I said, 'YES!'

To a wedding dress that is :) Last weekend, while my rents were in town - I found and bought my wedding dress. And I. Am. Pumped!

I'll go ahead and tell you up front that I'm not going to post any pictures of the dress on the blog. Javs is an avid editor and writer (although we hasn't posted in a while) and I don't want to take that chance that he'll see it!

A few things to talk about wedding dress wise:

Wedding trend - First Look

This is a current wedding trend that we will not be including on our big day. (To everyone who isn't familiar - the 'First Look' is a staged meeting of the bride and groom before their ceremony. A lot of couples like it because 1) you get a special moment alone together before the ceremony 2) you can get some really fun pictures of the groom getting that first glance at his hot, soon-to-be-wife in her awesome dress (example right) and 3) it means you can take wedding party pics pre-wedding and enjoy your cocktail hour with your guests) I go back and forth on the first look. I think its a great idea (for all of the reasons stated above) but also see the fun of a the traditional 'walk down the aisle reveal.' Javs however felt very strongly about the first look idea. He is a no go. Since he felt so strongly about wanting to wait to see me and the dress until that big moment, I was happy to concede and wait for the aisle to see him on that day.

I think I was a super lucky bride as far as shopping goes. I got to go several times, I never had any entourage issues during my sessions aaaannnnddd I ended up buying my dress just as I hit that frustration point.

**Advice Alert** I think its not the number of folks you bring with you but who you bring with you.

Don't get me wrong - I certainly wouldn't suggest bringing a gaggle of folks with you when you go shopping. The most I ever had along for the ride on my shopping excursions was 5 (two bridesmaids, MOH and parent 1 & 2). (That's right - my Dad went shopping with me and it was awesome and he totally rocked out some good opinions!) Now I've seen some horrific episodes of Say Yes to the Dress where 12 bridesmaids are yelling or shaking their heads or, worse, laughing at brides as they come out of the dressing room. You want to cry for the bride because she can't even get a word in edge wise - let alone block out the wave of opinions crashing over her. My group must have seen and felt for these brides too because they stayed heavily on the other side of the spectrum. They of course reacted to some gorgeous dresses with the appropriate 'ooooos' and 'aaaaaahs' - but it was really only when I asked, 'Did you like this one or that one better?' or 'What do you think about this one?' before anyone spoke up with real opinions.

I, of course, wanted their opinions because its a big decision - but also because (like most 'wedding' events I'm learning) its kind of overwhelming. There is a lot to think about and consider and at the same time you're desperately trying to soak up that holycrapi'mwearingaweddingdress! feeling. So its nice to have people 1) you trust and 2) who love you (this is an important part of the 'who' that you invite) there to shed some perspective on the dresses. The perfect example came when I was talking to Jess about two dresses I really liked - I told her that I remembered they were very similar on the bottom. She remembered that one had far more tulle than the other - making it more poofy. Oh yeah.....I had completely forgotten and/or not noticed in the excitement of liking a dress. Glad she was there. Glad she remembered. So that I could take that into consideration :)

If you bring the right people with you = the people who care most about your happiness, then I think you'll be okay. In the end, I knew it was me that was going to have to pick my dress. And I knew that it would probably mean picking one that wasn't everyone's favorite. But I think that would probably be true no matter how many people you brought. So bring people that you think will give you insightful opinions and understand when you don't share theirs.

How I found the dress in a nutshell:
I was lucky enough to have all my bridesmaids and both parents with me when I went shopping for the first time. The first dress I tried on I called a Scarlet O'Hara dress. It had a huge hoop skirt with scalloped layers of lace fabric covering the whole thing. It. was. awesome. But so not my wedding dress and so not me. But super fun to try on and definitely a WOW. These two ideas were the ones I kept battling between when I found dresses I liked. 1) I knew I wanted a WOW dress - which to me equated to something different and 2) I wanted to still feel like me when I was wearing it. (I know that sounds a little funny - cause I so rarely wear wedding dresses these days, but you'd be surprised how it feels and how easily I felt like me or didn't in some dresses) We left the first shop with two favorites - both super different and both Romona Keveza designs. I have to point out that we couldn't help but feel a connection to Romona after my consultant said her last name quickly: 'Keveza' and we all heard 'Cabezas' (or something close to it - that Javs...he's apart of this too). It felt like it was a good sign. (That and the woman knows how to make a wedding dress let me tell you.)

I'll spare you the details in the middle, but several shops and dresses later - we had it down to two at Ellie's in Alexandria and the two Romona Kevezas at Hannelore's. Now, there was a two month span between our first shopping trip and the one where we found the two winners at Ellie's - so we decided it was important to go back and try on Keveza's to see if we really loved them or if we had simply been swept up in first time excitment. After my consultant, Katherine, remarked at her surprise to see us after 2 months - she started pulling my dresses to re-try, but slipped in that they had received some new Romona Kevezas since I had been in. With some hestiation I did a quick scan of the new stuff (I was trying to narrow down at this point - not expand my options) but, of course, one new dress caught my eye and I asked to bring it into the dressing room as well. She suggested we try the new one on first. She zipped it up and I think I all but yelled 'oh my god.' And then I walked out to mom and dad and they (having heard my 'OMG') responded with a, 'WOW.'

It was different. It was beautiful. It was me. I think Javs is going to love it. It was my dress!! I didn't cry, but I did jump up and down for joy. It was the first dress I was super excited about and one that I didn't have to analyze in the mirror for several minutes to explain to myself what I liked about it. I just loved it. Period. Dot. Done. We bought it on the spot and I think Katherine was equally excited as all of us (she'd closed a 2 month sale!). We ended up right back where we started, happy and with a Keveza! I'm sure it won't be everyone else's favorite dress and there might even be a few who strongly dislike it - but like so many other wedding details- it fit for me and for our wedding so I'm pumped to mark another check off the list :)