I said YES to the dress!!

Y’all, I’ve been watching “Say Yes to the Dress” since I was in elementary school. During every episode, a bride walks into the bridal salon with her momma and grandma by her side, tries on beautiful white gowns, and finds the dress that they will marry the love of their life in. I’m so happy to share that I finally had that moment I’ve thought about for so long and found my dream wedding dress!

We looked at a couple of places but all had to meet one criteria: availability to buy off the rack. To order a dress straight from a designer, you should expect to wait 6-8 months. I obviously don’t have that much time between now and October so choosing somewhere that I could buy the dress and take it home with me the very same day was a must! If you’re having a shorter engagement or are well within 6-8 months before you’re wedding day, there are lots of bridal boutiques that can accommodate you — don’t let friends tell you otherwise! The one’s that I looked into were Anjolique Bridal & Formal, Jillian’s Bridal Outlet, and Here and Now Bridal.

I’m not going to lie, the experience was quite different than I imagined that it would be, mostly due to COVID. Many stores were limiting the amount of guests that could bring with you, obviously to comply with social distancing guidelines. I am incredibly thankful that I was still able to bring my momma, sister, and Mawmal with me to shop for a dress. I seriously couldn’t imagine not having them by my side during this important life moment!! While I would have loved to have my bridesmaids and future mother-in-law join, it just wasn’t possible given the situation. However, I was happy to show them photos of my dress and celebrate with them separately after!

For obvious reasons, I’m not going to share a picture of my dress until our wedding day but I thought it might be nice to leave you with a couple of takeaways from my shopping experience!

1. Be open to trying things outside of your comfort zone! Everyone says this but it’s so true. I came in thinking I was going to get a particular type of dress and ended up with something completely different! You never know what you might find and end up loving more that you could have ever dreamed.
2. Don’t be afraid to speak up to your bridal consultant! Bridal consultants are trained to listen for your likes and dislikes. Being completely honest with them while you’re trying on dresses is incredibly helpful to narrow down the type of gown you’re actually looking for. Try to be specific in your feedback, narrowing it down to fit, color, details, etc. can really speed along the process.
3. You know when you know! I found myself comparing all of the dresses to “that one I really liked before” and that’s when I knew I had found my wedding dress. Odds are, if you’re playing the comparison game and everything leads back to one dress, you’ve already made that choice in your heart 🙂
4. See your top dress choices in a picture before you make your decision! At the end of the day, the dress can look beautiful in person but you’re only going to wear it one day in your life. Make sure that you’ll love it just as much in photos when you’re looking back 30 years down the road to ensure that it is just as flattering behind the lens as it is in person!
5. It’s okay to not choose your accessories the same day! You just made a huge decision on your dress. Don’t settle for a veil or shoes that you’re not absolutely in love with. I didn’t find any that I liked on the day that I found my dress and that’s okay!

Finding my dream dress to wear as I marry my dream man was such a magical moment and one that I will cherish forever! I can’t wait for you all to see it in less than 100 days 🙂