The other day I was talking to my mom about wedding blogs that I love and she said, "Well you've been researching and planning your wedding for months, why don't YOU create a blog?"
I thought it was silly...but the more I thought about it...the more I fell in love with the idea :)
So here I am.
My first wedding blog post. And I'm so excited, it's been months since I'm planning so I will try to catch up on everything.

Maybe I'll start with wedding dresses, that's always a hit!
I went about... 6 times before finding my dress.
My first stop was Bridal Reflections- 5th Avenue, NYC. It was the most beautiful bridal store I've ever been to, and the customer service was incredible.
I made a huge mistake while I was there though, I told them my budget was about 10k, when it was more like 1k. haha. See, I was living in New York at the time, and planning to move back to Minnesota within the next couple months, so I saw no point buying in NY, so I was there moreso to look and find out what I liked.
I tried on so many gorgeous dresses, Ines Di Santo, Stephen Yearick, St. Pucchi, they were beautiful dresses, all couture.
And then.. I found it. I found THE ONE. I didn't mean to, it was soo accidental. I found it, I got my years, I had my moment. Then I saw the price tag. um. wow.
But my bridal consultant was FABULOUS. She, by far, has been the most helpful and sweet consultant I've ever met. She worked so hard to make the dress work for me, but even though she cut the cost of the dress by nearly half, it was still so out of my budget. But I will always say that Bridal Reflections was the best shopping experience I'd had.
Here are a couple dresses I tried on:

St. Pucchi, style 491


Ines Di Santo


Next Stop: The Bridal Garden, Brooklyn, NY. This shop has dresses donated to them, and all their profits go towards charity. Because of this, their shop is small and has a smaller selection than most, it's also more of a "do-it-yourself" kind of shop. But the ladies were nice. I didn't try on anything even near promising here though.

Soo after my fall in love experience, I didn't go for awhile... But I visited Bridal Reflections again, but their other store on Long Island (in Massepequa). They had the designer I really love, Maggie Sottero, and I knew her dresses ran around 1k and sometimes less. I also loved her style Dallas Marie. When I got there though, they didn't have that dress, I was a little disappointed. Instead the consultant had me try on their trunk show pieces from James Clifford:





I really loved this last one, it had hints of gold on the "fan" at the bodice, and was very elegant. It was also on sale because of the trunk show.

I was only able to try on one Maggie Sottero dress, her Fiorella:


Now this dress looked beautiful, but as I was planning a more casual outdoor vintage style wedding, the style didn't quite match.

I was a little upset with the consultant, although she complimented my "pretty face" and nice figure, she didn't help me with what I really wanted. I wanted to see more Maggie Sottero dresses and she wouldn't let me, instead she pointed me towards the James Clifford line which were more money. She seemed more about making a sale, than making the bride happy. I told her my ideas for a veil, and she rejected them immediately, instead she forced me to try on another veil that I didn't want.
And all the dresses there were sample sizes 2-4, and I could hardly get into any of them, didn't do much for my self-esteem. :P I left the store pretty unhappy.

So fast forward a few months, after my move, living with my parents again. I go shopping with my mom and sister.
I went to Little Bridal Shop in Rogers, MN. The lady who helped me was so kind, and fun. I had such a GREAT experience there! She had just had a huge bridal sale, so she said she didn't have as many dresses as she normally did, but I found her selection to be great, and her prices were just right.
Here are a few I tried on (all are either Mary's Bridal or Eden Bridals):

This one, I decided to be a little different and try on more of a "sheath" style. If there is one thing I've learned through wedding dress shopping, it's NEVER be afraid to try on a dress you think you might hate...sometimes you put it on, and it's a totally new dress. Now, I didn't fall in love with the sheath style, but it was pretty and I would consider it. This particular dress though had some irritable boning in the bodice, although that could easily be taken out.


Now, I normally hate halter top wedding dresses, but she told me this one could easily be altered into a sweetheart strapless, and after some tucking, I loved it! It was soo cute. I ended up ruling it out because in my pile of dresses, it was the highest priced.



This dress, by Eden Bridals 2238- I fell in love with. It looked very beautiful on me. It was also a sample dress that was about 40% off, so it was marked down quite a bit. The only issue I had with it was it was diamond white, and I wasn't a huge fan of diamond white dresses. I would have been completely sold on the dress if it had a corset back, but it was a zip-up. We had one more dress pulled, and I figured I would try it anyway. It was also a different style than I had been trying, it was more ball gownish with tulle.
http://www.marysbridal.com/informal/2180.htm (I couldn't get the image off the site) - it doesn't look so good in this picture, but it was more of an ivory color and it had the corset back! It was beautiful and I loved it... but then I loved both dresses and couldn't decide! This dress was nearly $200 cheaper than the one above as well... but I wasn't so sure..

Our next stop, Brides of France in Minneapolis. They had little to choose from that wasn't their Pronovias La Sposa line (which takes more than 6 months to order), so I went to their other store in Edina, that had more off-the-rack dresses.
The first dress I pulled ended up being my dress, and once I put it on, I didn't take it off for at least 45 minutes! We ended up putting together a whole ensemble with a veil, jewelry and shoes and I was so in love. My mom said my face "lit up". Now the dress I ended up with, doesn't have a corset back either, but I wish it did haha. But it is so beautiful and I just knew it was my dress. After my experience in NY, I didn't think I would fall in love again. But I did. Sooo happy!
but I can't post pictures yet in case of my fiance finding my blog ;)

Until next time!!