I Said Yes in a Sea of Dresses

I have maybe tried on roughly around hmm... 300 dresses maybe? That might even be cutting it short... So you would think finding my wedding dress would be close to impossible, at least that's what McKenzie thought. But I think I surprised her when it was actually pretty damn easy for me to choose. 

The truth is, I found my dress before Alex got down on that knee and proposed. We had the collection during a trunk show and I tried it on and it was instant love. I knew that someday I wanted to be wearing that dress on one of the happiest days of my life.

So while my input might seem to be void since owning a bridal shop opens a lot of doors to a ton of designers and makes my bridal shopping experience completely different from the everyday girl, I still want to share some of my tips and insight regarding Saying Yes to the Dress. 

1. You don't have to shop with other people. Now I will add a disclaimer here, I lost my mom when I was an infant, and I have a feeling that if she was still around today I would likely have a completely different opinion on this... but anyway, my wedding dress shopping experience was not about anybody but me and Alex in my mind. I didn't want to have the opinions of my friends (well besides the girls at the shop, who basically are my friends). I wanted the dress to be something I loved and that I knew Alex would love. I wanted that moment of him seeing me and hopefully dropping his jaw, which leads me into my next point...

2. Think about how you want to feel in your dress. This is probably one of the most important things and I think rather than spend your time pinning dresses on Pinterest, you should also put aside some time to really visualize yourself on your wedding day and how you want to feel. For me, as silly as this may sound, I want to feel like a sexy wild boho fun babe. Words like beautiful and romantic are not at all how I want to feel because those just aren't me. Classic? Not me. Not ever. So I wanted my dress to emulate that sexy wild boho fun feeling I want. 

3. If your dress is over budget maybe you have to skimp on something else and no I'm not just saying this because I own a bridal shop but because sometimes what you love is just a tad more but you love love love it. To me the dress is one of the most important things besides rentals and photography. So when I fell in love with a dress that was more than I wanted to spend I knew that I could skimp on some other areas of the wedding. Whether that's having less expensive food or cheaper (yet still effective) alcohol... I was all for it because that dress is what I will be wearing in all the pictures and I want to love love love it. Like love it so much that I can't wait to wear it and don't ever want to take it off and as soon as it arrives on July 15th I wouldn't be surprised if I just sit in it at work on a daily basis so... you got to love love love it and if that means the food ain't a lobster dinner then I am a-okay with that. 

4. It's okay to commit and stop looking (just like you are with your fiance...) Could I find a better dress? I guess, maybe. But do I keep looking? Nope. I have committed to my dress just like I did when Alex slipped my ring on my finger. And I love it just like I love him. So rather than punish myself by keep looking I just decided nope, it's the dress. To be completely honest and transparent, I even had an appointment set up at a shop in Chicago when I go for bridal market because they carry a designer I was intrigued by but I cancelled it. Because I didn't want to fill my brain with too many options. Rather I was ready to commit so I did it, I rang the bell, I said yes and I am done with the wedding dress hunt. And it sure does feel good to check mark that off. So if you find a dress you love, stop looking. It's okay, there might be something prettier out there but you love what you're in so why put yourself through the stress of too many decisions? Sure I understand wanting to go to a few shops but you don't have to go to every bridal shop in a 100 mile radius of where you live before saying yes. 

How did you know it was the one when you tried on your dress?