Our Lily Rose Collection is such a personal collection of dresses for us. The line is named after my two daughters, Rose and Lillian, and they are dresses chosen for our One Fine Day Brides whose wedding dress wishlist includes descriptors like: unique, timeless, and on-trend. This Spring we traveled to the Georgia coastline to photograph our newest Lily Rose arrivals and first up is our Magnolia gown!
She features a beaded lace bodice with delicate spaghetti straps.
The beading in the bodice is of clear beads, sequins and pearls for very ethereal looking beadwork.
Her skirt is made from my absolute favorite fabric, organza!
I love organza because of the way it moves. It will catch the breeze and float but won’t get too crazy because it does have more weight to it than a tulle does.
While it has more weight than a tulle, it isn’t as heavy as lace or mikado which make it the perfect fabric for my romantic brides.
I’m am a bit biased, though, because my wedding dress had an organza skirt!
She is a beautiful fit and a timeless gown that will have a classic look in pictures while bringing the sparkle and romance to your wedding day!
Our Sample Sale Pinterest Page is linked here! This will let you pre-shop the sale and lets you get an idea of prices, sizes and looks! The accessories and bridesmaids in the sale aren’t on the Pinterest Pages.
Let’s go over some of our frequently asked questions for our sample sale!
Do I need an appointment to look at Bridesmaids or Accessories!
Yes! In order for us to watch capacity and protect social distance guidelines, we need to know how many people will be in the store and when. Even if you just want to buzz in during your lunch hour to look at veils, give us a call with a general time and we’ll write you down!
If needed, you can call us and say you’re headed our way to look at accessories. As long as we have a heads up, that will be great!
What sizes are in the sale?
Bridal sizes 10-30 and keep in mind bridal sizing is tricky! A bridal size 12 is similar to a street clothes 8. The sample sale is ideal for brides who are street clothes 6, 8, 10, 12, 18, 20,22, 24, 26, & 28.
Dresses can easily be altered down 2 sizes and can be released 1 size. As your consultant works with you, we can talk through the alterations that will be needed and whether or not they’ll be possible. We don’t want to sell you a dress that can’t be altered to fit you!
Do you do alterations?
We don’t! However, we have a list of 4 local seamstresses who have been used by past One Fine Day Brides. We trust their work and are confident they will be able to take in or let out your dress as needed!
“I’d like to spend $600 on my dress, is that possible?”
For sure! Here is a quick breakdown of our prices: there are 13 dresses that will be priced at $350 & 40 dresses under $1,000. Our highest priced sample will be $1,650.
What are the price ranges on accessories?
Veils will range from $95-$350. Earrings will range from $25-$95. Headpieces will range from $75-$115.
What’s the deal with bridesmaid dresses?
They will be on sale for $45 + tax each! That’s right, $45!! There will be a lot in popular colors as well like blush, black, & burgundy!
What forms of payment do we take?
We take all credit cards and cash! We don’t accept checks at our sample sale events.
“What color should I choose?” is hands-down, our most frequently asked question through DMs and private messages! Most of these questions come from brides across the country who didn’t purchase their dress with us but I love that they trust us enough to ask our opinion!
Prepare yourself because I’m going to give you an annoying response to this question: there is no wrong answer! Seriously! Nowadays, there is no right or wrong answer to which color you should order your wedding dress in. In (not so many years ago) it was a crazy idea to wear a color in your wedding dress. In 2019, we did roughly 50% Ivory, 50% Color (there’s a very small smattering of white orders in there but it’s less than 3% for us). Now, there are some things to think through when choosing which color is going to be best for you and your wedding and today we are going to walk through those!
When I mention a colored wedding dress, I mean anything in the color family which for our designers include: Almond, Hazelnut, Rum, Moscato, Champagne, Cafe, etc. They’re typically blush based or nude/tan based. Also, for the sake of this post when Ivory is mentioned, anything said about Ivory can be applied to White.
Skin Tone
In years past, it was thought that the more pale you were the more color you should wear and if you had an olive or darker skin tone, the lighter the color you should wear. While it’s true that fair skinned blondes look good in Blush dresses, so do olive skinned brunettes! Don’t let some article you read tell you you shouldn’t wear the color you love the most!!
