Cute for Less

Leading into this last weekend, I didn't have anything to wear to the wedding. I wanted to look nice since Michael was in the wedding and would be wearing a tuxedo. I went shopping a few times, but could never find anything I liked.

I take that back. There was a great Calvin Klein dress at Von Maur, but I couldn't see spending that much money on a dress.

Anyway, I resigned myself to looking awful and packed a dress that didn't make me look my best. I wasn't exactly looking forward to the weekend knowing I wasn't going to look as nice as I wanted to.

Before checking into our hotel on Friday, we made a stop at a large retailer. Not thinking about anything, I went browsing through the clothing section. After a few minutes, I hit the jackpot! I found an adorable dress on the racks. They had it in black and green. I am tired of wearing black all the time, so I went out on a limb and grabbed the green one and headed to the dressing room.

I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the dress looked on me. It went past my knees (I think my knees look funny), covered my farmer's tan, and covered up all the right areas.

Then I turned around.

Ugh, it didn't look as good from the back. I will be the first to admit that I have cellulite. Seeing that there were noticeable bumps, I seriously almost put the dress back on the rack. Then I remembered, hey, I'm a woman! They make a variety of magical underwear to help you look thinner and smoother and tucked away! So I grabbed my dress and headed over to the section of chunky gal miracle underwear.

The underwear worked it's magic and I looked really nice. With the bra I was wearing, I quickly realized that my undergarments cost more than the dress itself. Being a woman and looking good is expensive. And sometimes a little painful. The strapless bra I wore was the corset-type one that I wore on my wedding day. It held everything in. Of course, it was a bit tough to breathe at first, but I adapted.

Without further ado, here's the dress!

No, I did not wear flip-flops to a wedding! We were getting ready to leave when I realized that I didn't have any photos of me in my dress. I had already changed my shoes. Also, it poured down rain and was hot and humid, so the flat-ironing I did that morning before checking out of the hotel was ruined. Also, notice how my arms and face are nice and tan but my legs are ghostly white!

Here's what's really surprising. I bought this dress at Wal-Mart. I'm finding that they are starting to carry much cuter clothes these days. It's definitely refreshing. Here's a breakdown of cost for the outfit:

Dress: Wal-Mart, $15
Shoes: Payless, $20
Necklace/Earrings: Wal-Mart, $7
Spanx: Wal-Mart, $3
Bra: David's Bridal, $30