My search for a wedding shirt is over!

Well, I finally found a shirt to wear for the wedding! We tried in vain looking for one ten days ago at Broward Mall but had no luck. My trips to the Middle East and Thailand had influenced me to want a light colored banded collar (collarless) shirt with no front buttons. A few days later a work colleague told me to visit an East Indian clothing store. So we went there last weekend. They had a small men's section that contained nice attire with neat trimmings and embroidery. They were all very nice but unfortunately they were all full length gowns. I wouild have bought a shirt if they had had any in stock. See our March 16th entry for a photo of the gown I wore to the Bollywood event.

So we proceeded to the Sawgrass Outlet Mall and looked in a few stores. We entered one store and, in desperation, asked a clerk if they had banded collar shirts. She replied, "if we do then they will be on our discount rack." We finally saw our first banded collar shirt but unfortunately it was black. The clerk told us that they're not in style. I find that strange since I think it looks quite fashionable and it is such a refreshing change from the staid Western styled collared button up shirt. I had bought two banded collar shirts when I lived in Spokane ten years ago and I got many compliments from people. I should have bought more!

By this time I was beginning to get a bit despondent. Then we approached the Banana Republic store so we walked in and went to the men's section. I finally ound a rack with a few white banded collar shirts and my heart immediately leapt! Amidst the small sized ones I found an XL and tried it on. It fit perfectly and was exactly what I wanted. The shirt is called a linen banded-collar pullover shirt. To quote the store's website it's "designed in the lightest linen weave, this cool summer layer is a generous fit with a classic banded collar and buttonless placket for simple, unconstricted style. Pintucked detail adds a refined touch. 100% linen, banded collar, button cuffs and straight hem. It's also imported but I don't know from where. Plus it was on sale for only $38.00! I was relieved and I hadn't spent this much time looking for men's clothing in my life. I tried the shirt on at home with my darker colored vest that I bought in Turkey. Not sure which dark pants to wear but I will likely wear my shiny Florsheim shoes.

Last bit of news is that everyone that I've talked with has mentioned that their wedding invitation has been severly damaged in the mail. We're livid about this and especially with the American Postal service. The post office told us to pay extra for domestic mail so that the cards wouldn't go through the sorting rollers. We had even packed bubble wrap in the envelope. All to no avail. So far nobody I know received their invitation intact. Two people told me that their card had a hole punched completely though the card while others said that the little ball had detached. Only after I described what the invitation was to look like did they realize that their card was missing either the little ball and/or the bow. Another prime example of the horrible mail service. Luckily we bought enough material so Darcy can make extra invitations for guests who want a pristine copy. Anybody want a copy?