You got to hear
my engagement/proposal story here, but now it's time to start planning! Collin + I are getting married on
September 27, 2014 at a little barn in Appling, Georgia (outside our hometown of Augusta, Georgia)! Because of my interest in fashion and my vast collection of carefully collected dresses, I think it was largely assumed that this would be my favorite part of the wedding preparations. Well, it might surprise you to hear I was literally
dreading this part of the wedding planning process. I've experiencing a lot of stress over it, which is why I'm starting the dress shopping so
early. It's totally ridiculous of me, but every comment along the lines of "I can't wait to see your dress after seeing what you wear every day" makes me feel a little more anxiety about finding the "perfect" dress.
Trying to find a wedding dress to my liking and trying to find a day dress to my liking are like night and day, so different! The sort of wedding dresses I'm interested in are largely unrepresented in bridal stores + boutiques, so just like my normal wardrobe (95% of which is purchased offline), I've taken to the internet to find the "perfect" dress. I've learned quickly that shopping for a wedding dress online comes with its fair share of negatives.
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Vintage Wedding Dress I purchased off Etsy |
My first wedding dress experience was a
nightmare come true. After checking that the measurements would equal my own, I bought this lovely vintage dress off Etsy. I was thinking "it's one of a kind, it's a vintage + fit and flare and it's basically perfect" not to mention it's absolutely lovely, really inexpensive and basically exactly what I'm looking for. I buy dresses this way A-L-L the time, no problem!
Well the dress arrived and after lacing into my corset, throwing on some heels and a petticoat and putting it on... it looked
AWFUL. I didn't like a single thing about it. My mom told me she thought it was repairable but I was "over" the dress at that point. I text ranted with Amelia (who is of course my Maid of Honor!) and we took some time to "mourn the loss" of the wedding dress, I mean, I thought I was DONE with this part (I was being a little irrational, but she humored me, and she's planning her wedding simultaneously ladies, that's amazing best friend!). We bounced some ideas off of each other and I was back to looking!
After my bad experience, my first reaction was "I'm so over this, I quit!" and I considered ordering a dress off Modcloth like his adorable
Alika Dress by Bettie Page Clothing and being done with the "dress thing." I actually still like this dress better than a lot of the dresses with 4 figure price tags I've looked at. But giving up is so out of character for me, half the reason I end up with the wardrobe pieces I have is because I
LOVE the hunt and finding my wedding dress shouldn't be any different. If this was "the dress" for me I wouldn't care where it was from or how much it cost, but I know it wasn't
the dress, it was a dress, so I moved along and kept on 'lookin.
Say hello to the
Bliss Dress by Whirling Turban! When I look at their website, my pupils are immediately replaced by hearts. I've had my eye on this dress and another (neither have been totally ruled out) so I requested a loaner dress. You can't try their dresses without requesting a loaner and having it shipped because they're located in Bali..
you read that right BALI! The company directs you to a personalized client page they set up for you, you answer a bunch of questions and then they tell you you have to pay for + order fabric swatches first (ok, not a big deal, I picked + ordered three, but I've been waiting on them for three weeks...). I would LOVE one of these dresses, but because I'm a little jaded after my bad experience, I don't know if I have it in me to put all my trust in another dress I can't try on. What you y'all think? I just wish getting a loaner was easier!
This lovely little lady is wearing the
San Marino Dress by Dolly Couture. I'd seen a few of their dresses around, but it wasn't until a reader mentioned that her dress was from there + she'd had an
amazing experience that I decided to take a look... I'm so glad I did! First off, all of their dresses are TEA LENGTH (if you don't know this little fact about me... almost everything I own is tea length haha.) After doing some lurking, I found out they have mini, residential in-home boutiques, five to be specific, well guess what... one of them is in
Nashville! If that's not a sign, I don't know what is!
I spent a few hours a couple Saturday's ago with a lovely lady named
Lucy (I went alone, my mom and 2 of bridesmaids including Amelia are in
Georgia and the third is studying for the bar exam) and it was an
amazing experience. She had about 10 dresses there and although I
disliked several right off the bat, and disliked several more once they
were on, I found one I actually
really liked (although it was way too long + two sizes too big and had to be clamped!). We
looked at swatches. Talked venues. Talked about everything weddings
entail + some more. I could not more highly recommend this process, it was so personalized and completely pressure-free. Dolly's dresses are also completely customizable. You can change the color, the sleeves, the length, the waistline, you can add things and take things away, whichever dress you choose is basically a shell for you to play with.
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Here's a little peek into my Dolly Couture experience / what I look like when forced to wake up early |
I've spent almost every day for the last couple weeks shooting emails back + forth with their Sales and Marketing Manager, Abby. In a few exchanged emails a day, Abby has helped me build/customize a dress. I added things, subtracted things and ended up with a dress that I feel 95% sure about. But, the last couple of days have given me cold feet and I'm having this crisis that it might not be "quite 1950's enough" *insert eye roll here ladies, I probably deserve it*. This is something I do to myself ALL the time.. WHY?!
But. that's the whole reason I wrote this post, because I want advice from you ladies!
Did any of you ladies have pre-dress purchase jitters?
Advice + experiences + all comments welcome!