Here I’m showing myself in an Ivory long sleeve wedding dress and KC in the exact same dress. I have a fair skin tone with a lot of red in it and KC has a beautiful darker skin tone. I think the Ivory looks amazing on both of us!
This next dress is in a color called Almond. It’s probably my favorite color of wedding dress because it is just a hint of a color so you get that beautiful contrast with your lace but it still looks very soft and romantic (which is right up my alley)!
Alex and Emily have brunette hair with similar-ish skin tones in this picture that was taken in February! They are in the same dress but Emily on the left is in the Moscato color and Alex on the right is in the Ivory color.
Lighting
If there’s one thing the pictures above showed was what a difference lighting makes in how the color of your wedding dress shows up! All these pictures were taken on different days, in different lighting so the same color can look completely different! This is why we always have our brides walk to the mirrors at the very front of the store. They are right by our big windows so you can see the color in the most natural light!
Contrast
We feel the biggest factor when it comes to choosing a color for your wedding dress is how much contrast you like. If you decide to do an Ivory or a White dress, the lace on your dress won’t “pop” as much as it would over a colored fabric. Here is the same wedding dress in 3 different colors.
From left to right: Champagne, Moscato & Ivory.
And a closer look at the colors:
You can see how the lace detail in this dress pops more when there is a color behind it providing that visual contrast. Your preference is just that – your preference! The Ivory is beautiful because it’s a bit softer and more subtle and the Champagne and Moscato are beautiful because they show off the lace detail! This is why there is no wrong answer when it comes to color choice!
Lace Pattern
It’s amazing what a difference the lace pattern makes when deciding between an ivory and colored dress! The bigger the lace pattern, the more difference I think a color makes. The smaller or more allover a lace pattern, the less difference a color makes.
Take for example our Raven gown. We have it sampled in a color called Hazelnut which is the deepest color we have in the store. Do you see how much the lace pattern pops off the dress? Next, we slipped an Ivory swatch under the lace and you can immediately see how much more subtle the lace pattern is!
Side note: If the bodice of a dress is “unlined”, ordering it in an Ivory or White will exaggerate that fact more. This can be seen in the pictures above. Because the Hazelnut color is closer to a skin tone, the unlined bodice isn’t as much of an element in the dress. When switched to Ivory, the unlined bodice becomes much more of a feature!
Another example is D2748 from Essense of Australia. It features a larger scale, floral lace!
Now let’s take a look at a fitted lace dress that has a smaller lace pattern and also features a glitter tulle underlay. On the left is the Ivory coloring and on the right is a color called Rum
With the bigger, more graphic lace patterns there’s typically more open space between the lace motifs which allows the color to come through more. When you’re looking at a dress with a smaller lace pattern, a Chantilly lace underneath a lace applique or a sparkle layer beneath the lace applique, the color is going to be more subtle!
Moral of the Story
There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to the color of your wedding dress. Choose the color that makes you the happiest! If your favorite thing about your wedding dress is the lace pattern, consider a color that will make it pop! If you love the way an Ivory looks on you, go with that! We have 1 yard pieces of fabric that we put under your dress to help you envision it in a different color and in almost 9 years of business we have never had a bride regret her color choice. You can’t go wrong with choosing the color that makes you feel the best!
It may go without saying, but it’s important to say: It absolutely sucks that you’ve had to postpone your wedding! You just spent 6 months to 2 years planning this amazing event where you devote your life and your love another person and you were so excited to show off your hard work to your family and friends. And now you’ve had to make the gut-wrenching decision to postpone your wedding date. You may have hand picked your exact date for it’s meaning and now you’ve had to choose a date based upon nothing more than the availability of your venue. It just all-around sucks!
I believe the silver lining is bright, however! Maybe you were feeling stressed about last minute details and now you have a few months to breathe. Maybe this extra time you’ve received with your fiancé cemented your decision to battle life’s ups and downs together. Just now that your beautiful you had planned will still be beautiful even if it looks a little different!
Okay, now, let’s talk about your wedding dress! I’m going to go over what to do if you’re a One Fine Day Bride and what to do if you purchased your wedding dress elsewhere!
