For some reason when I imagined planning a wedding, I never thought the dress factor would be so stressful. I always knew I wanted long sleeves and lace which is a common style and thought it would be a breeze. Not. I made 3 appointments to start with: Love and Lace, The White Dress and Grace Loves Lace.
We started early morning at Love and Lace and tried on a good number of dresses in different styles. Because I have bigger boobs, I was set on the fact that I could only try dresses with boning. They had several options close to what I always imagined, but nothing I tried on really wowed me. I remember at one point saying maybe wedding dresses just don’t look good on me.I put one to the side and decided it was most likely the one if I didn’t find anything else.
We stopped to get lunch before heading to our second location and got a round of margaritas. By no means should anyone be drunk when deciding on a wedding dress, BUT I definitely needed this to loosen up. I think I drank less than half of it because I was too nervous to get buzzed and make the wrong decision, but it helped so much. When we arrived at The White Dress the stylist handed me a dress she suggested I try on and I instantly said nope that would never look good on me, so she put it back. I had everyone choose one dress they liked and I picked several myself. Divide and conquer mentality going. Again, I found so many potential options but still felt so indecisive. The stylist begged me again to try on the dress, and at that point I said sure why not.
As she zipped it up, I was surprisingly glowing so in love. When I walked out and stood on the podium to show everyone, it was the first dress I was actually smiling in. I think by my expression alone my mom, sis and bff unanimously agreed it was THE ONE. Before I knew it, I was saying yes to the dress, champagne was being popped and a few tears were being shed …mixed in with giddy laughter.
Ines Di Santo is known for her beautifully intricate lace work. I did choose to order extra lace which I added to the front of the dress. The original neck was even deeper than what I’m pictured in above and I didn’t feel comfortable having all that cleavage going on.
To be honest, when I say the dress aspect is stressful, for me it was more so thinking about it all year after the purchase. Did I make the right decision? Is it too ‘this’, not enough ‘that’ ? Does it match our theme? Will Charlie love it? Advice that helped me SO much… The dress is going to look WAY different on your phone, so don’t look at any of them after the purchase. Wait until your fittings and when your dress finally arrives to see it on you in person again. I remember each fitting was reassurance I made the right decision. My biggest piece of advice is to be open minded and try on dresses you never think would work for your body type. You might be pleasantly surprised! 😉 My final piece of advice is to make this day intimate. You don’t want too many opinions. The day is already overwhelming enough as is. Have fun and know there’s a perfect dress for you… just like picking a husband… don’t ever settle. ;p
