The Dress

I never really mentioned anything about my dress because it really isn't that great of a story. When I first got engaged the part of planning that I was most scared of was finding a dress. Being a girl who has always been a bit overweight - I wasn't very excited for shopping for something that could very well be pretty dissappointing. After getting engaged in October - I put off dress shopping until December when I could go for the first time with my mom by my side. I wanted to have that experience with her and it wasn't like I was chomping at the bit to go before then. So after spending Christmas in Iowa with my parents (and Nick) - mom and I took a day to go to a few shops in the area. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be - what a relief! I was happy to find some samples in my size and even found one dress that I would've bought right then and there if I wasn't such a type A researcher. :) It was great to have my mom along to hear her thoughts and opinions and I knew I'd take those into consideration as I continued the search on my own back home in MN.

So once home, I went to a few more shops by myself to try to find something with no luck. And then I ended up overshopping - I saw too many dresses and fell in love with 6. They were all copmletely different and I had no idea what to do until one day - I decided to go to one last shop over my lunch hour. And that day is when I found THE one. The saleswoman did something very smart for me...I was looking for a dress that was a specific shape and figure, and with minimal sparkle - but definitely SOMEthing. So she found me a dress that was the perfect silhouette and then we ADDED the sparkle! So smart! Thank God for that woman! :)

I had so much fun going to my dress fitting with my MOH. It got us together to talk about the wedding, and it was nice to have someone along for the ride since my mom couldn't be there. I had to have multiple alterations done on my dress because by the time I found it - it was too late to order a dress, so I bought a sample dress that was too big for me. Here are some pics from the last alterations appointment before the big day.

The perfect bustle

MOH learning to bustle

Green shoes!

Notice the applique that we added on to it.

And veil (which we had to alter as well.)

Oh! And here's the flower girl. We took a trip out to see her and her family in April before the wedding since we knew we wouldn't be able to spend the whole wedding weekend with her. We made a final decision on her dress while we were out there. Super cute!

I thought this was hilarious that we both had the same look on our face in these pictures...

(all photos are personal photos)