We’ve already got you taken care of because we were already taking care of you (and your wedding dress)! You probably know we store your dress for you, for free, at our boutique. The dresses are kept in dust free, breathable bags and they are stored in our “storage room” which receives no natural light. If you’ve postponed your wedding date then you don’t need to do anything different than notify us of your new date. If you were currently in alterations and have postponed your wedding date, we’ve already been in contact to get your new fitting dates settled! All this means is we get to celebrate you for a little bit longer <3
If you’ve purchased your wedding dress elsewhere
You want to keep your dress in a closet that doesn’t get any visitors or natural light. Natural light is one of your dress’s worst enemies so make sure to keep that to a minimum. Heat also isn’t great for your wedding dress so be sure the closet is in a temperature-controlled place in your house.
You also want to store your dress in a closet that gets the least amount of foot traffic – a closet away from pets and kiddos. If you’re able to hang your dress up high so the train isn’t bunched beneath it then that’s great! Not necessary, but great! If you’re dress came in a clear plastic bag, remove it from that and hang it by itself. There’s no need to cover your wedding dress with a sheet, bag, tarp…anything. Just keep it in a closet that is cool and is away from natural light.
If you had alteration appointments set up with your local seamstress, make sure you’ve been in contact with him or her about your new wedding date. They’ll instruct you on how best to proceed for you and their alteration shop.
At the end of the day, your wedding dress will be fine if it needs to be stored for longer than originally anticipated. I joke with my brides that our wedding dresses are a lot hardier than they seem! Never hesitate to reach out to us or your bridal gown boutique with questions or concerns. We are 100% on your team and want to do whatever we can to help you through this process!
This year we decided to expand on our coffee chats of 2019. You all loved them and we truly want to help you along your wedding dress journey. Your wedding dress is about so much more than just a dress. It is about the shopping experience you have in our boutique and it’s about the life moments that are facilitated, defined, created and protected within our 4 walls.
Each week, well be going live on Instagram for 10-15 minutes to talk about common questions, fears, how to, and what if topics. These are just our opinions and thoughts and we always speak from the heart. Whether you agree with us or not, thank you for tuning in! And if you have any topics you want us to cover, contact us! You can email info@onefinedaybridalandgown.com with your topic!
Autumn: 00:03 This year we were talking about kind of doing coffee chats, but switching them up a little bit. So it’s not once a month and it’s a little bit different. We’re calling these, I don’t have a name for it yet, but like lunchtime breakout sessions or like mid day chats, just something kind of quick and easy and not super lengthy. So we went through and just wrote out a slew of topics about fears and concerns and questions we get all the time, what to do if and how to do this. So each week we’re just gonna pop on for like 10, 15 minutes and just chat real quick about what’s on our mind, what’s in our hearts and if you ever need help with something, let us know and we’ll be sure to talk about it.
Autumn:00:50 For today’s topic, I gave Gabi a list of 56 and she got to choose. So today’s topic is, Will my fiance like this dress? Fiances can be weird when it comes to wedding dresses, right? Some girls really want their opinion. Some girls are like, I want what I want, I don’t really care what he thinks. And I think deep down everybody wants their fiance to like the dress.
Gabrielle: 01:19 I wish I could scream from the mountaintops that he’s marrying you for you, not for the dress that you choose to wear. So just let us say that first off.
Autumn: 01:33 And I think the hard part with fiances is they don’t get wedding dresses totally. Like they think if it’s white and it’s a ballgown that’s the only kind of wedding dress there is, is white and poofy. That’s it. We have a store full of them and very few are white and poofy, so, yeah.
Gabrielle: 02:00 So I’m a little different in this scenario because I did care what my husband thought. I wasn’t going to choose a dress based on what he wanted, but I wanted to choose a dress that I felt beautiful and confident in and if it was something he liked to then yay. That’s great. It’s okay if you want him to like your dress. But I would say don’t base your wedding gown off of that fact for sure.
Autumn: 02:27 Gabi’s original dress was pretty low cut, like almost down to the navel and I think you also didn’t love it, but I think he was also like maybe let’s not have anything too low.
Gabrielle: 02:38 I asked, you know, what do you want in my wedding dress and his one thing was like, maybe just not too showy. Like just cover it up a little bit.
Autumn: 02:46 So we added lace to Gabi’s neck line. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with loving your dress, but then making sure the element he asked you not to do isn’t in the dress. I also think on the other hand that if he’s like I hate ballgowns, I don’t want to see you in them and you love a ballgown, he’s going to love you in a ballgown.
