Finding The Dress

Hi all!  Thank you so much for your nice comments and congratulations on my wedding sneak peek post!!  I gotta say…being married is AWESOME!!  So awesome I sorta just let time slip away…oops!

No worries…I plan to do a full recap of our Big Day very soon…but before I get started on all that fun-ness (aka. as I continue to wait for our pro pics!)…I figure I should back up a bit and fill you in on some stuff I didn’t get a chance to before the wedding!

Like say…MY DRESS!

Nebraska Wedding Getting Ready
Here she is hanging up…minutes before I put her on!  Notice the ugly plastic hanger…yeah just one of those things I forgot to do…wish I had ordered one of these instead!

From the moment I started looking at dresses in bridal magazines and online…I knew I wanted a simple lace dress.  No bling and no poof…Just lace, lace, and more lace! The first dress I fell in love with was Monique’s Scarlet…

Monique Lhullier Scarlet
{image via the knot}

However I knew it was going to be way out of my price range…Paying for the wedding on our own + buying a house = no Scarlet for Steph.

Nor was I brave enough to buy a pre-owned one online knowing that I wouldn’t be able to try it on first. So on the hunt I went…to find something similar but within my budget.

I tried on several beautiful gowns.  But…they just didn’t measure up….sure they were pretty…and I definitely felt pretty in them!  But none of them had the “look” I was really hoping for.

Trying on Bridal GownsTrying on Wedding Dresses
Sorry…not the best pics…every bridal store I went to had horrible lighting!

I was very close to just giving up on finding a lace dress that I loved.  So much so that I almost bought a plain silk gown that was fitted down through the hips with a sweetheart neckline and gathering on the side that made me look teeny-tiny…unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pics in that particular store but it looked kinda like this one…but better.

Finding a Wedding Dress

I decided to keep my faith alive and wait…knowing that I had plenty of time (it was only Feb of 09) to look for a dress.

Fast forward to June 09 when I was ready to start the hunt again.  I grabbed my fabulous friend Abby for moral support and headed to Mary’s Bridal in Salt Lake City, UT.

After trying on several dresses…similar in style to those I had tried on before…I was ready to pack it up and move on to the next place. Oh but then…THEN…one of the lovely consultants suggested I try on just one more…one she had in mind and thought would look great on me.

Well you can probably guess where this is going…the dress she brought out was IT!  I pretty much knew as soon as I unzipped that bag and saw the simplicity of it, the all over lace, and of course…the gorgeous open back.

Being the money-conscience shopper that I am I quickly eyed the price tag…and my heart sank.  It was about $800 more than I could spend.  I knew everyone was waiting for me to come out…(somehow I was the only person in there on a Saturday) so I threw it on…and I sorta slumped out hoping it looked awful on me and that I would hate it.

Of course i didn’t though…I LOVED it!

St Pucci Sposa GownSt Pucci Sposa Gown Back

So did Abby…and the 3 ladies working.  When they asked me what I thought…I said I loved it…but it was out of my price range.  Then one of the sales girls said something amazing, “I’ll give you %40 off that dress…if you buy it off the rack“.   Uh what?!  Being the math nerd that I am…I quickly ran the numbers in my head…and holy bananas…it was suddenly within my budget!  Abby and I did a full inspection of the dress searching for any small imperfection, rip, tear…anything that would make buying the dress a mistake.  We couldn’t find anything…so I bought it!!

I went home a happy bride and the proud owner of a St Pucchi ‘Sposa’ gown…my hunt was over…I had found the most beautifully perfect lace dress!

Now if you notice, the sash on the original dress has bling all the way around it…and a jewel-type thing on the back. I was not a huge fan of this…so we took it off…and replaced it with a brand new sash to be tied in a bow.

Dress Hunting in Salt Lake CityMarys Bridal Salt Lake City
the photo on the right was taken at my final fitting….all ready to go!!

I absolutely adored my dress.  I felt amazing on my wedding day…as every bride should!

So there you have it…the story of how I found my dress!!  How about you?  Did you find your dream dress right away….or did it take a bit of digging?

* all photos via author’s personal collection unless otherwise noted