Dear world wide web of weddings,

I have done some some browsing on etsy, mostly for halloween costumes of Max off Where the Wild Things Are, but I just discovered a whole other realm of awesome.

I have always said that my wedding would be Alice and Wonderland-esque. I dreamed up a dress years ago, never expecting to find one with enough tulle to satisfy my expectations. Well, eureka! A certain lady made a certain dress and she certainly nailed it! And, to my surprise, I found it on etsy!

The creator is Monique Martinez with her line called Ouma. She is based out of Phoenix, Arizona but ships worldwide for no more than thirty bucks. Ninety-nine percent of her stuff is with a full tulle skirt, although there are a couple exceptions. She does a lot more than bridal too. Her dresses are refreshing, light, feminine, unique and funky to say the least. She said it best, "I hope you find a dress that brings out the twirling princess in you." You stole the words right out of my mouth.

Etsy has a whole wedding section offering veils, headbands, jewelry, garters and everything in between. Honorable mention goes to Ms. Myra Callan with her twigs & honey collection of wedding veils. Browse her one-of-a-kind veils and boutonnieres at her etsy site or her website. Also, check out VO Handmade for her invitations, save the dates and all that jazz. I don't know how something can be refreshingly simple and intricate, but she did it!

Moral of the story: etsy it up! And thank you, thank you, thank you Monique for making my dream dress. I'll contact you when I find my dream man.

Dear Boston,

I swung by H-E-B this afternoon in need of some serious ben & jerry's and ended up leaving with the most recent Brides Magazine to hit the racks. I was clearly in need of some inspiration, which has lead to my long overdue post. Besides, I found out people are actually reading this! (Sorry, I've left you hangin' since September.)

Things I love about Boston: clam chowder, sail boats, and Priscilla. With all of the wonderful photo shoots and articles my new magazine has to offer, the Pricilla of Boston ad stuck with me the most. There is a certain dress that I couldn't find online, but after doing some browsing of her twenty-eight pages of gowns, I discovered one thing.

Priscilla, you are talented.

I would love to say what the designer is all about, but the collections are so far reaching, I couldn't put one word to it. They would satisfy the tastes of minimalists, romantics, and the girl looking for some drama. She also has tons of adorable pocket dresses, short dresses, over-sized bows (those are mighty popular this year!), every fabric, in every cut, for every woman.

Even better, the price range is as broad as the collection; ranging from under 2,000 to over 5,000. Even in this economy, most ladies still aren't willing to give up the dream dress, so hooray for affordability!

My roommates and I could not be more different, and we could all spot a Priscilla dress we love in ten milliseconds.

Kate is the glamour girl. She will end up with a form-fitting, sassy number that flaunts those collarbones, and somehow find a way to ride a bicycle home in it. Leslie is simple in the most delightful way. She will find a cut that hugs that butt she works so hard to maintain and there won't be a rhinestone within 10 miles. I do so much dress dreaming, I have no clue what I'll end up with. But, as I always say, forget its a wedding dress, what looks good on you? The answer: always, always, always high-waisted. The rest is undetermined.

Bridesmaid dress basically translates to ugly and unflattering. So prove them wrong with Priscilla's bridesmaid line. They are simple and in every color. I know in 27 dresses, they make the joke that you can make it short and wear it again, but I really think it's true this time! Besides, half of them are short to start with.

Boston already had my heart, but Priscilla just won me over.

Dear Dallas,

Some women's diamonds are bigger than others. Other women just throw the rule book out the window for their big day. So, look out Texans because two impressive designers will be rolling their trunks into the Neiman Marcus' Downtown Dallas location to showcase their Spring 2010 collections.

Monique Lhuillier will be on site September 25th & 26th. The designers gowns are always made for the woman looking for something different. Her spring collection is refreshingly soft, but her fall gowns are truly crowd pleasers. They have more detail, feathers, and volume than I ever knew I wanted. I've always considered myself pretty simple, but I've got to put one of those on my body. I can see why women rant over how spectacular she is. You can spot a Lhuillier gown for about a mile away and you definitely won't be forgotten. Isn't that what all brides want? She is a celebrity favorite, not only for her bridal, but also for her ready to wear designs.

Amsale (pronounced Ahm-Sah'-leh) will also be stopping by October 2nd and 3rd. Amsale is known for her elegant, simple and modern silhouettes. She designs a dress that any woman, with any taste, of any shape could put on and love. I personally love that she has created a little white dress collection. Many brides are switching out of their ball gowns and slipping into something smaller and a little more comfortable for their receptions. Plenty of brides are opting for the short dress altogether, which is a brilliant idea.