Autumn: 03:17 I never asked Blake what he wanted me to end the thought, never crossed my mind to ask what he wanted cause I figured it’s my dress and he’s gonna like whatever it is cause it’s me.
Autumn: 03:30 There’s nothing wrong with asking your fiance what he pictures you in or what he would love to see you in and there’s nothing wrong with that. But then don’t let that be your, like your North star for everything you pick. I think all your fiance wants you is to be confident and happy and he can see that on the wedding day. We have a lot of girls who say, “I just want to show him pictures. I just want to show my fiance pictures. “
Autumn: 04:01 I don’t know. We’re like, no, don’t because, well, there’s a couple of reasons. One, there’s something so special about that moment when he first sees you on your wedding day in your wedding dress. Like that is a moment that can’t be repeated and that’s never going to happen again.
Autumn: 04:16 So save that really special moment for that time. And you guys know, you’ll be flipping back through iPhone pictures and be like, why? Like what is that angle? Like why was she sitting down? You know? And so I think just showing iPhone photos is not gonna give the full story of how you look in that dress. So, don’t ruin the moment when he first gets to see you. Cause that’s really special.
Gabrielle: 04:46 A lot of girls will say “you know, I tell this person everything and I can’t tell them like the most important part. ” Well that’s what makes it special. Right? That makes it cool and fun. So yeah, we say save those pictures.
Autumn: 04:59 And you know what, like I think there’s so few times in life where we get like genuinely surprised about things and that there’s a genuine excitement about something. And I think your love story is full of those surprises. You know, your proposal isgenerally a surprise or what the ring looked like was a surprise, where he did it was a surprise. Finding your wedding dress will be a surprise. I promise you. Let there be these little pockets of surprises built into your love story. And personally we think this is just one of them. I think it’s great you want to share this with him because you are starting off on a lifelong journey together. Like you should want to share it with him even though I didn’t, so I don’t know what that says, lol. Like it’s okay to want to communicate with him about this because it’s really important. But let that be a surprise for him.
Autumn: 05:52 I think the other thing we run into is you’be gone to a wedding together last summer and the bride wore a really fitted, really beautiful dress. And he was like, Oh gosh, I really do not like that. And you love a fitted beautiful wedding dress . That’s hard, but do not let it derail you ladies because he’s not marrying Susie, you know, he’s marrying you and you in a fitted wedding dress is different than Susie in a fitted wedding dress. So I think you have to take that kind of stuff with a grain of salt too. Or if you go to a wedding, he’s like, Oh my gosh, did she wear a pink dress? Like who would wear a pink dress? He’s not marrying Karen. He’s marrying you in a pink dress. Don’t fixate that when you’re shopping for your wedding dress. Cause yeah, he’s not gonna notice it was fitted or he’s not gonna notice it was pink. Or if he does then he’s going to be like “Oh my gosh, you look great in pink”, you know?
Gabrielle: 06:49 Or when you’re showing him photos of dresses and he picks the one that doesn’t look like yours.
Autumn: 06:54 It’s not you,it’s some random model in a photo shoot picture. Like it’s not just not the same thing of you in your wedding dress on your wedding day. And I cannot stress how important that is. He’s going to love whatever you love. Anything else?
Autumn: 07:16 Short and sweet ladies, we’re going to keep these just moving. Wear what you love and what you feel beautiful in and he’s going to love it.
Gabrielle: 07:29 Someone said he hasn’t marrying the dress he’s marrying you.
Autumn: 07:32 Absolutely. Amen. That’s true. Yeah. Very true. Yeah. Um, and he’s gonna love it regardless. Yup. All right ladies, that’s it for today. Short and sweet. I love it. If you guys have topics you want us to cover or you want our opinion on, um, and yes, this is just our opinion. So keep that in mind. You are free to disagree with us. Totally. Um, but let us know and otherwise, have a beautiful weekend and we’ll talk to you all later! Bye.
So much of what we do here has nothing to do with wedding dresses. And I know, you’re probably asking yourself “but you do sell wedding dresses, right?” and yes, we do! But, that is what we do, it isn’t all we are or all we believe! We want to promote body positivity and are lucky enough to be able to use our own employees to showcase that your body is beautiful exactly as it is, today.
