Planning my own wedding… I got this! (I thought) ...The one aspect of wedding planning that brought the wedding planner to a screeching halt...
I’m a wedding planner. My own wedding will surely be the easiest wedding I’ve ever planned. Right? Wrong. I’m now one year out. I’ve finished all the more difficult tasks and have questioned my decision to have a 2 1/2 year engagement much more than once. But I have to say, it’s much different than I thought it would be. Being the actual bride that is.
I should admit that I probably had it much easier than most brides. I wasn’t overwhelmed with knowing where to start. I knew exactly what I liked and what I wanted. I had experienced first hand all the Pinterest wedding successes (and fails)—that’s for another post :) And I’ve learned all the best vendors. There was however, one aspect of planning that brought me to a screeching halt. An aspect of wedding planning I haven’t done before. The biggest wedding decision (other than you know, the groom)… the dress
I was SOOO intimidated by this! First, I had heard horror stories of brides going to shop for their dream dress and being so upset by their body image issues that they couldn’t enjoy the process or actually look at the dresses themselves. If you know me you know that I feel I have “room for improvement” on my body shape we’ll say, and I became SUPER worried about this (my trainer will tell you. I used the word “terrified” more than once). Wedding planners are often part time therapists so I’ve counseled brides worried about this more than once, but when it comes to yourself… well things are different. I don’t typically like to listen to my own advice a lot of times. :) Who does?
Secondly, I have seen like four million and six wedding dresses at this point. Don’t get me wrong, every bride I’ve ever worked with I’ve felt like their dress was amazing. It always looks SO beautiful on them, and it’s like I couldn’t imagine their wedding without them in that dress. They have all be so perfect for them. However, that doesn’t work out so well when you then try to flip the script and imagine a dress for yourself. I felt like every one I looked at I imagined a wedding I’ve already done. I wanted to feel like myself.
I did shop around. I looked at countless dresses online, I attended my fair share of bridal fashion shows. Nothing. I honestly, typed #weddingdress into Instagram in hopes that my dream gown would magically appear on the screen. Still nothing. Literally nothing. My mom would stare at me in disbelief after fashion shows ended and I declared that none of the dresses stood out to me. I thought for sure I was doomed. It wasn’t until much later that I found ONE I liked online. Photographers that I follow posted a photo they took of a recent bride, and I thought the dress was stunning. I wound up finding it on the designer’s website, but I wasn’t sure how my family would feel about the “less traditional” hue the dress was in. But, I saved that photo in hopes I would find something that wow’ed me as much a that dress AND BOY DID I EVER.
I went to Hyde Park Bridal to find my dream dress, and my experience turned out amazing. It was like playing really (REALLY) expensive dress up. And I could not have felt like more of a princess in those pink, sparkly rooms. The gowns overshadowed my imperfections and the consultants there were so amazing in helping me design a custom gown that I’ve never seen before—because it doesn’t exist yet!
Dress—Check! I will say I was absolutely EXHAUSTED after this hour-long appointment. And I only went to one dress boutique! I felt it as soon as I put it on, before I even looked in the mirror. It was absolutely my dress. I was tearing up walking out of the dressing room, before even seeing my family’s reaction. It’s emotional trying on dress after gorgeous dress, finding the one and then putting on the veil—let’s just say by this point in the appointment I refused to look in the mirror. I knew I would loose it. They made me anyway. I did. I lost it.
:) Abbie
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