Wedding Dress!

Today was the big wedding dress shopping day. A few of us gals got together at the local coffee shop for breakfast and then walked around downtown Lampang looking for the perfect dress. I really wanted a Thai-style dress but wasn't sure if they would look good on my body. They seem to be made more for people with a slim figure, not for curvy bodies. The first place we went only had one dress I was interested in. It had some beautiful applique on it, but it looked too much like a prom dress. I knew I didn't want a white dress because I'm so pale already that I would look too washed-out. I thought something with a gold or pink tint would work better with my skin tone.

The second place had a lot more options and I was able to fit into a few Thai dresses but they didn't look great. It's hard to know if you would like something when it doesn't fit properly. The sales assistants kept saying, "We can make it for you!" but I worried that after they went to all that trouble, I might not even like the dress. Finally the last shop of the day had a lot of nice dresses but the place was very unorganized. It was hard to see the stock. I picked out one dress the minute I walked it. It was perfect...had a bit of fairy magic to it, was a very light gold color and it looked simple and elegant. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get it over my hips :( I tried on a few more dresses and found a coupleThai-style ones that I really liked. Finally the shop woman showed me that she could open the first dress and I tried it on again. I felt really comfortable and beautiful the minute I tried it on. There was a problem with the straps being too short but she ended up unsewing them so i could see what it will look like after the alterations. I fell in love with it.

We started to talk about prices and to have the dress custom-made for me would cost about 15,000 baht. It probably doesn't seem like that much by American standards, but that's pretty expensive for here. We started talking about whether she could alter the dress off the rack. It turns out that she will be able to let it out a bit and pull it down so the dress won't look short on me. The dress will cost 4,000 baht including the cost of alterations and cleaning!!!! I couldn't pass it by so I made her a down payment and an appointment for a fitting on Feb. 6th. I figure that I might end up renting a Thai-style dress for the wedding ceremony here and wearing this dress for the reception and the wedding in the states. So I feel really happy and lucky that it was such an easy process. I can see how it can be so frustrating...especially when I was too big for everything. But I can't wait until everyone can see my dress on me!!!

Interesting Information about Lampang from the Municipality's Website

History

The founding myth of Lampang. Hariphunchai Period. Lampang was a major city in the Lanna kingdom. However, its historical prominence is largely overshadowed by Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai which were the traditional seats of government, and whose histories were well recorded in chronicles. Following decades of warfare with both the Ava burmese and Ayuddhya during the 17th-18th century, the region was in decline, severely depopulated, and subject to Burmese control. In the late 18th century, a famed marksman Nan Thipchang and a Lampang native, assassinated the local Burmese leader in the Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, and led an uprising which led to a roll back of Burmese rule over Lanna. Allied with Bangkok, the descendents of Nan Thip Chang, known as Chao Ched Ton (The Seven Princes), became the vassal rulers of the various Lanna cities until the annexation of Lanna into Siam (Thailand) proper under King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).

Economy

Lampang is famous for the production of ceramic goods and mining operations. A great deal of ball clay, china stone, and lignite are extracted from the surrounding mountains. There are more than 200 ceramic factories in and around Mueang Lampang. Most of ceramic factories are small to medium size operations mainly producing novelties (plant pots, dolls), tablewares, and building materials (tiles, railings), etc. The largest power plant in Thailand is located in Mae Mo district near the lignite mining area. The plant uses the abundant lignite as fuel. The largest concrete plant is also situated north of Mueang Lampang. This is also powered by the lignite. Limestone is another abundant mineral mined in Lampang. Agricultural products that are famous for this province are rice and pineapples. HistoricallyHistorically, logging was an important industry, since Lampang, together with nearby Phrae had a large stand of teak. Many elephants were employed to transport the logs to the river for transport to Bangkok, hence a founding of the 'Elephant School', the predecessor of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. Much of the old growth teak stands in Lampang had been thoroughly harvested.

Wedding Plans

Well things are looking pretty good after our trip to Ubon over New Years. We went to 3 hotels and found one we liked which was way too expensive. The other 2 were a bit shabby. On the way out of town, we passed another place and decided on a whim that we should check it out. It ended up being really lovely....full of gardens and it looks more traditional than the other hotels. Here's the website if anyone wants to check it out: http://www.ubonburihotel.com/
This hotel will give us the reception room for free as long as we pay for the food. They also let us order a keg of beer so we won't have to buy that outside. We really enjoyed the small bungalows/cottages that the hotel has on their grounds and they gave us a 300 baht discount on the rooms, so it ended up being very reasonable.

One of the reasons we decided on this place was that we had a lot of problems with the food situation at the other hotels. Otto's family will only eat Thai food and my family will only eat foreign food so we had to find a way to accommodate both diets. We tried to make our own buffet menus but it was going to be super pricey. Luckily, this hotel let us order a set menu for the Thai folks and a different menu for the international travelers. We will pay by the person. The international food is double the price of Thai food but it's still pretty cheap. The hotel will also provide the backdrop for the stage which will have our names and the date on it.

We also spent time trying to find a cake. It appears that Thai people don't usually have wedding cakes so we couldn't find any where in Ubon to make one. I had the idea that we should have an ice cream cake because they are so popular here and our wedding will be during hot season. So we went to Swensons and asked whether they make big cakes. Unfortunately, they do not, but we decided that we will just buy 3 different kinds of ice cream cakes. That way people can choose whatever flavor they like.

We also found a place for the women in my family to rent Thai-style clothes. This shop is huge and filled with so many interesting dresses and outfits. I ended up trying some on and taking pictures so that people can see the different styles and colors. We let them know that we will be coming the week before the wedding so that they can prepare any farang-sized clothes they have. We also found a place to rent a van for everyone since the trip to Otto's village is a bit far and we won't have transportation for 10 people.

Finally, we found the perfect place for the rehearsal dinner. It's a restaurant we had never noticed before in downtown Ubon called Risotto's. It has traditional Italian food. Otto and I had lunch there and it was really tasty. It's a little restaurant so we spoke to them about renting out the place for an evening. I think everyone will really enjoy the food there.

Next up: wedding dress shopping!