We took one of our favorite dresses from Essense of Australia – D2698 – and put it on Alex, Gabi and myself, Autumn. I like to tell you what each person’s bridal size is just to give you frame of reference. If you know anything about bridal sizing, you know how crazy it is and a good rule of thumb is to take your normal street clothes size and add 2 sizes and you’ll get your general bridal size. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but more of an overall guideline!
When you find your dress, we will take measurements at your bust, waist and hip. This helps guide us to the size that will best fit your frame. Alterations are always to be expected but our hope and goal is that you need as little alterations as possible! There are other factors that help us determine the best size for you: shape of wedding dress, material of dress, whether or not the bodice is unlined, height of bride, etc. There are so many more things we take into consideration besides 3 measurements!
Alex is a bridal size 6/8 and has an athletic figure! She enjoys running and has a lean physique!
Gabi is a bridal size 8/10 and has a true hourglass figure! When you have an hourglass figure, you may find you wear a smaller size in ballgowns than you do in a fitted dress. This is true for Gabi – she’s more of an 8 in ballgowns and a 10 in fitted wedding dresses!
I am a bridal size 22 and have an apple shape. This means I carry the majority of my weight in my midsection! I also have a shorter torso so that means the distance from the top of the dress to my shoulders/neck is smaller than Gabi or Alex’s. There is absolutely no right or wrong answer here! I think this just goes to show that a beautiful wedding dress will look great on a range of figures!
This is an amazing dress and looks incredible on so many different body types! If you’ve ever thought “well, I can’t pull of that dress because I look nothing like the model”, we are here to show you that you 100% can pull of that dress! If you love a dress, don’t let some article you read on the “top wedding dress shapes for your figure” derail your desires. Not every ballgown is created the same so just because you’re 5’0″ doesn’t mean you can’t wear the cupcake dress of your dreams. It’s all about proportion and fit 🙂
We often get asked about “trends” in bridal and bridal tends not to be a very trendy industry. Weddings are classic – they are a snapshot of a very important moment in your life – and you don’t get to repeat the same wedding day over and over! I think that’s why you don’t see many trends in weddings. Well, a few years ago “boho” became a buzz word among bridal boutiques with some Indie designers popping up who catered to the boho bride.
We looked at those lines and fawned over their beautiful imagery but were never happy with the construction and actual wearability of those dresses. Then, in July we were out at the Essense designs headquarters and were introduced to their boho line called All Who Wander. We were immediately smitten! We finally found the gorgeous, unique and relaxed dresses that we would call boho but with the construction and customer service we know and love from Essense Designs.
So, we quickly ordered a handful of styles and 3 of them just arrived! Today is the official launch of All Who Wander and let me introduce you to the styles we currently have in store and the styles that will be coming in!
First up, is Finn! The coolest thing about her (apart from the absolutely breathtaking chiffon skirt) are the removable blouson sleeves!
And here it is without the sleeves
Our next dress from the collection is Harlo which is letting me live out all my fringe dreams! When we saw the collection, I was immediately drawn to this sparkly, unique yet still bridal feeling wedding dress! Our Harlo is in the honey color but she also comes in Ivory which I think could be stunning!
We also just unboxed a fringe veil that will be SO killer with this look!
The 3rd dress we’ve received from the collection is India! Out of the 3 styles we currently have, I think she will most easily be styled to feel more classic if the bride desires! At the end of the day, she is a beautiful patterned lace aline dress and I just adore the high neckline on her!
The kicker? Her totally open back!
If you’re curious what other styles will be making their way to One Fine Day, here is what you can expect!
The last thing you can expect? Amazing boho inspired accessories including a beaded fringe cape, arm cuffs with tassels and feathered armbands!
To all of my brides who are second guessing their wedding dress- we understand you. There is this overwhelming feeling of pressure when it comes to being a bride and planning a wedding. There is an overwhelming feeling of pressure when it comes to thinking you have to look absolutely perfect on your wedding day and that your body has to be perfect to fit the standard. I instantly fell in love with my wedding dress when I saw it on the rack, and fell even more in love with it when I first put it on.
But did I have moments where I second guessed my dress? Absolutely. Not because I didn’t love the dress, but because I felt pressure to look different, unique, skinny, and to make a statement with my dress. Was my fiance going to love it? Was I going to “wow” my guests? But every single time that I put my dress back on, I fell in love with it all over again. I felt beautiful, confident, and excited to get married.
