Say Yes to the Dress

Okay, here is the deal. I have been battling with this post for a while. How do I talk about this very important moment in the wedding planning process without giving too much away? I hold very firm to the superstition that the groom should not see the bride (or the dress) before she walks down the aisle. He shouldn’t even know what it looks like. In fact, no boys should see the dress. We do not speak of the dress. It is sacred.

This is difficult for me. I am a horrible liar. Bryan can read me like a book. So I avoid dress questions like the plague. But, today I will share a little bit about my experience finding the dress. Okay, here goes nothing.

1. Try on many different styles.  Some of them will look bad on you. That is okay. That means you can rule it out. HOWEVER, something that you did not expect to look good, will look awesome. Expect the unexpected. You do this once (hopefully), so just have some fun!

2. Your body shape will impact your decision. As someone who is short and petite, the sample dresses swallowed me! As a younger bride, that was exactly what I did not want. I felt like a child trying on my mother’s dress. Not. Very. Bridal. When I looked on pinterest, I imagined my face on the model’s body and I looked hot in every dress. In real life, that was not the case. I am also lacking in the chest area, which made every dress look even sillier on me. Needless to say, my dress will be receiving some alterations. And that is okay. 

3. The dress may or may not look like it does in the picture. I brought in a few pictures and when those dresses were pulled off of the rack, I was shocked. They looked like a totally different dress!

4. Pick something you like, not something you think your groom will like. Woah. Controversial. But really. Most of the wedding can be planned with your fiance, but YOU are the one who will be wearing the dress all night. You are the one who will look at the pictures, I would assume more than your groom. AND if you are marrying a decent human being, hopefully they will think you look beautiful no matter what you are wearing. Thanks to Momma Moss for this piece of advice.

5. You might not get “the feeling.” Because everything I tried on was really big, it was hard to imagine what it was going to look like when it actually fit. The veil makes it better, but it can only do so much. My family and friends were really helpful and encouraging, holding things down or back so that I could get a good picture in my head. I did tear up, but I think I will be even more excited when it looks exactly how I want. You might get “the feeling” the first time you try it on, or you might get it when everything comes together. Don’t be discouraged! 

6. Dress sizes run much larger. So I normally wear about a 4 and I ordered my dress in a 10. Yikes! You would think the bridal industry would have fixed that by now…

7. Do your hair and make-up. I always feel so much better when I am put together. So wake up an hour earlier, bust out the curling iron and do what you need to do to feel awesome when you are staring at yourself in the mirror.

Moral of the story is that you will find a beautiful dress. Things will come together, and you will look beautiful on your big day. Use dress shopping as a way to hang out with your friends and family. And you get to play dress up! What more could a girl want?!

Side note: I got my beautiful dress at De Ma Fille in Fort Worth. It is down the street from TCU, which was convenient, and they had awesome customer service. I did not feel like I was being rushed and no one acted annoyed when I wanted to switch back and forth between two dresses about three or four times. When I finally found my dress, we received a champagne toast! It was a great way to end the morning.

Enjoy, y’all!

Rachel

P.S. Only 334 days until I’m a Mrs!