Finding THE Wedding Dress | Classic NJ Wedding Photographer | Modern Photographer for the Unique Couple | Rustic Chic Wedding Style

I started this series of blogposts about my personal experience with planning a wedding to help educate couples on what to expect and that it is ok to be doubtful or disappointed about different aspects during the planning process. Finding the IT wedding dress was one of my biggest hurtles in the wedding planning process.

My husband and I lost our home to Superstorm/Hurricane Sandy 3 weeks after we were engaged and we were just about to sign a contract with our venue when we lost everything. We lost everything besides each other, our cars, the clothes on our back & the few things that we left the house with. I took my clients files on external hard drives & all of my camera equipment, a pair of UGG boots and a pair of yoga pants for what I thought would be a night over at my dads house, lounging. As most of you know, it turned into at least 7 days without power, a gar shortage, among many other things. I had a long conversation with my parents about continuing our plans and moving forward with the wedding, so we all decided that the rebuilding of our house could wait and the wedding would happen first.

Right after the storm, there was a woman on the radio who owned a bridal shop in central NJ called True Love Bridal that was offering some of their older samples dresses to brides that had lost so much in the storm. I made an appointment as soon as I could and made arrangement for my mother to come to NJ to visit and we went to the appointment to look at the wedding dresses that the shop was offering the Sandy victims. It was a very upsetting few weeks and my emotions were totally getting the better of me for a while. It was an emotional day, my mom was visiting and I had not seen her since this experience and now we were looking for my wedding dress. Mike and I had no idea how much oney we had or what we were going to have to contribute, so logically I jumped at the opportunity to possibly have help with the wedding gown.

I tried pretty much every gown that fit me on and did decide on a dress from this shop. The girl that helped us wrapped up the dress and handed it to us. We were shocked that we were able to walk out of the store with this dress that day and I felt a ton of weight lifted off my shoulders. I did purchase a veil & shoes from their clearance section while we were there because it all just seemed to match and feel right.

Months later, when other vendors and plans were falling into place, I started having second thoughts about the dress and how it made me feel. I think that the heartache and emotions that I had tied to the storm came back every time I put on this dress. It was beautiful, but I did not feel that it was a WOW dress. As soon as I told my mom and bridesmaids that, it became a mission to look for something else.

5 months before my wedding date, I had asked my MOH, Trina, to come with me to a bridal shop in Brick, Nj called Nicole’s Boutique. I wanted to go there because they carried Maggie Sottero dresses and I knew I loved that designer as I used to work at my mother’s best friend’s  bridal shop a few years ago before she sold it. I tried on about 5 dresses and I was going to settle on one that made my waist look smaller, but I wasn’t in love. My MOH, being the wonderful MOH that she was, asked the sales girl to pick out a few gowns based on the criteria that I described that I wanted. The first dress that the sales girl brought to my dressing room ended up being THE ONE!!!!

After my countless dress shopping experiences, as soon as I put this wedding dress on, I KNEW. I finally had the feeling that everyone was telling me about. It is a REAL feeling and every bride should feel it. It was very stressful to make sure it was here on time and tailored to me because I ordered it only 5 months before my wedding day, but it was soo worth it and I am glad that I followed my gut and did what had to be done. You are spending so much on your wedding day, but guess what, the dress, hair & makeup are in EVERY shot, so please love them or you are setting yourself up for future disappointment.

xo

Images by Kay English Photography