Wedding Dress!!

Over at Kelly's Korner today, since the home tours are done, she's moved onto wedding dress tours! I love this one! I have always always always loved formal gowns and it was such a treat my senior year of high school when I got to buy TWO wedding dresses for my senior presentations. I couldn't wait for when I would get to pick out by wedding dress because that is the ultimate formal gown!!

I bought mine from this awesome store in Austin, Seredipity Bridal - I highly recommend it. They have a great selection and I love the ladies that work there. Right after I got engaged, I dragged my bridesmaids to David's Bridal because I was sure I could cut wedding costs with a dress from there and it would look just as pretty. And I found some nice ones. Then I went to Serendipity for fun...and saw you really got what you paid for there! My mom and I talked and decided we could cut costs in other ways - I wanted a designer gown! It was very expensive, but worth every penny to me to feel the way I felt in it. The first time I looked I tried on a ton of princess-y gowns, very ornate, very very very expensive. I was sure I wanted a tulle skirt, very poofy, lots of sparkles and a tiara. So I went back with just one bridesmaid to a trunk show for Judd Waddel (his gowns were 15% off that day!). The first dress I tried on was an ivory color, which I didn't think I wanted, but the color was gorgeous. It was very simple - strapless, A-line, not poofy, very slight train and just a line of sparkles around the waist and down the back. It was gorgeous! My friend Sarah said, that's the one! I spotted another one I wanted to try on my way in, a gorgeous Amsale ballgown. Very different from the first dress. And to my mom's dismay was not on sale! :) But I put it on and that was it! Sarah said, okay, call your mom, this is THE one! I originally was going to get married in July, but we pushed it back to December so I could graduate, and I think it was more of a winter dress anyway. Here it is in the store:

The fabric was just gorgeous, and I loved that there was some sparkle, but not all over.

The back bustle - there was a small train, and I got a gorgeous broach to pin where it was bustled...not sure where it is or any pictures of it though...

I did not get a tiara like I thought I wanted, but my veil was beautiful and has sparkles placed all over it. I LOVED my veil - I wore it the whole reception!

I got these small chandelier earrings from the store also for $20. They added just some sparkle - I was going to wear my mom's pearls but I didn't think pearls went with my dress. I ended up wearing her gold diamond tennis bracelet as my something borrowed and something old! :)

With my grandma (Granmomo) and mom at the shop! The dress fit perfectly in the size I ordered - I think it might have just been hemmed an inch or two. But I could be making that up. I do remember at my last fitting the alteration lady telling me "no bread, drink lots of water." I did not work out or anything before the wedding and I swear it is by the grace of God that I ended up having a skinny day (skinny for me, anyway!).

My bridal portrait at Champions Golf Club, where our reception was.

Getting dressed at the church! (Jeremy would have been listening to the Longhorns plays Iowa State in the Holiday Bowl in the parking lot right about now...)

My brand new hubby & me! (Don't worry, the Longhorns won.)

Leaving the reception! I definitely got handfuls of petals down my dress!

So in the end, no sparkles all over, no tiara, no tulle. But I felt like a real princess! I think my dress is still hanging at my mom's house - we haven't gotten it heriloomed or anything. I can't decide what I want to do with it. I'd love to do something sentimental, but at the same time, that's what pictures are for. My mom worked so hard to plan every last detail of my wedding and to give me everything I wanted, I almost just want her to sell it! I'll have to bring it up with her at dinner tonight.

*All black & white photos by Memories by Maryanne Photography.