Michael Bates Brandon Keilen wedding

[mango_fandango]

Oh man, while it could have been better, judging from some of the pics on the site, it could have been much, much worse.

Make sure you get to the bottom:

daintyjewells.com/bridesmaids-dresses-1/

PS Nellie, this is the site where the dresses were purchased.

Those dresses all look so bloody similar. All lacey, all with lots of tiers. You can barely tell them apart.

Good grief, those stripy white-and-brown ones!! The long tiered things are not great, but at least they are in a kind of vintage style and are slowly growing on me, apart from the brown ones. And even then, the brown ones aren't too bad, I guess... But the white-and-brown striped ones are AWFUL. Who the heck designed those??

The tiers are way too OTT IMO.

[zadie]

Ok about the dress (now that I've seen a better pic of it). If it was a strapless dress, they did a good job building it up. It looks like there are embellishments over the bust area. Much better than what they did for Erin's dress.

The Ariel type bra in the dress is a little strange and I don't think it works with the dress (strapless or not). It just does not look like it belongs there. Maybe it would work with that over the top designer on Say Yes to the Dress who designs raunchier dresses as a cutout dress.

Hmm. I stil can't see the dress that well but from what I can see I still like it. I think the rouched area is pretty and I think it blends in fine. Am I missing something? Anyone want to point out where you can tell it's altered?

Since this is the internet and things can sound wrong, I'm not saying this to be snarky or make you "prove" you're right or something. I am just curious and would like to see the shitty alterations if I can lol.

[FoxyMoxie]

The pink dresses are pretty. The same in a chocolate brown or bronze colour would have been so much nicer than the beige tiered horrors.

I'm fine with a dry wedding - I'm uncomfortable around drunk people, and also some people have relatives/friends with problems with alcohol so a dry wedding makes sense for that.

[justmy2cents]

I wonder if this means we might see Michael(la) wearing pants sometime in the near future.

I have my doubts about Michael wearing pants but she could always surprise us. There's a picture on Amber's Instagram of mama Keilen in pants which would explain why almost all of the sisters have been pictured wearing them.

[Acalissi]

New photos :)

[karen77]

Well, I guess one thing a fundie bride never has to do is to tell the bridesmaids how to do their hair! It'll always be the same!

[Guest LilaFowler]

The bridesmaid's dresses are pretty, but Erin and Kelly's dresses are not my taste. Neither are the flower girls' dresses. And I hate Brandon's brown suit.

Jana is so beautiful. Can't wait for her wedding, if that's what she really wants.

[SassyPants]

My only complaint about a wedding, is the one I attended of a good friend from HS. It was many years ago and my Irish Catholic friend married a fundamentalist. So the wedding is in a very hot part of the country, and during the summer. Obviously, no alcohol or dancing, although there was a sit down meal. But, they ran out of lemonade and iced tea and ice...so the choice was warm water. I was 6 mos PG and had driven 4 hours to attend. In the middle of the reception, an uncle of the groom got up and gave a fire and brime stone speech. After the event, my hubs said, well, I don't think we will be spending much time with these folks. It was awful. LOL.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

I was just thinking about how glad I am that the most of the fundie girls have ditched the perm. Could you imagine those wedding photos with 17KAC perms on each of those girls?

[Diana]

So true about the hair, thats why i think Michaela should have done something with her hair, an updo or something. This is too simple, and exactly the same as every other girl attending.

[slickcat79]

Those dresses all look so bloody similar. All lacey, all with lots of tiers. You can barely tell them apart.

I think she only has like 3 dress styles (which are all similar) in different colors, that I guess can be semi-customized with a sash or something. The website is not very well organized :?

[Mama Mia]

I have my doubts about Michael wearing pants but she could always surprise us. There's a picture on Amber's Instagram of mama Keilen in pants which would explain why almost all of the sisters have been pictured wearing them.

Truthfully, if Michael suddenly shows up in pants - or short skirts, or sleeveless- I'd be worried she was being pressured to conform to her new environment. She has always dressed far more conservatively than her sister's or even her mother.

[SolomonFundy]

People can be ass-hats at weddings and receptions. I attended a lovely, small ceremony and reception for a college friend about 10 years ago. She and her husband were vegan (they may have already become raw foodies at that point, but I can't remember for sure). They provided a buffet of food for the guests, which included a dish that contained chicken as well as a casserole that contained eggs. These were prominently labeled and offered as an extremely generous concession for the guests who just couldn't bring themselves to touch any of the strictly vegan food.