If you are a bride who is second guessing their dress, I need you to understand that it is okay! You are not alone! But I also need you to know that you chose your dress because you felt beautiful, confident, and excited to get married. Focus back on the reasons why you picked your dress. Come put your dress back on and remember the reasons why you chose it. Come talk with me and any member of the One Fine Day team- we are for you and on your team, always! ❤️
There are so many things that I loved about our wedding day, so I want to share with you the things that I would absolutely do again!
My number one recommendation for the actual wedding day would be to do a first look! If you asked me this a year ago, I would have said that I was NOT doing a first look and no one could tell me differently. Luckily, people talked me into it and I am so thankful that they did. I never wanted to do a first look because I thought that I would lose that “moment” of him seeing me for the first time walking down the aisle. But in all honestly, I think doing a first look made that moment even more special. We chose to read each other our personal vows at our first look and it was so special and so intimate. The words spoken started the day off with so much love and appreciated towards each other. It calmed nerves and brought pure excitement for the rest of the day. We laughed and cried and I will never forget that time that we got to spend together on our wedding day, just him and I….and two photographers and a videographer 😉 Our other point to wanting to do a first look after all was because our wedding started at 6:30 on a Friday night. We would have spent so much less time together on our wedding day if we chose to do that and our guest would have had to wait until it was pretty late to eat. Now, take this with a grain of salt. If you are not wanting to do a first look- there is nothing wrong with that! Definitely do what makes you the happiest!
Another thing that I absolutely loved from our wedding day that I would recommend was our photo guest book! It was from Artifacts Uprising and it was worth every penny! It is now a coffee table book in our home and it is so special to us! Check out their website, it will not disappoint. These books are such amazing quality and will honestly last a lifetime!! I also ordered our thank you cards from them after the wedding and they are just wonderful!
This may sound silly but it is something I will never forget- on the night of your rehearsal dinner, go on one last date before you are husband and wife 🙂 Blake and I went to Zesto. We sat outside, ate ice cream, and talked about all of our favorite dating memories. It was so special to me and I know it is something that I will remember forever. Blake and I had dated for 3.5 years when we got married, so it was so crazy to be moving on from that stage in life and we wanted one more date to soak it all in.
I had the absolute most professional and organized wedding coordinators and let me tell you- that makes all the difference! I had a coordinator for the ceremony and a different coordinator for the morning of and reception. It was so nice to not have to worry about all of the little things during the day because I knew that they were taken care of. I would highly recommend getting a day of coordinator for at least the morning of the wedding. She made sure that every little thing was in place, on schedule, and just how I wanted it.
My bridesmaids wore different dresses and I honestly really recommend that. Not only did they all feel comfortable and confident in their dresses, it was at their price point, and the dimension in photos turned out so beautifully! I wanted my bridesmaids to wear what they felt their absolute best in. As long as it was long and navy, I did not care about anything else. They did their hair how they wanted, wore whatever shoes they wanted, and had any nail color they could have dreamed of. I wanted our wedding to be fun and a celebration and these little details were not something I chose to worry about. And again, if you are particular on these things- that is completely fine! The OCD in me probably would have been fine with everything the same!! My point in this is to do what makes you happy and what is best for your day- that is all that matters.
One of the most important things that I would recommend would be to trust your vendors. Although I work here, One Fine Day blew it out of the water. My alterations were absolutely perfect. Although I could have spent my alteration appointments picking myself and things apart, I went into it knowing that this was an hour that I got to spend in my wedding dresses!! That hour became so special to me each time. Trust your photographer and videographer! Trust your caterer and your venues. Now, don’t be afraid to check in on things, but enjoy the time you get to spend planning things and bringing your vision together!
One of my most favorite parts about our wedding day was the music that we had at our ceremony. Oh my goodness, I could cry just thinking about it! We had a pianist, violinist, and harpist play live music for our ceremony. The violinist that we had actually was the violinist who played at my parents wedding. It was so special to me! Music is very important to Blake and I, so having live music at the ceremony was something that we definitely wanted. If you are debating doing live music or not, trust me on this one- do it!!! I promise you will not regret it.
