It didn’t hit me immediately – but when it did, my blood pressure shot through the roof. This might be the most important outfit choice of my entire life, and to top it all off, it had to be white. I mean really, who looks good in white?
Dress shopping could have been stressful, lucky for me, I have a mother in law that is an actual fashionista and a very straightforward honest mom – so for me, dress shopping was a breeze. I only went to a few bridal shops and with a very select group of people, to me, this was a sacred act and I liked keeping it intimate. And ladies, it was very intimate – those bridal stylists have no shame in helping you get into the tightest and largest gowns while you’re basically in your birthday suit! I actually had one woman get under my skirt to fix all of the tulle layers – those women are the true MVPs. After a few appointments, I realized that nothing made me feel like a bride – until I tried on one style I never saw myself liking: a ball gown! My mom thought I looked like a cupcake but from then on, I couldn’t get a big puffy tulle skirt out of my head. At an impromptu appointment at Unveiled in Washington Square with my mom, aunt and two bridesmaids in tow, I tried on a strapless, beaded, Lazaro horse hair trimmed ball gown just for fun. I walked out of the dressing room – after one of those fun, bridal stylist under the skirt situations, the waterworks began. I know that doesn’t happen for everyone, but if it does, BUY THAT DRESS!
Buying the dress is the easy part – what comes next is the hard part: alterations. You don’t want to let just anyone alter your wedding dress! After only one round of alterations, I was sent home with my dress. I woke up in a panic the following morning and drove directly to my mom’s house to try the dress on for her – the top of my dress wasn’t as fitted as I wanted it to be. I didn’t feel comfortable going back to the original seamstress, so I begged my mom, who in turn begged the seamstress that altered her wedding dress to fix it! I can’t give her a shout out because she doesn’t do wedding dresses anymore, but she seriously saved my dress and I am forever grateful to her! Oh right, and in all of that, I somehow lost my perfect ivory satin J. Crew pumps and didn’t realize until I was packing 1 week prior to wedding day. Thank goodness for Amazon’s amazing selection of shoes and Amazon Prime for that next day shipping!
Speaking of dresses, let’s talk about my gorgeous bridesmaids! Now, if you are going to commit to the mismatched bridesmaid dress trend like I did, you need to check your bridezilla’ness and type-A personality at the door.
Give them lots of inspiration pictures, color palettes and “feel” then leave your bridesmaids to do the shopping with you as final approval. It takes a lot of trust – especially for me, as I didn’t see all the bridesmaids together in their dresses until the day of my wedding. I really let my type-A personality go, but I think it was just the fact that I had 100 other things to worry about – and look how perfect it worked out!
Now on to the boys: this is an aspect that I truly let Z handle – I only regret this a teeny tiny bit! He really wanted a custom-made tuxedo and who am I to judge after my mom just bought a Lazaro gown that I was going to wear once?! Knowing that I wanted the guys to wear navy blue, Z wanted his tux to stand out a little bit and that’s how he landed on the gorgeous electric blue with black lapels! So, you heard me say navy groomsmen tuxedos, right? I swear I picked out the fabric, I know I at least made that decision. But, at my rehearsal dinner, the most responsible of groomsmen heard me mention their navy suits and reluctantly told me that their suits weren’t exactly navy. A small freak out happened and a lot of sweating, but at this point – what was I going to change? So, much like the bridesmaid’s dresses – I didn’t see the groomsmen suits until we met up with them on Race Street Pier for the first look. Thank goodness Z has great taste because as you see, it really worked out!