Rehearsal Dinner Dress - a la Bahamas

So, the coolest thing happened when I finally picked out my rehearsal dinner dress...I'll start from the beginning to tell you all about it...

I went shopping with one of my bridesmaids to find the perfect rehearsal dinner dress, and we looked EVERYWHERE! It was sooo much harder to find the right one than I expected it to be. Perhaps I was just being extra picky...I dunno, but it just was. Anywho, I fiiiinally found a dress I loved at Neiman's - a white and yellow ombre dress with a big tie behind the neck. It was stunning and of course, it was like $350. Yikes! I wanted a nice dress since it was for such a special occasion but not $350-nice! Knowing there were only two of these dresses left, I regretfully put the dress back on the rack and waved goodbye, hoping I would forget about it.

I ended up going to Banana Republic a few weeks later and found a beautiful eggplant-colored, one shoulder, satin-y dress with a simple waist-tie that I thought just may be the perfect rehearsal dinner dress. The dress looked great on and was super comfortable and lightweight - exactly what I was looking for for my tropical event. Still, I couldn't stop thinking about the yellow ombre dress. I put the BR dress on hold and decided to think about it. On my way home, I decided to swing by Neiman's to try the yellow ombre dress on one more time to see if I really loved it that much more than the BR one.

When I got to Neiman's I went upstairs to find the rack where I had originally found the yellow ombre dress and as my heart sank, I realized it wasn't there. *sad face* I quickly asked the salesgirl if she remembered the dress and much to my hopes & fears, she told me it was on sale. I followed her as she went to the sale rack to see if it was still there and it was! But, wait...is it my size, I wondered, as nervous butterflies twittered around in my stomach. You'll never believe, but it was! Better yet, it was roughly 30% off - a much better fit for my budget. I knew it was meant to be.

Here she is:


See how the colors stand out so nicely:


This yellow & white ombre dress is by Alice & Olivia. I can't find the dress online, but you may have better luck w/ an in-store search. Since our rehearsal dinner was a beach bonfire, I paired my dress with simple metallic flip flops by J Crew.  Ahh...beautiful beach bliss.