A Dress Designed Just For Me

The words that every Bride wants to say, “I found the dress” were said on May 22nd at Brilliant Bridal in Denver, Colorado. As I said in the last post, wedding dress shopping turned out to be AMAZING!

Since I shopped at an off-the-rack boutique, I got to take my dress home with me that day!

I want to put this out there because I went in for my appointment with one type of dress in mind and walked out with something completely opposite. Be open minded while shopping. It will truly allow you to determine your wedding style. Now I am not saying not to go Pinterest crazy and collect inspiration – do it, but pin a few extras that are maybes as well. The dress is going to help bring your vibe all together on your special day.

Another good thing to know before shopping is to know your budget! The last thing you want to do is fall in love with a dress your can’t afford. Taylor was amazing at helping with all of these things. Shopping alone I was prepared with a price point in mind and even though I was nervous about my own style choices and making the right decision, I decided to trust my gut and put my trust in myself that it would feel right when it was right.

At first when I arrived at my appointment, I am not going to lie I was disappointed that I did not have the ring of onlookers watching as I tried on my dresses. There were only three other shoppers in the store – each with a mom or a friend. But honestly, after zipping through trying on 10 dresses in one appointment – I knew the feeling was real when I found the one. The dress was by designer Christina Wu with House of Wu.

As I looked down at the dress I knew it was THE ONE.

The dress almost fit me perfectly minus a few pins here and there. It was a fit and flare, so the top was extremely flattering while the bottom was open which allowed me space to move my legs for our desert adventure.
The dress had the perfect amount of shimmer and sparkle without being too much. Getting married in a gorgeous landscape, I knew I wanted a dress with some shimmer, but not enough to look out of place. I also read that you should NEVER decide not to get a real wedding dress for your elopement if that is what you want – and I did not go to prom so I wanted a dress of all dresses.
The dress was unique in all of the ways I was. The geometric pattern was nothing I had seen before anywhere – not on Pinterest, not on wedding blogs and I loved that! Our day was a unique day that we planned with a unique destination vibe and this was the perfect dress for the occasion.

I tried on THE ONE three times before I said yes!

As you can see by my favorite new fashion accessory – the mask – I got to experience it all. I got to try on a veil and prance around the store while Taylor held my phone so that my mom and sister could see the gorgeous train following behind me as I walked. As I spoke to my mom and sister on facetime I pointed out:

The beading: beading lined both straps and along the front of the bodice area. the neckline was adorned in gorgeous little details and beading that made it perfect to wear without additional accessories like a necklace which is what I wanted.
The pattern: geometric patterns are my favorite and I love the diamonds and shapes within the lace print in this dress. I also loved the overlay of sheer lace that was on top of the dress to allow the shimmer to be tamed down to the perfect amount of sparkle for our day. The pattern also fit perfectly with our desert moon vibe and matched perfectly with my studded white booties.
The price: shopping at Brilliant Bridal, I had saved my 25% off from the Bridal Show and this dress was in my budget. I could not believe that I was going to get this dress for under my budget – it was like a dream come true.

After talking my mom down (she was insisting I wait and go shopping with her the following month) – I told Taylor to wrap it up, she was coming home with me today! Taylor got everything together for me and even helped me with a dress bag as well. Thank goodness for this – because with the amount of dog hair in my house the dress would have been hairy within an hour lol.

During checkout, she explained to me what next steps I needed to take as far as tailoring goes. I had NO CLUE about tailoring or the costs associated with them. Two notes here: be prepared to pay for a good tailor and be prepared to pay a decent amount for a great job.

Taylor thankfully recommended a fantastic local tailor in the area Donna Beth Creations. They were amazing and their shop – holy gorgeousness! I felt like royalty walking in to the shop and every moment of the way they were there to help and offer advice. Even when I lost it and started crying because all I wanted was my mom to be there to give me advice on what to do next.