The Dress!

So - out of the three places below, and the three I visited in San Francisco - there was only one dress that really stood out. There were a bunch that looked fine, and would do, but none that made me feel quite like myself, save the one. At the beginning of the search, I think I was still shocked to see myself in the big white dress of a bride (Mom said the same thing when we went looking). It's just bizarre standing up on a platform, with a heavy or light, slinky or fitted, but very fancy white dress, and trying to imagine how it will feel on one's wedding day. Honestly, I don't think I'll be pondering my dress for one minute on the actual day. In the general scheme of things, it's just not that important.

That said, the dress we picked at Vows is below. (Todd, if you're reading this, which I highly suspect that you're not, stop now!)

It is a Carolina Herrera dress, made of ivory silk with an overlay of tulle, a fitted bodice, and a full skirt. It is strapless and has a pleated bust (which I love!). Underneath the bust, and at the hips, there are two gorgeous strips of satin ribbon. What I love most about it is that on the tulle of the skirt, there are small daisies. The back has a beautiful grosgrain ribbon bow (another must-have!). The dress is not nearly as light and airy as some that I tried on but it is also not nearly as heavy and constraining as others. It is medium weight. It also has a long and flowing chapel-length train. While expensive, it was not ruinously so :-). When I put it on, it just felt different than all the others, even though it was only the fourth I'd tried on with Mom! I put it back on at the end of the appointment and the feeling continued. It is perfect - for me.


Here's the closest photo I could find to it on the Web:

One of the things I was struggling with in finding a dress was seeing all the photos in magazines of models as brides looking glamorous and sophisticated. While glamour and sophistication are all well and good, they're just not me. For my wedding day, I want to look sweet and happy and somewhat traditional - like a more joyful version of my everyday self. I think the dress we chose accomplishes that - it fits my personality. Sure hope Todd likes it!