Designer Hellen O'Connor for Thurley also makes a beautiful little white dress. The designs are simple, usually shift dresses with lace and zero volume. Definitely for the bride that wants to be true to her taste. Thurley also has an array of other sweet dresses, check them out here.

I'll leave you with the pictured Monique Lhuillier gown. I had to disrupt my writing two or three times just to go back and look at them. They are simply that spectacular.

Dear Average Woman,

I was once told that JCrew was far from chic. Six months later, I still cannot stop obsessing over it. Perhaps I am defensive on the matter because I wish I were a walking JCrew catalog, but to me, they embody chic for the average woman.

The average woman can't afford to deck herself in Chanel or swing by Hermes to get a new handbag. (I will say that it is completely reasonable for the average woman to make occasional splurges on key wardrobe pieces that will last from season to season. Stacy London and Clinton Kelly have jobs because they know that exception to the 'I'm average' rule so well.) But, the average woman is a lot like me. While I have serious label lust, I also have about $100 bucks in my bank account and my sole source of income is my nannying gig. Dealing with children has taught me that women will most likely end a day with peanut butter on their shirt and have to do an unnecessary amount of diaper changes. It is far from glamorous. Lusting ladies out there like myself, can't wait until they save the cash to splurge on that designer dud they've been longing for. They want it, and they want it now. The answer? JCrew.

JCrew makes a woman look effortlessly put together and dare I say, comfortable. They create pieces that are just as classic and well-made as the big labels, except for a fifth of the price. They also don't limit themselves to certain products, if you can wear it, they've got it. Cashmere sweaters, sweet cardigans, silk tiered tops, leather ballet flats, suede booties, far from tasteless jewelry and a certain velvet blazer I've been eyeing. They've got everything from shorts you can hike in to attire for an entire bridal party. As you can already imagine, I'm obsessed. I wait for Jenna's picks (the creative director) every month just to see the things that I wish I could own too. If you thought that JCrew was just seersucker pants with lobsters on them, take another look.

Oh, and their bridal! I am an aspiring journalist, which basically translates to broke perpetually. So when my time comes to try on gowns, I will visit Kleinfeld to try on Carolina Hererra and probably end up getting mine from JCrew. They are classic, classic with a twist. They are for that average woman who lusted after the labels, but decided to feed her guests instead. I must say, their bridesmaid dresses are so refreshingly un-bridemaidy that I couldn't possibly even THINK about looking at David's Bridal. (Not that it ever crossed my mind.) The dresses shown are just a taste of what they've done. Make sure to look at the bridesmaid dresses! Your friends will thank you.

Dear Grocery Man,

At times, I wonder if the local grocery man scans my monthly wedding magazine purchase and wonders to himself why it is that I, a twenty-year-old college student, am consuming myself with such nonsense as marriage. Placing it in the plastic bag, I am sure he thinks to himself about the tragic train wreck my life is bound to become when he sees me fumbling through coupons to find that dollar-off-bagels deal I've been saving. I bet he is even more confused when he scans my ring finger on my right hand to find it completely bare.

Take a sigh of relief, Mr. Grocery Man, because I am not planning to tie the knot anytime soon. But I don't blame you. It is unfortunately popular among college campuses to find young, wedding mag-toting women who have yet to receive their bachelor's degrees, but already have the diamond. I won't go into too much detail on how I feel about that subject, but I will say that divorce statistics say that around 50% of people that marry, divorce. That's something to consider before you say 'I do.'

I believe that my love from weddings comes from a very different place. I have a Wedding Crashers outlook on weddings. It is the place where indulging in cake, screaming YMCA at the top of your lungs and getting drunk with grandma is not only normal, but expected. It is the one place where an entire celebration revolves around you and your other half, completely personalized from the cake to the decorations and the vows to the ever-coveted dress. Weddings scream style, but even when you commit bridal fashion suicide, nobody really criticizes you because it's your day. (Although, I've seen some absolutely terrible bridesmaids dresses that, if given a feather duster, could double as halloween costumes.)

As for now, I don't have a fiancé, nor do I have a boyfriend, or even a love interest. But, I do have a lot of friends and when they start getting hitched, I will surely be in attendance.

Until then, a girl can dream. The featured Kenley Collins masterpiece will find a way on to my body... even as a bridesmaid. Friends, I apologize in advance.