So these last couple of weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. Despite the madness of the quarter coming to a close, my mind has naturally been occupied with all things wedding since the engagement. I've been telling everyone that wedding planning is like taking a whole extra 4 unit class, time-wise. It's all too easy to fall into the internet's beautiful trap of endless wedding blogs, giveaways, and planning websites. I'm pretty sure that my top websites visited consist of Pinterest, The Knot, and Style Me Pretty. Before I know it, I've spent hours scouring through venues, sending inquiry emails, gazing longingly at dresses, signing up for giveaways and checking my wedding email in anticipation. But I love it. I really do. Maybe even a little too much. :)
Anywho! This little post is about dress shopping, which I'm SO excited to share with you. Last Saturday, March 14th, I walked into my first bridal boutique--Trudy's Brides in Campbell, CA. I had spent at least an hour the day before trying to figure out the perfect outfit that would convey, "HELLO Trudy's Bridal! My name is Lindsey, I am engaged, I am ready to find a dress, yes I'm young but I am sprightly, and no I do not have a million butterflies fluttering around my stomach! I AM STRONG, MATURE AND CONFIDENT!!!"
I'm not really sure if blue & white my striped jersey swing dress with nude ballet-style flats did the trick, but I tried. Haha but what was especially wonderful about this little experience was it was a trunk show of a collaboration collection between Desiree Hartsock & Maggie Sottero. Their dresses are absolutely stunning. But wait, it doesn't stop there!! Desiree Hartsock flew down from Seattle for the show. Bachelorette season nine in the flesh. She flitted around the store, stopping at each bride trying on dresses and chatting for little bits at a time. She lingered over in my corner for a couple of times, as I was trying on two of the dresses in her collection. We took a couple of awkwardly-lit pictures together, found out she loves San Luis Obispo, and talked about living in Washington. She was so, so sweet and personable. It was actually quite the memorable experience.
I tried on about seven dresses on in an hour and a half, which was the perfect amount for me. My bridal consultant was easy going and clearly very experienced, and I felt like I was in good hands. I tried on an array of styles that she felt fit my description of "simple, romantic, a little bit bohemian and a little bit classic." I wore a beautiful lace dress with cap sleeves, which was lovely but just not it. I truly enjoy lace, but the all lace dresses felt very generic bridal to me. I don't want to be a generic bride. So naturally, a couple more dresses later, I fell in love with Desiree Hartsock's Juniper dress. It's made with Aurora chiffon sheath and features a fully beaded Swarovski crystal neckline draping the shoulder and tracing the back. It has an illusion sweetheart neckline and a Swarovski crystal belt attached at the waist. In other words, GORGEOUS. Desiree was there around when I was trying it on, so she was talking me through some aspects of the dress. I love love love it. It's so different, and is both dramatic & understated. But of course, it's $1,600. & I, as a 21 year old college student with a 22 year old college student fiance... it's just not in the cards. Or maybe it is. But I wasn't going to buy it in the moment. Instead, I soaked in the experience of looking at myself in this beautiful dress, with smiles from my mom, sister, designer, and bridal consultant reflecting back at me.
Even though I know I probably won't end up buying the Juniper, now I know what brings me joy in a dress. I love the sheath silhouette, a little bit of sparkle, cap sleeves or straps of some fashion, and beautiful backs. Now it's time to find the perfect dress at the perfect price.
...Challenge. Accepted.
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| The Juniper in all it's glory. |
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| The stunning $2600 Zarina. I just can't handle. |
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