... our rustic wedding: THE Dress

say hello to wedding wednesday. hello.

we all got together one day (not an easy task)

and explored j.crew, shared some time, had a yummy lunch, and found my dress.

oh, how that sounds soooo easy on paper.

after hours of searching online, i had a vision in my head:

wants: lace, mermaid/flare, fitted gorgeous dress.

do not wants: ball gown, satin, poofy.

so my mom, my sister, and my girlfriends gathered in the early morning - coffee in hand.

- to the first dress shop. It was very boutique-y, we had the store to ourselves, and I felt like a bride. {Probably tried on 10 gowns, one with a horse’s tail, one we dubbed the Alli-dress and we noted our favorites.}

- to the second dress shop. A discount off-the-rack more for prom shopping – in and out. {and I think my sister tried on a junior prom dress just for fun, she’s 31… no proms in her near future}

- to the third dress shop. Seriously, I swear there WAS a third but I guess that day was such a blur, I’m drawing a blank. mighty?

- and the last stop – david’s bridal {just to get an idea of what I like.} The sales woman grabbed the dresses I saved as favorites in my online account and we went to town. no, no, no, eh, no.

so the day was winding down, we were wrapping up, mamas had to get home to their little ones, and we had all our notes {on prob 40+ dresses} to pick-up where we left off on another day...

“we like this about that dress, hate that part… take the top from that one, and the bottom from that one, and the sash from that one, put them together with a different texture…”

one last check of the favorites to make sure we didn’t miss anything.

ok, I’ll try this one and this one and then we are out the door.

first one – big fat NOPE.

second one – very last one of the day – and the crowd goes silent.

‘mrs. carson’ hanger gift J

“I don’t hate it.”
"I mean, I actually like this one…"
"I guess there’s nothing I don’t like about this one…"
"I really love the seaming and structure. love the neckline. love the belt."
"It’s really comfy…"
"hmmmm… I think I kinda love it."

and it’s a poofy, satin, ballgown.
and it’s from david’s bridal.
and it’s on sale… wait, what? It’s on sale? … sold.

french bustle {classiest in my opinion}

moral of the story, you can search & plan & dream & imagine…
but when you have THE dress on, you will just know you love it.

to read more of 'our rustic wedding' journey... take a look at these past posts:

Save The Dates

Invitations

Welcome Your Guests

Keep Them Happy

The Ladies: dresses + shoes

xo - heather