If you follow me on Instagram, then you already know that I tried on wedding dresses last weekend at Lovely Bride in Pasadena. If you are a bride-to-be, I highly recommend checking out one of their locations. It's such a dreamy place to play dress up. :) I haven't said yes to the dress just yet, but I have my 2nd appointment this weekend and I think I will be able to say YES to my gown!!
So a little background. I've modeled wedding gowns for the past 6 years, which has helped me see what dresses I like, and also see what silhouettes don't look so good on me. This made me confident that I knew exactly what I wanted. Or so I thought. I'm going to be real + honest with you, wedding dress shopping was not as easy as I thought it would be. As I've gone through this process, there are a few things that have come up that I want to share with you babes along with some advice for you if you are getting ready to book your try on appointment :) HUGE reminder that all emotions are GOOD + HEALTHY. Feel them, and don't ever feel bad about them.
... even styles that you think you'll hate. Hear me out. I tried on a peachy toned gown, a bodice gown, and a few other styles that I didn't think I would love. I was pleasantly surprised that each gown had something that I really liked, and it helped me narrow down what I was actually looking for in my dream wedding dress. I know for a fact that I want either long sleeves or statement arm sleeves (if i choose a strapless dress). Just knowing this makes the selection process that much easier :) There are SO many beautiful dresses at Lovely Bride, and it's easy to get overwhelmed. Just try on anything that remotely catches your eye, because you don't want to make your final choice and then regret not trying something that you could have potentially loved even more. Make sure you take a photo in each gown so that when you go home, you can review them. You may end up looking though photos and like a dress more than you thought you did while in the bridal salon. (which is what happened to me)
I've noticed that throughout this process, most of my stress has been coming from wanting to make everyone else happy. This is my best and worst quality, and it's really been making my life messy lately. The best advice I can give is to focus on yourself and what YOU want on your big day. Your wedding day is a day that you get to be selfish and make choices solely based on what you (and your husband-to-be) want. I have had to tune out opinions and focus hard on what I truly want when it comes to several things, but especially my wedding gown. I am absolutely in love with Rue de Seine gowns, and have always envisioned myself in a statement dress. Rue gowns pair embroidery with tassels, and are admittedly very busy. Someone made a comment that I should be wearing something simple and let myself be the center of attention, and not the have the dress steal the show. I'm not gonna lie, when I heard this, it made me start second guessing what direction I want to go with a gown. It frustrated me because I spent 6 years knowing what I want in a dress, and to have one comment totally throw me off was not fun. I spent a ton of time on Pinterest looking at real Rue weddings, and solidified that my original opinion is truly how I feel. I still totally want that crazy perfect bohemian gown. Here is a link to my Pinterest if you want to see where we are headed with our wedding theme.
guys this is so hard! I tried on all of my dream gowns I saw online, and had mixed emotions as I put them on. I think I got in my own way because I was waiting for that "this is the one" moment. I wish I could combine 2 dresses into one. One dress had the perfect sleeves and one dress had perfect everything else. After I went home, I reviewed all the photos I took while shopping and figured out what the issue was. I chose gowns that had nude slips, so they weren't the classic stark white gown I had envisioned. Since I have a second appointment with Lovely Bride this weekend, I am going to try on all my favorites again, but with white slips this time. I think this is going to give me that ah-ha moment. :)
I will keep you posted xx
