The Book Addict’s Wedding [1] – The Dress

Hi, friends! I’m trying something new here where I post a few updates on my wedding planning and wedding thoughts. I didn’t really want wedding things sort of “taking over”, so to speak, so I’m making little notes and thoughts along the way and will post on weekends!

So this is update #1 and although I’m already mid-way through the wedding planning, I’m just starting now. Oops, sorry! So I’ll just fill you in a little bit to start — So far I’ve got my hall, chapel, and DJ booked. Check is in the mail for our photographer and I just sent out a feeler to a florist to see what they can offer in terms of flowers (which I really know NOTHING about). I went dress shopping over Easter weekend and guess what… I picked one!! I went back just this past Sunday and put my money down for my dress and it has been ORDERED. What a weird and exciting feeling! (And also a motivation to start doing arm workouts hahaha)

wedding

So I purchased my dress from a little shop in the suburbs and it was SUCH a pleasant experience. It was the first place we went to and my mom and my sister came with me for the dress shopping experience. I was so happy to have both of them there, especially since my sister lives in Wisconsin and I don’t get to see her as often as I’d like! The staff was so incredibly helpful and friendly and the lady I was working with really listened to all of my feedback and picked incredibly appropriate dresses for me, but still pushed the limit a little bit to make sure I was really trying on a good variety. The very first dress I tried on, I fell in love with. I put it on and actually got a little teary! I told myself, “No, no, it’s the first dress and you’re just emotional about wedding dress shopping” but I tried on many more dresses that day and that was the only one I really LOVED. It was really the only one that felt like ME. I pondered it over for almost a full week and I came to three conclusions: 1) I hate appointments and really didn’t want to go hopping around to other bridal shops that take at least 45 minutes to get to, 2) If I decided to go another weekend, my sister wouldn’t be able to come with again and most importantly 3) I really liked that dress.

Deciding to buy it was a really scary thing though! I’ve bought plenty of prom dresses (most of which just happened to fall at my feet and totally on sale) but come on, buying a WEDDING DRESS is not like buying a prom dress. This is THE DRESS. The most important one of your life. (Unless maybe you’re going to a major awards show or something.) I just felt a lot of pressure to make sure it was the right one. Were misty eyes enough to tell me that or should I have been bawling big, fat tears? True, it was a motivating factor that I didn’t want to go to other appointments because they just take up so much time but that should never be the reason WHY I buy my dress. With such a big decision on my shoulders, I just couldn’t tell if I really felt like this was THE ONE or if there really was something better out there. I debated about it for most of the week and finally decided that this was my dress. I kept looking back at the picture my sister had taken with me in it and still really felt like it embodied both me and the general feeling of what I wanted my wedding to be. It fit well and was well within my price range. But most importantly, I kept looking back at the photos of all the dresses I knew I wasn’t going to pick and how much I hated those and loved THE ONE.

I think the hardest thing for me is that I’m not a dress person. The only fancy dresses I’ve really bought were for prom and they were just purchased because of price range and convenience. Those shouldn’t be the same reasons I bought my wedding dress, right? Well I finally realized that they SHOULD. I can’t remember who told me this (or if I had read it somewhere), but I had to go back and think about this:

Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean it’s not supposed to be — don’t make things harder than you have to.

Sure, finding my dress seemed to easy — or was it supposed to be easy, like my big dress purchases had been in the past? I was always told you just KNOW when you find your wedding dress and yet, I had so many feelings like I just wasn’t sure. I talked it over with my mom and she asked me this: “If you buy it, do you think you’d have buyer’s remorse? Would you want to go look for other dresses?” And I knew the answer to both was no. Every other dress I had tried on that day, I was comparing to the first and how those just weren’t it.

I finally decided to take the plunge and purchase it! I had my dress fitting just this past Sunday and put my money down for my wedding dress. It will take a few months to come in and I should be getting a phone call in September when it arrives for another fitting! Very exciting things. It’s also always nice to have another thing crossed off my list because I know they’ll just keep coming and coming!

As much as I’m sure you all want to see it, I’m actually going to refrain from posting pictures of my dress on the internet for now! Shane and I want the reveal to be a surprise and it’s hard enough trying to keep the pictures a surprise from him so far with pictures being on my phone when I go to show him pictures of other things! I promise I’ll be posting pictures after the wedding but for now I’m keeping photos of the dress moderately private. We’re REALLY good at spoiling things for each other so I’m trying REALLY hard! 😀

 

Hi, I'm Brittany!
Hi, I'm Brittany!

I'm an avid reader, candle-maker, and audiobook lover! Here you'll find book reviews, fun blog posts, and my other loves of photography & craft beer!

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10 thoughts on “The Book Addict’s Wedding [1] – The Dress

  1. Jen

    Yayyyy so exciting! I was the same way with a lot of things when I got married. The dress was actually the hardest! But a lot of things were just kind of right, right away–it sure made things easier! I hope it all goes super smoothly and the planning is just plain fun!

  2. Nicole @ The Quiet Concert

    Congratulations Brittany! I’m so excited for you. I haven’t planned a wedding myself, but when it comes to big purchases in general I get very nervous taking the plunge. I typically think on it for a bit and if I find that I can’t stop thinking about whatever it is I want to buy, and don’t stop wanting it, that’s typically a good sign that I should get it! So far that has worked for me :). Ash can probably relate to this a little better than I can. She bought her dress too!

  3. Rebecca @ The Library Canary

    So excited for you!!! You want to hear a funny story? I got my wedding dress on Ebay. Yep. $160, custom made to order. It was beautiful and I absolutely loved it. I did miss out on the whole experience, but to me that was just kind of a pain and too many choices makes me nervous. So I took a risk with the dress online and it was perfect. Can’t wait to see pictures after the wedding!

  4. Alexa S.

    It’s super exciting to read about your wedding planning process, B! I can’t wait for your big day, as I’m sure it’s going to be lovely. Your dress experience sounds like it was lovely (compared to some horror stories I’ve heard). I never got to go through the whole process of visiting wedding boutiques and trying on gowns (since I had mine made based on a friend’s design), but if I had, I would’ve wanted to have an experience like yours!

  5. Stormy

    yayy for the dress! I’m glad it was such an easy experience for you–and you teared up, aww! Oh, and keeping the reveal a secret is fun!! It must be hard with pictures and such but I love the idea of keeping the dress a secret.

  6. acps927

    I remember dress shopping for my wedding, and even though I went to several stores, I went back to one of the first dresses I tried on during my first trip because it definitely felt right! Can’t wait to see pictures after the wedding! 🙂

  7. Ashley

    Congratulations on getting THE dress! It sounds like you had a pretty good experience. Mine was actually pretty similar. The one I bought wasn’t the first one I tried on, but it was from the first store I went to (I only ended up going to 2 stores). I didn’t think I’d find THE dress at the first store, but I did!

    I actually went and picked up the dress today because it just got in. 😀

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