Something that I had really gone back and forth on was having a videographer and let me tell you- best decision ever made. I have watched our video so many times because it just brings me back to the day and the love and joy that was there! Like I had said in a previous blog post, I did not look at Blake as I walked down the aisle- I got so distracted seeing all of the guest that I just forgot to look at him. Luckily, I have that special moment on video to watch forever. I am so thankful that we chose to work with Midwest Visual for our wedding day! He captured even the smallest moments so so beautifully!
These were just some of the many things that I loved about our wedding day. I could go on forever! I hope you can use these things to help make your wedding day everything you dreamed of and more!
I have been married for a month now and life has started to settle down- I have so much time on my hands now that wedding planning is over! Will I ever use Pinterest that much again?! Wedding planning was truly so much fun. We tell Brides all the time that you can put the focus on either the wedding or the marriage and let me tell you, I am so happy that I chose to put it on the marriage. Focusing on what getting married truly stands for allowed me to just enjoy the wedding day so incredibly much and all of the days leading up to it! I find myself constantly looking at our wedding photos and watching our video because it brings me such joy to think back on that day. Our wedding day was just filled with so much joy. I honestly don’t think that Blake and I were ever not smiling!! Although we were all smiles, there are some things that I probably would have done differently and girls, take notes!
The first thing that I would have done differently was to wait a second to choose the bridal party. I was so excited and wanted to do everything right away, but I think it would have been nice to take a second and relax. Friendships change- so I would recommend to give it some time so that you are sure these are the people that you want standing up next to you on your wedding day! Luckily, I did end up with that, but save yourself some stress and give yourself some time!
The second thing that I would have done differently was to have enjoyed the morning of my wedding a little bit more. I got literally one single hour of sleep that night before (Enneagram type 6- thinking of all the things that could go wrong!) and I was tired and I think nervous as well. I was not stressed during any other part of the planning, but I think the night before made up for that!! I got my makeup done and had a moment of panic because it was not how I normally do it. I did not do a makeup or hair trial – SO unlike me – so I was freaking out. I went home and put a little more bronzer on, lined my lips, and I was back to normal. I would recommend doing at least a makeup trial. I got my hair done by someone who has done my hair for all special occasions, so I was not one bit nervous about the hair. I was stressed for like an hour and then I totally calmed down and got to enjoy the morning. What a wasted hour, though!
The third thing that I would have changed would be that I would have looked at my groom as I walked down the aisle! Ahh! I totally just forgot! I was looking around and waving at all of the people that came to celebrate us and I totally forgot until I walked down practically the entire the aisle to look at Blake. Blake is a man of little emotion (we even each other out in that aspect), so to see him cry as he looked at me meant the world. Luckily, we at least have it on video 🙂
The fourth thing that I would have done differently was to have had more cake! I had six huge cakes. Chocolate 8 layer cake from Casa, Baker Street carrot cake, white, chocolate toffee, strawberry, and oatmeal cake from a family friend who makes cake that is seriously heavenly. The caterer that we had said that they have never seen people devour cake like they did at our wedding, ha! We had not a single slice left! Blake and I did not get to eat one single thing at our wedding- which is my second part to this. Take time to eat a little something. We were so sad that we picked our absolute favorite things (Mexican food, margaritas, and cake) and we did not get any of it!
I know what you’re thinking- if these are the things I would change, then I had a pretty perfect wedding day- and yeah, that is totally true! Our wedding day was our dream brought to reality. I chose from the beginning to choose joy in the midst of the wedding planning season and that is truly why I was able to enjoy our day so much! All in all, my advice to you would be to ENJOY being engaged and to enjoy marrying the love of your life! The little things do not matter- I promise you that! Stuff is bound to go wrong- its just inevitable, so let it be and enjoy your day!
Do I need an appointment to look at Bridesmaids or Accessories!
This next dress is in a color called Almond. It’s probably my favorite color of wedding dress because it is just a hint of a color so you get that beautiful contrast with your lace but it still looks very soft and romantic (which is right up my alley)!
Side note: If the bodice of a dress is “unlined”, ordering it in an Ivory or White will exaggerate that fact more. This can be seen in the pictures above. Because the Hazelnut color is closer to a skin tone, the unlined bodice isn’t as much of an element in the dress. When switched to Ivory, the unlined bodice becomes much more of a feature!
Now let’s take a look at a fitted lace dress that has a smaller lace pattern and also features a glitter tulle underlay. On the left is the Ivory coloring and on the right is a color called Rum