There were two guests, a male and female, who LOUDLY complained about the "lack of food" throughout the reception. They basically didn't shut up, and the male even threatened to order a pizza. They weren't there together, either! They came with other people and were just both bastards about the food to the embarrassment of the other guests, including their respective partners.

It disgusted me. Since then, my opinion of weddings, receptions and showers has become pretty simple: if you can't be grateful for whatever you are offered, then don't attend.

[Escapefromfundiedom]

I'm a tea totaler. My other tea totaler friends and I agree that we manage to do some pretty stupid and clumsy things WITHOUT the influence of alcohol so we are better off with our diet coke and iced tea. Also, my mouth tends to get me in trouble when I'm completely sober so...again...I can't imagine myself even a little tipsy.

Just throwing this question out there: If you were invited to an event that was CLEARLY a non alcoholic event, would any of you stand around outside and pour rum into the soft drinks that were provided? We did have that at our reception and I was pretty insulted. Basically I felt like they were telling us that this party was so lame they could only get through it with a little alcohol, while inside the young people were having a blast! Plus, if the venue's coordinator had seen it, it would have completely tainted the relationship I'd built with her for a year of planning. We'd signed a contract agreeing there would be no alcohol on the premises and these people kind of threw us under the bus with their actions, in my opinion. Thoughts?

We had an alcohol-free wedding because two of DH's brothers are total alcoholics and had a tendency to cause scenes when drunk. We had it on family property and made it clear that we really didn't want any booze around. I was pretty pissed when I discovered both BIL's had brought their own beer (but did NOT say anything because I didn't want any additional drama) and were drinking while driving our guests (and me!) around the property. Not cool...and then they vandalized our car (think Duggars but extremely crude stuff). Which was why we said no alcohol in the first place...Oh well. I think it's beyond extremely rude to BYOB at a wedding you know will be dry. I also think it says a person probably has a drinking issue if they cannot stand a social situation without the aid of alcohol. Why not just stay home?

[hellbound]

I'm a tea totaler. My other tea totaler friends and I agree that we manage to do some pretty stupid and clumsy things WITHOUT the influence of alcohol so we are better off with our diet coke and iced tea. Also, my mouth tends to get me in trouble when I'm completely sober so...again...I can't imagine myself even a little tipsy.

Just throwing this question out there: If you were invited to an event that was CLEARLY a non alcoholic event, would any of you stand around outside and pour rum into the soft drinks that were provided? We did have that at our reception and I was pretty insulted. Basically I felt like they were telling us that this party was so lame they could only get through it with a little alcohol, while inside the young people were having a blast! Plus, if the venue's coordinator had seen it, it would have completely tainted the relationship I'd built with her for a year of planning. We'd signed a contract agreeing there would be no alcohol on the premises and these people kind of threw us under the bus with their actions, in my opinion. Thoughts?

My niece had a dry wedding and a live band. Unfortunately, the dance floor was mostly empty during the entire wedding because the guests (and the bride and groom) were in the parking lot drinking. It looked like tailgating before a football game. I wouldn't have been happy if it was my wedding, but since the bride and groom were participating, I guess it wasn't a problem.

[Escapefromfundiedom]

On the bridesmaid pictures:

Jana is so beautiful and always looks gracious and poised. I have no idea how she came from *that* family...I hope she escapes in the end. ;-)

Alyssa is so fab she dyed her hair to coordinate with the wedding colors. On her, the dress looks like a well done throwback to the bridesmaid dresses I saw pictures of my mom and friends wearing in the 70's.

Those tiers are really awful. I get that we're going for some kind of bohemian chic thing but yikes! Really...really bad.

Michael looks really happy, but I second-third-fourth the whole hair thing. An updo would have been nice, but I don't think I've ever seen her with her hair any way but down, so at least she was true to her own style.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

Truthfully, if Michael suddenly shows up in pants - or short skirts, or sleeveless- I'd be worried she was being pressured to conform to her new environment. She has always dressed far more conservatively than her sister's or even her mother.

But that could also come from body image issues. I mean, until last year, I was always in pants, even in the dog days of summer (even when we were in Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Middle East), because I felt self conscious about how I looked in skirts or shorts. The past two summers, I've been able to wear long shorts (I haven't been able to work my way up to short shorts yet). Though, I still don't feel that there are any skirts I look good in that aren't connected to dresses. (Not that I've really worn dresses, either. All the dresses I own are for formal or semi-formal occasions, which I pretty much never have the opportunity to attend).

