Just two days after Christmas, my mom and future mom-in-law joined me on a search for “the one.” The dress that would make me look the most beautiful that I ever have, the dress in which I will become a Mrs.

We found it that day and at the right price too! I won’t tiptoe around how expensive my dress was, the price tag said $599 and they were running a $50 off sale. That seems like a sign to me, so I ordered the dress.

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I have now moved on to the dress finding portion of this crazy journey and I have a slight problem… I have NO idea what I want in a wedding dress! But, there are 2 things I know for sure:

1. I won’t do a ball gown style.  Too much dress + too much sand = not a happy me
2. God blessed me with hips and a butt that even the dancers from “Baby Got Back” can’t touch, which I think means that mermaid and drop waist are out!

Now that I have moved on past that, it’s all still very overwhelming! That is why I was so excited when I ran across this great little dress designer application on the Pronovias Website.

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I know that many buds have dreamed of their wedding dress from the time they were little girls. Cathedral train, A-line silhouette, Vera Wang, the works. I did not do this. A wedding dress had always seemed more like a necessity than something to hope and dream about.

After we got engaged, people immediately told me to start looking for “the dress”, that I would find the perfect dress, and not to give up until I did. I started looking at dresses in magazines and finally found one I sort of liked:

Alfred Angelo Style 1148

None of the other dresses looked right to me. I found a local bridal store that carried that line and went to try it (and a few other dresses) on. Even though I knew the “other” dresses weren’t right, I still wasn’t sure about that dress. The one they had at the store was about 6 sizes too small, so I still really had no idea how it would look on me. I started showing the pictures to anyone who would look at them, and it was unanimous – everyone agreed it was the one. And yet, I didn’t feel it. It didn’t feel like “the” dress.

I started to doubt myself. Why wasn’t I excited about the dress? Was there something wrong with me? Did that mean I shouldn’t be getting married to Iris Dude?

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Hey everyone!

Some of you may be wondering where I have been… and I am sorry for that! Since my last entry, I have had a lot of changes in my life! Freesia Dude and I bought a house and we both got new jobs!! I am now an English Teacher and it is great I didn’t realize how busy I would be as a teacher, and I am sorry for putting my writing on the back burner. I think I have finally gotten into a groove with my schedule, so please expect more from me

Anyways…. I have some big news-My wedding dress came in!!! The only thing is…. the dress turned into a complete disaster I went to go try on dresses with Freesia Dude’s mom at a very popular bridal store… I found the perfect (at the time) dress hanging on a mannequin. I tried it on and knew it was the one! I was probably a bit overzealous as I bought it that day…. The woman at the counter told me that the dress on the mannequin was a certain size, and when it came in…. it didn’t fit. It was WAY too big. I tried it on at home multiple times and eventually began to hate the dress because of how large it was. (Advice: Always check the size of a dress yourself before ordering!!)

Many friends have suggested getting it altered, but I have such a horrible picture of the dress now, that I just can’t see myself in it on my wedding day anymore. Now I know there is supposed to be at least one wedding disaster…. let’s hope this is mine. Has anyone else had a dress dilemma? What are some wedding disasters you have experienced?

Courtesy F22 Studio

It takes a village to dress a bride? In my case, yes. One of my favorite features of my dress is the cascade of pearl buttons down the back. Sure, there’s a zipper, but the buttons are functional and also impossible to fasten on your own. Plumeria Sisters-In-Law to the rescue! Though I didn’t have traditional bridesmaids, both ladies were invaluable in helping on my wedding day and I can’t thank them enough. Look at what I put them through:

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Courtesy F22 Studio

Now that you’ve had enough of my vanity, it’s time to check out my awesome dress! Renella De Fina Olivia, how I love you so. I’m so glad the cheapie H&M flower worked out so well, or else I would have had to take drastic measures.

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I expected in the wedding planning process to ask and answer a lot of questions. That’s part of decision making, right? You do a little research, perhaps some googling, and come up with satisfactory answers which leads, eventually, to decision. Done! What I didn’t expect to have to ask, over and over again, is “who I am” as defined in my choices in wedding dresses, music, and flowers.  How much does a flower, a song, or a dress really have to say about who I am as a person, and what if I happen to be different things to different people?

The Thinker: That's Me!

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I had my first experience with wedding dress shopping this weekend. I have to say, it went better than I expected, though still somewhat stressful. I wasn’t particularly “ready” to start this part of the wedding planning process, but wanted to take advantage of my parents visiting town. By “ready” I mean I had wanted to drop another 10 lbs or so before starting that particular adventure. But alas, I gotta work with what I’ve got!

I picked out two small wedding shops that didn’t require advance appointments (sweet!);  and lucky for us, while at both shops, I essentially had the place to myself. Surprising for a Saturday afternoon! I probably tried on over 40 dresses of various cuts and styles and came away with 2 that I liked. Here is the front contender now:

The front Runner: Casablanca #1827 from Casablancabridal.com

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By using the term, The One, I usually mean my man, but this time I mean something almost as important: my dress!

Disclaimer: All posted images are NOT my dress, just ones that I tried on.

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For a while, wedding stress had plateaued at a level 6 out of 10…not too bad, I must say. There was still lots to do in our remaining 6 weeks, but not quite enough to make me extremely jumpy…that was until my dressmaker called me for my fitting. As you can recall, I planned to dress up the JS Boutique dress into an Adele. It was to look like a Cindy’s front with Natasha’s back:

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