ice Cream. It's strange how I never noticed anything wedding-related until I became engaged!)
Final wedding dress stop of the day: the famous (some might say infamous!) Yolanda's:
Yolanda's is a full-service bridal salon and it has everything from dresses for the wedding party and mother-of-the-bride to an in-house cake company (a representative of whom gives people free samples of cake as they leave!), a gym, a hair and makeup salon, and a pool. It even had a section for "getaway outfits," expensive suits to wear on the plane to one's honeymoon in paradise (or Paris!). Our consultant, Darlene, led us to our own changing room (very white!), asked me about my preferences (and looked at magazine photos I had brought) and headed off to select the first round of dresses. After trying on three rounds of dresses in the "under $4,000" range, I really liked these two, below:
Yolanda's doesn't allow photos so I snuck this pic while Darlene had stepped out! Bad karma, I know...The first dress is a Monique Lluihilier (sp?) with a beautiful strapless alencon lace bodice and full tulle skirt. The second is a "fit and flare" Paloma Blanca, on which I loved the raw silk deep green ribbon with brooch! There was also an Amsale duchesse silk trumpet-style dress with a strapless sweetheart neckline that (surprisingly!) looked great on me, and that Darlene asked me to try on just for fun. It made me feel very proportionate! However, that one dress at Vows was the dress to beat, and none of these came close!

We ended our delightful trip to Yolanda's (Darlene was so sweet and genuine, and none of the horror stories about snobbery came true in our experience there!) with a view of the beautiful wing of flower girl dresses (though there is still no flower girl possibility for the wedding!). Aren't the dresses beautiful?