For a long time, I also had a problem with shirts. I couldn't wear anything form fitting unless it had something baggier over the top. I have pictures from the middle of August in California of me wearing a guy's sweatshirt that was 5 or 6 sizes too big for me, with really baggy pants to make it even worse, that I wore every day that year. It wasn't until 3 or 4 years ago that I started wearing form fitting shirts on top of other form fitting shirts. And it wasn't till this summer that I regularly went without wearing layers (though, I have to admit it hasn't been without some reluctance -- I often find myself looking forward to fall just so that I'll have an excuse to wear layers again).

Same with bikinis. Between 16 and 26, you would not catch me in a bikini. Ever. I wanted to wear them, but I was afraid to. The previous 2 summers, I've may have worn one once or twice. This summer, I've been wearing them pretty much every other day.

Maybe she has body image issues (I wouldn't be surprised with her growing up in that culture), and the longer clothes make her feel more comfortable. But, as time goes on and she gets more comfortable with things like being naked in front of her husband, she might over come those fears.

[usmcmom]

Those dresses all look so bloody similar. All lacey, all with lots of tiers. You can barely tell them apart.

Good grief, those stripy white-and-brown ones!! The long tiered things are not great, but at least they are in a kind of vintage style and are slowly growing on me, apart from the brown ones. And even then, the brown ones aren't too bad, I guess... But the white-and-brown striped ones are AWFUL. Who the heck designed those??

The tiers are way too OTT IMO.

YOU GUYS!! OH MY GOSH!! I know one of the families pictured in the white-and-brown stripy ones! *Ok...deep breath* This is so exciting.

When I read the description I jumped right to the website because I KNEW they had to be the ones from this wedding I'd seen on facebook. Then, scrolling down a little more - it's THAT family. Am I even allowed to say that? I won't give their name or location, but...oh my gosh, I know them!!!!

****************************************

Okay, regarding the other dresses. I really like taupe and could see myself wearing the taupe knee length lacy dress. The problem with most of these dresses is that the lace creates a horizontal stripe and that is just not a flattering look on all women. Add in the ruffles and you have horizontal "stripes" and extra bulk and that's just an unfortunate look for many.

Jumping back to facebook now to re-visit that wedding. I had no idea they'd become celebrities with those striped dresses!

[Handmaiden of Dog]

I enjoyed looking at the bridesmaid dress page. So many wedding styles and so many wedding photographers to snark at. While I was looking, I searched for the biggest wedding party: 10 bridesmaids, 2 junior bridesmaids, and 2 flower girls. That must have taken an eternity for the wedding party to walk down the aisle.

My favorite wedding photograph was the one with the colored parasols; so pleasing to look at and it would make a lovely picture to hang on the wall. The worst was the one with the bride seated in front of a large, backlit window so that she is washed out but everyone else is in sharp focus; your eye naturally falls on the bridesmaid seated on the floor and it takes a moment to find the bride. Second place for the worst idea are those with the groom surrounded by bridesmaids. there were a couple of these but the one at the end awful; the bridesmaids are blowing him kisses and he is looking very smug. Ugh.

The worst bouquet (and there were several contenders) has to be the bridal bouquet with white and brown flowers. Her bridesmaids are in pink and green so I'm not sure why the addition of brown flowers. There are plenty of terrible settings, one has the bridesmaids in open-toed high heels standing in a snowy field. Another is actually well lit, the color of the dresses beautifully illuminated by a golden sun, unfortunately they are posed in front of a chain link fence so it detracts quite a bit.

Finally I had to laugh at the photo of the bridesmaids' bouquets arranged on the bride's train. My cousin had that exact same picture taken at her wedding 30 years ago.

[Rajah061014]

So many dresses to snark on. Goodness gracious.

My favorite thus far? The one of the bride in the strapless dress with the bridesmaid in the hideous brown lace dress. Talk about polar opposites.

The picture of the bridesmaids in the shorter lace dress with cowboy boots made me want to barf. Ugg. Lace = classy, which cowboy boots are not! When will the cowboy boot trend die?

[Rajah061014]

OH. MY. GOD.

I finally got the picture of the brown and white striped dress. My poor eyes may never recover.

[Georgiana]

These are my nominees for worst:

Bonus: check out the groomsman in the back left. What is he doing with that plant?

[Rajah061014]

Because no one should miss these monstrosities hidden near the end of the never-ending page...

[usmcmom]

These are my nominees for worst:

Bonus: check out the groomsman in the back left. What is he doing with that plant?

The bridesmaid behind the bride and to her left seems to be wearing her dress rather short. That seems kind of odd considering all the steps they take to make the dresses modest. Maybe she is the bride's evil worldly friend who wanted to keep things a bit racy.

edited to add: Oops! When I commented, I only saw one photo. I'm referring to the top photo.

[Rajah061014]

What in Gothard's name are they holding in their hands?