So I always knew that I would get my wedding dress custom made. And I don’t mean always as in since I’ve been engaged. I mean since I realized that I am one of the pickiest people on the face of the planet when it comes to dresses – so basically when I started to dress myself for special events. This little part of my personality still comes as a shock to most, as they all know me as a “Comfort Cootie.” That nickname was lovingly bestowed on me by Dahlia Dude, and has since stuck exceedingly well. And I must say that it rings true: I’m a jeans and tshirts kind of girl. Anyway, back to being picky.

When Dahlia Dude and I first started talking about getting married, I knew that I would never be happy with my dress unless I picked it to match the venue. And so, as our ideas of venues changed and evolved, so did my mental image of my dress. And you’d be surprised at how many mental images of wedding dresses I’ve had floating around in my head. I could probably open up a boutique at this point!!

When we finally decided on a beach wedding in Cape Town, I started working on narrowing down the images that I could find online into an inspiration board of dresses. And this is what I came up with:

All Dresses Taken from Designer Sites

As you can see, there are multiple common factors throughout my inspiration board. I found that I really liked lace, organza/chiffon (I think the flow-y factor on the beach will be gorgeous!!), flowers, and just simple design. Then, a few weeks later, I stumbled upon this on Kleinfeld’s website, and my jaw dropped:

Kleinfeld Bridal

Gorgeous, right? It was at this moment that I realized the extent of my love affair with lace. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m nowhere close to actually finalizing the design for my dress. I’m definitely going shopping once or twice to see if there’s anything that I’ve missed. Hopefully there isn’t as I don’t think my inspiration board can handle any more pictures!! But I’m definitely glad to be nailing down at least a general idea so that I can start talking to the seamstress.

Before I leave you to continue with your blog reading, I wanted to show you this quote. One of my good friends from waaaaay back in high school posted this as her Facebook status after I had bombarded her with dress pictures/questions (in my defense, she seemed to be enjoying herself!!). I loved it, and it definitely made me laugh, so hopefully it will bring some joy to ladies. Here goes:

PSA: Wedding dresses can be separated into four general categories: The “I’m a pretty pretty princess with Daddy’s check book.” ball gown wonderland of silk, crystals and scary price tags; the “I’m sure a nightgown will be fine, you can’t even tell!!” silk sheath that’s 90% static electricity; the “but it’s ~DESIGNER~!” abomination of overblown ego, wild dreams and left-over fabrics; and the ever-elusive “The Dress.”

I read that whenever wedding planning stress really gets to me, and it still makes me laugh…

So what about you ladies? Did you go with the ball gown? Lace? Satin? Silk? Organza? Chiffon? Did you choose your dress before or after you chose your venue? Did you look online before going to boutiques/bridal salons? Tell me about your experiences!!