WEDDING DETAILS - NO. 8 - THE DRESS

The dress. It did not happen for me like it does on tv. I kept waiting for tears, but none came. I kept waiting for that feeling... that, this is MY dress moment. I realized pretty early on in the process that was just not going to happen for me.

I think part of the issue is that I have realized I just LOVE wedding dresses. I love them all. I tend to have multiple personalities when it comes to fashion, so why would that change with wedding dresses? I loved the all lace vintage inspired gowns and could have totally seen myself in one of those. I loved the simple, flowy, bohemian-inspired dresses and absolutely could have seen myself with a flowered halo in one of these pretty dresses IF we had gotten married outside, hands down. I probably would have went round and round forever; however; a wedding video I saw on Style Me Pretty made my decision for me - I wanted to twirl. I wanted to have a big ole wedding gown, fitted at the waist and full.

Unfortunately, I wanted to change something on every dress I tried. I kept wanting to combine different parts of every dress I saw.  To make a long story shorter, my Mom and I found my dress at Wendy's Bridal. It was the full style I wanted, but also had lace and looked a bit vintage. It was also very soft and romantic, and thus felt a little bohemian. If only I would have stopped looking... I second guessed my choice so much I made myself ill. Should I have chosen the more trendy dress with the layers of ruffles on the skirt... something a bit more "fashion-forward". Blah blah. I kept comparing my dress to the Vera Wang - Diana... the designer dress that was almost my entire wedding budget.

There was a brooch in the middle of my dress (almost like a belt buckle) that I always knew I wanted to replace with something else. I spent weeks trying to figure out what to put there in place of the brooch to make the dress feel more... me.

I originally thought of replacing the buckle with a vintage deco brooch. That was the plan until one day I stumbled across an Elizabeth Dye blush one-of-a-kind dress, and decided my dress needed a cluster of flowers instead! What followed was hours of googling and searching Etsy for a flower piece; when I found Mignonne Handmade things really turned around for me and my dress! I can't say enough wonderful things about Jenn. When the flower piece arrived I was nervous to open it, but when I did it took my breath away. It was stunning. And honestly... it made the dress MY dress. Her piece transformed my dress.

Jennifer of Mignonne Handmade's gorgeous custom flower piece 

{photos taken by her, prior to shipping to me}

{photo taken at my amazing seamstress - Anna's, after she sewed the piece on}

{the morning of the big day}

 

{me + the Mr.}

The moral of MY wedding dress story is... Mom is always right. She knew it was my dress and she never wavered from that, despite all of my wedding dress-doubt phone calls.

AND listen to what everyone says - once you have found it, stop looking!!!