“The Dress”

I mentioned last week that I was doing something very exciting this past weekend that was wedding related.

I was very excited to shop for my wedding dress. My mom, my aunt and my girlfriend Sarah came with me to try on dresses. I should mention ahead of time that I will not be showing my dress before the wedding but I will tease you with the details 🙂 Sounds fair?

I love to do scrapbooking but in a way, the blog has sort of replaced that creative outlet and I’m fine with that. If you’ve read my wedding planning posts, it is written as if I was doing my scrapbook.

Lets walk through how I chose my wedding dress, shall we?

I’ve been lucky in that my wedding planning has not been stressful and I have enjoyed every step of the way. I want to remember every detail and every step of the process during my wedding planning.

Since we were early for our appointment, we took advantage of the extra time and visited flowers shops to get some ideas on the centerpieces for the wedding.

Even though our wedding and the reception will be on the beach, and the natural surrounding will be a great backdrop for the night, I still want to add flowers and decorations to enhance the ambience and to add more romance 🙂

I want something romantic, but not too stuffy or big. I want the flowers to blend in with the tropical feel.

I got some really great ideas for flower arrangements. (more pictures on the floral arrangements here).

Then it was time to try on wedding dresses. I went to one of the largest bridal salon in California, it’s in Orange County called Mon Amie Bridal Salon. They offer the largest and finest collection of couture designer bridal gowns on the West Coast.

With 4,000 dresses in-house, I’m glad I did my research ahead of time and knew what style of dress I wanted. But I was also open to trying other styles and some couture gowns that I know was out of my price range, just for fun 🙂

We were assigned a room where we were met with my own stylist. We talked about location of the wedding, price range and what type of dresses I wanted.

I told her no princess ball gowns because I will sweat to death at the beach and I don’t want to carry a 10lb skirt on the sand.

I like pretty details but not too much. I don’t want to look like a peacock.

I’ve learned over the years the type of clothes that are flattering for my body, with my long torso, it actually works to my advantage in this case.

After 10 dresses or so, each of them I liked but didn’t really love…

Then I put on the “The Dress”.  We have been trying on dresses inside our special room, but for this dress…my stylist asked me to go outside with better lighting. She handed me a bouquet of flowers where I walked down a long aisle and towards a huge mirror so I can see myself from head to toe and glimpse of what it will look like 5 months from now.

My mom, my aunt and my friend waited at the end of the aisle. Once I reached them, I stood on a pedestal.

All zipped up, beadings lined up, train all laid out…as I turned around and saw a glimpse of myself in front of the mirror, I knew it was the one 🙂

I looked like me but “the bride” version of me, it was my style and I loved it. It was easy to move around, it flattered my body and it made me look taller.

Everyone was teary eyed.

My dress is by Justin Alexander. It’s modern but with a traditional silhouette.

I’m so excited and I haven’t been able to stop looking at the pictures. I can’t wait to unveil it after the wedding 🙂

How about the shoes? Well, lets save that for another time.