Tuesday, January 6, 2009

How I Tied the Knot: The Dress



Tonight, I received the sweetest e-mail from a reader of this little bloggity blog. It's the little things, like that e-mail and your comments, that remind me that this blog of mine isn't just something that only I enjoy. To know that pictures/ideas/details from my wedding or other pretty pictures from my blog have inspired even one person means so much. So thank you, for the time that you all spend reading this blog, for your comments and for your feedback! It is much appreciated and I hope that you keep coming back to visit. In her e-mail, MaryAnn {hi MaryAnn!} wanted to know a little bit more about my dress. I had previously posted about my dress in these posts, but I didn't really divulge all the details surrounding it. So here is my little recap of my dress search, where my dress is from and the lessons I learned while I hunted for the perfect dress. Shopping for my wedding dress wasn't too high up on my priority list. I'm not sure if it was because I was nervous I wouldn't be able to find one I liked or if it was because I wasn't thrilled by the idea of having to sift through racks and racks of dresses in multiple stores. To be honest, dress shopping didn't go too well. My first stop was David's Bridal {lest we forget I was on a budget!}. I found a dress I liked, but I wasn't in love with it. I went to every other bridal store around town, but all the dresses were either too expensive or didn't have what I was looking for. For about a month I searched and searched and wore myself out. I thought I would never find the dress. One day, I went back to the David's Bridal website and saw that the Spring line had arrived. I saw a couple dresses that I liked, so I went back to try them on. None of them were right. But my "bridal consultant" listened to all that I wanted in a dress and told me that she had "the perfect dress" from the new line that I hadn't already tried on. She brought it over, I tried it on and I was in love. It was the one. {note: this was when we couldn't find the top clasp to close my dress. i jumped on my blackberry and read a couple of my favorite wedding blogs to pass the time and distract myself from the fact that my dress wasn't clasping. Once again, I refer you to Lesson Learned #5. } The picture above really shows the detail of the dress and how beautiful it was. The picture below shows one of my favorite parts of the dress, the bustle. It was divine. The best part about the dress? It's price. $499 {after a coupon from a bridal show}. You can pick your jaw up now and wipe away the drool. So there you have it, the dress is from Davids Bridal and was quite affordable. Would you have guessed?!

Lesson Learned #15: Don't be scared to go to a "discount" shop like David's Bridal. Gorgeous dresses aren't only sold at boutiques.


Lesson Learned #16: Don't judge a dress before you try it on. This is what my dress looks like on-line, which is totally different from how it looks "for real." Since I didn't like the on-line image, I hadn't bothered to request to try it on at the store. Once I saw it on me, I was in love and couldn't believe I had overlooked it.


Lesson Learned #17: When I first started looking at dresses, I was convinced that I wanted a puffy princess-y dress. When I actually tried them on, that style looked horrible on me and I was lost inside a mound of tulle. Be willing to change the visions you have of your wedding dress once you really start to try them on since different dress styles look different on different body types.


Lesson Learned #18: Go back to stores that you have already visited to see if new lines/dresses have arrived since your last visit.


Lesson Learned #19: For most brides, alterations will cost about half as much the dress itself. Accept it. Find a different location for alterations, if possible. The store/boutique will cost substantially more than the women that your friends {or women on the knot local message boards} can suggest that performs alterations out of her home.


previously in the series, "how i tied the knot": getting ready, our first look, bouquets and boutonnieres, socks and shoes, bubbles and getting away, the cake, thank you cards, blurb guest book, outside the mansion


all pictures by: nicole green. please link back to tying the knot when posting any of these pictures.

12 comments:

~k said...

Wow! It is beautiful,AND SO PERFECT ON YOU!Just proves you don't have to spend a million bucks to look like it!(mine just so happened to have the same price tag)
All of your advice is right on target! Keep it up!!!!

andrea said...

Absolutely beautiful dress!!!! I too was on a budget while planning my wedding and I got my dress at David's Bridal as well. I'll get around to posting about the wedding eventually.

LauraAnn said...

I love love love your bustle! Everything about your wedding was gorgeous Jessica!

Adrienne said...

Your dress is amazing! Great find! And way to blog it out to de-stress your day....love it!

Unknown said...

Ohhh your dress is so pretty! I guess I should really check DB out. I only saw one online that I actually really liked. Thanks for the advice! :)

Elyzabeth said...

The dress looked very different online than on your body. My observation is that the one online is modeled on a very tall woman, making it look more like an A-cut dress. I'm not sure what your height is, but yours look more like mermaid-y, which is very very flattering on you.

Great job on the deal! You looked like a million buck.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Would love to see a DIY on how you tied the ribbon on your vases too!

Leah said...

Love your dress! I love how you managed to stay on a budget but still have such a classy wedding.

Ashley said...

Such a beautiful dress! I love that you used your crackberry to distract yourself during the clasp debacle - now that's being resourceful :)

Jennifer said...

Your dress looked so perfect on you! If it makes you look good and happy who cares how 'discount' it was!

Lesson #17...I did the same thing. I was lost in a pile of tulle, but I dreaded the awful A-line dress shape. In the end I settled for exactly what I wanted and spent only $200 on my attire for the day...with Grandma's help I just made the thing myself. {which I would not suggest unless you know a seamstress}

Mrs. Gibbons said...

Impressive. I never would have guessed your dress was from David's Bridal! However, you could have worn a paper bag and looked great!

Anonymous said...

I agree with #16. I did the same thing. I despised the dress and was forced into trying it on. Once it was one, I feel in love.