Good News! I found my wedding dress and put a deposit down to get it ordered! Yay!

The funny part is, in my recent post, I talked about how I knew which one was “the dress” and guess what? That actually wasn’t the dress I ended up picking out! When I first decided to go dress shopping, it was literally the week after MGB and I got engaged. I went just for “fun” to kind of see what was out there, while still keeping in mind I had a little bit of time before I needed to order a dress. At that time we also had not nailed down the venue, even though we had an idea of where we wanted to have it.

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Let me first of all say, that I knew people that cried when they tried on the dress they ended up wearing on their wedding day and I was always like “Oh Gosh, that is so lame”. Don’t get me wrong, I love this wedding stuff and I have this breathtaking image of myself in my wedding gown, but I was always like “Oh I will never be that dramatic.” Well……….. it happened.

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I’m a detail-oriented person so I think as I begin to share the elements of the Lilac wedding with you, I’ll share some details first. Bring on the pictures….

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That’s right, girls! I have a wedding dress! I just cannot believe it.

I wasn’t originally planning on going wedding dress shopping so soon. In fact, I wanted to put it off as long as possible. You see, the very idea of trying to organize this big outing with all of my bridesmaids and mother in tow so I could parade about in different dresses stressed me out to the max! And after watching so many wedding shows, I thought that was how it was just supposed to be. I am beyond delighted to report that my experience was not the least bit stressful!

Grandmother Dandelion was in town and because I don’t get to see her often, I really wanted to do something wedding related while she was staying with us. The original plan was to take her to tour the venue with us. However, the venue wasn’t open for touring because of an event so that was out. At home just a few days ago, I was watching “Four Weddings” with my mom and grandmother. Dandelion Mom brought up the idea of going wedding dress shopping the next morning. At first I was totally against it because it gave me such anxiety. But, I really did want to do something for my grandmother and I knew she would love to see me trying on the different gowns. So I agreed. And after sending my M.O.H. a quick text asking if it was okay if I somehow by the grace of God found The Dress without her, we went to a bridal shop called Azalea Bridal & Formal located in Snellville, GA. I just canNOT recommend this shop enough! I had gone wedding dress browsing before and it was not fun; the store was super uptight (to the point that I was not allowed to touch the gowns and the employees had to dress me with my arms stuck out to the sides) and I left feeling incredibly discouraged at the prospect of ever finding a gown that both spoke to my style of traditional & unique AND within my tight-tight budget.

My wedding dress good luck charm!

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Quick recap:

Round one: Initial trying on. Stress level = low. Thoughts of dream dress coming to life.

Round two: Hello, Kleinfelds. Randy – I heart you, and the dress you chose for me. Olive Mom and Olive Family aren’t sold.

Round three: Leave Kleinfeld’s empty handed. Research cheaper options of the dream dress. Make new appointment at Kleinfelds. Stress level – getting higher.

And now – finally – I can say that after the last trip to Kleinfeld, I happily bought the dress of my dreams. Did I do the research on other, similar styles and try them on? Absolutely. But – the winner that Randy picked for me was the dress, and nothing else ever seemed to compare to it.

Olive Mom and I went to Kleinfeld alone, which I think was a great idea. Olive Mom had kind of warmed up to the fact that the dress of my dreams probably wouldn’t be what she was originally envisioning for me. So, she decided it should be her who would compromise – and I should get what I wanted. And I love her for that. [Quick sidenote - we heard TWO other mother/daughter shoppers disagreeing on what type of dress they should wear. Guess it's a common theme between modern brides and their more traditional mothers!]

She took a bunch of pictures of me like a proud mama would once I told our consultant we were purchasing – and I even managed to get a few tears when I thanked her and said I truly felt like a million bucks.

So – what did I learn from this process? To go with your gut. I’m still early in the planning but have gotten a bunch of things done and find myself sometimes second guessing my decisions. [Did I pick the right photographer? Should I have tried on more dresses? That DJ was good, right?] If we constantly worry about every decision we are going to make during our engagement period, we will seriously drive ourselves (and future husbands, and MOH’s, and friends) nuts. Everything works out the way it is supposed to, and your gut instinct is normally right. I mean heck – how many of us can say we had a gut feeling when we met/kissed/fell in love with our Dudes that we knew they were the one? I know I can.

When I first got engaged, Olive Mom let me in on a well-kept secret she had been hiding from me. Her good friend, let’s call him Mr. Style, is not only an up-and-coming wedding dress designer, but he also has a close, personal relationship with the owners of Kleinfeld’s in New York. To say that I was ecstatic when learning I would have my appointment to try on dresses there, and with them, would be the world’s largest understatement.

While that appointment is slowly approaching (it’s the first weekend of August), Olive Mom and I also went to a few local bridal stores a few weeks ago. Olive Mom knew how excited I was to go to New York, so she wanted me to be able to have a basic idea of what dress style and fabric I liked beforehand so I would not be completely overwhelmed by the bridal mecca that is Klienfeld’s. It was a WONDERFUL idea.

Let the search begin!

Here is what I learned:

1. Try on everything. While my gut feeling was to go with a fit-and-flare or mermaid shape with no straps, I tried on almost every silhouette when I went shopping. I wanted to make sure that what I thought was the most flattering in my head actually was on my body.

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I found this great alternative to dress photos and had to share. All of us are so used to the hanging dress photos, but what about putting it on a dressmakers form stand? Here are a few ideas I loved:

Vera Wang Gown in a Garden Setting | Interior Designers Wedding Gown Display

As one of my bridesmaids described it – the wedding is “classy country,” and I couldn’t agree more. That’s just who we are…and that being said we wanted that to reflect in every aspect of our wedding, especially in the way we dress.

www.jasminebridal.com

For me, this has been one of the easiest parts of wedding planning. I walked into the bridal salon and saw the dress I knew I was going to wear on the manikin. Although I did try on an awful lot of dresses that day, in the end I chose the dress I fell in love with that day. I got the most exciting call this weekend – my dress is here! I can’t wait to try it on

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Finally! This was meant to be one of my first posts I have had this post waiting for pictures forever! Sorry for the length, I think I’ve continued to add to it as I waited for pictures. I finally got the pictures, so here goes….

Come dress yourself in love, let the journey begin.
-Francesca da Rimini

I do believe this was Fressia Mom’s motto after Freesia Dude proposed. Almost immediately she was on me to go shopping for wedding dresses explaining how our schedules are only going to get busier and if we wait any longer we won’t be able to get a dress in time!!!

Now, aside from the fact that we had not set an official date due to the fact that we did not even know what city we would get married in yet, how did she know we would not be able to get a dress “in time”? Well, we will just attribute that to one of those things mom’s just know. We picked a date and location a few months after I picked out my wedding dress, and the dress decision was stress free since we went so early. Anyways, back to the story…

I was very nervous to go dress shopping. I had done plenty of searching online, and knew what I did not want as well as some ideas about what I did: primarily, I wanted something unique. I had no idea how I would find this, but planned on searching some consignment shops. However, Freesia Mom is not really up for this sort of thing and she and I set a date to go shopping the weekend after my 26th birthday. Freesia Dude could sense my concern and sweetly explained that he wasn’t able to go that weekend but he was sure my mom and I would have a very nice time. So sweet, yet had no idea that he would not be wedding dress shopping with me at all!

Now, to those who might like to involve their fiance’s in wedding dress shopping, I bring no condemnation at all. Freesia Dude is just not the type that could hang in a wedding dress salon while I try on a dress, let alone more than one. In addition, I love surprises, getting them and giving them…and this will be a surprise from me to him. He’d better love it!

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