Pinnacle Moment for a Bride-To-Be

Although I'm (obviously) not going to share a picture of the wedding dress I've chosen before the big day, I do at least want to write a little story about the process of finding it! I think that making the decision on my wedding dress was the one thing that really made me feel like a bride. Creating a Pinterest board or looking at pretty wedding cakes we want is super exciting and fun. But every girl can do that. But what every girl can't do, is pick out her wedding dress. That's a tradition that's reserved solely for after he pops the question and slips the bling on your left hand. The beautiful ring on my finger feels amazing, but actually picking out the dress I'll wear when I say, "I do," feels like something completely different. It feels like the Pinnacle Moment for a Bride-To-Be. Picking out my dress made everything seem so surreal and crazy and exciting. But let's back up and talk about the process of actually finding "the one!"

As I've shared before, we're trying to have a small-ish wedding, on a pretty tight budget. So that meant I wasn't going to be spending a couple thousand dollars on just the dress alone. (Side note - on 'Say Yes to the Dress' yesterday, I watched a girl pay $10,000 for a dress. Insane! Our entire wedding won't even cost that much...) So even though I had a certain vision in mind for what I wanted, I wasn't willing to spend a fortune to get it.

So the first place we headed was to David's Bridal. And it was not so great. We had been there for my sister's wedding to look at bridesmaid dresses and the flower girl dress, and both experiences were pretty rough. The staff wasn't friendly or helpful, and God forbid if you didn't make an appointment. But I wanted to give them a chance, because I had seen some of their dresses online and liked both their style and their price. But once there, my "consultant" didn't really provide me with what I was looking for. I felt like she didn't listen to a word I said about what I wanted, and a couple of the ones she brought were the exact opposite of what I was looking for. Pretty, but not the style I was going for. We did end up finding one there that even though it wasn't the style I thought I wanted, I did actually like it. Just not enough to buy it...

So then a couple of weeks later, my mom and I headed up to The New Image in Thomasville, Georgia. She was looking for a Mother-of-the-Bride dress for Megan's wedding, and I got to try on some wedding dresses for myself as well! (They have a huge variety of bridal, prom and MoB stuff.) I tried on about four or five, and really liked a couple of them. Then that last one I tried one, Mama and I both loved it. Mom immediately said, "That's the one. That's your wedding dress." And although I think I agreed then, I still wasn't quite ready to commit to it. And plus, I really wanted my sister to be able to see it first too.

Then on June 1, I made an appointment at a local place here in town, Vocelles. (This is actually where Megan found her dress last summer!) This in a cute little boutique bridal shop with a pretty atmosphere and super helpful staff. There were about three here that I really liked a lot, and one that I was in love with. (The one I loved the most was pretty similar to the one I liked at The New Image.) The train was longer than I wanted, but that's about the only thing I didn't like. Well, that, and the price of it! Because that's the thing with Vocelles - it's all gorgeous, but it's all a little pricey, and definitely over what I wanted to spend. In fact, it was about $600 more than the other one at The New Image, for basically the same thing. So as much as I loved the one from there, I felt conflicted about how much it was.

Aunt Suzanne, me and my sister Megan.

So we left there, and headed back up to The New Image again. I had them pull the one that I loved from my last appointment, and then we pulled about four or five more again, just to try. And I did end up liking a couple of the new ones too, but then once I put back on the one from the first trip, we knew that was THE One! Mama, Megan and my Aunt Suzanne all loooved it, and so did I. It's exactly what I was picturing in my head, and just what I wanted/needed for an outdoor wedding. It's simple, yet beautiful, and I think it's just so me. (And it makes me look so good and so skinny!)

I am so so so incredibly happy with the dress I've chosen and I can't wait to get my actual dress in so that I can get a better feel for it! The one I tried on was about three sizes too small, so I'm just kinda stuffed in it, and things are all tightened up to get the right effect. Like, so tightened up I couldn't breathe very well. So I definitely can't wait to try it on in my actual size! I think it's going to be perfect on my wedding day, and I'm so glad I found exactly what I had pictured myself getting married in. Hurry up, October 5th!

Much Love,
Halie