Desire Reincarnated

As you may remember (okay, you don't) from my previous post about shopping for wedding dresses, my original vision and most of the dresses that captured my heart were non-strapless.  There were v-necks, cowl necks, bateau necklines, and so on (actually that's about it), like this:

Source

Source

After all that, I ended up with a strapless dress.  While I am going to have a halter strap added to the dress, I want a high neckline to appear somewhere in the wedding.  You know, as if this is the only time that people will see me dressed and if I miss this opportunity, oh boy! Won't they be disappointed!

I've decided that this very special opportunity for my guests will be the welcome event taking place the evening before the wedding.  I looked for a non-strapless dress, and found some options:

Source ($178--I love this color)

Source ($350--pretty, but yikes!!)

However, I was also feeling budget guilt, and decided (at least for the time-being), that I would wear a red dress already hanging in my closet.  Like it? $40 from Banana on clearance!

Here's my attempt at a Miss America wave

Which ended up looking more like the "Single Ladies" pose. Ironic, isn't it.

But then, I wandered into the BCBG store one weekend when they were having a massive sale. I found this dress--originally $178, got it for $56! And it fits! And it has a draped neckline!

Anyone else using their rehearsal dinner dress to get a second bite of the apple?