I found my wedding dress. Then I cried.

I always hear stories about brides that cry when they find that perfect dress.  Their dream dress to go with their big dream wedding.  I didn’t get it.  For one, I never really had a dream wedding dress in mind.  Probably because I didn’t have a big dream of a big wedding.  To be honest when I thought of getting married I pictured myself standing on the beach barefoot with the breeze in my hair surrounded by the people I love.  Simple.  Relaxing.  Beautiful.

After Andrew and I got engaged we both agreed it was extremely important to have our families at our wedding.  Which outnumbered the pros of a destination wedding.  So instead of a beach themed wedding we now were planning a vintage rustic wedding in Texas.  I did like most other modern day brides do, I went to Pinterest and searched rustic weddings for inspiration.  As I was searching I came across wedding dresses that I liked but didn’t love.  I started to develop an idea in my mind of what I wanted my dress to look like.  I knew I wanted a lace dress.  I took to Google and searched.  Do you know how many photos of dresses you can browse through on an iPad while relaxing in a recliner within one hour?  Hundreds.  Thousands.  I visited sites like JJs House which has 729 lace wedding dresses.  I downloaded The Knot iPad app and browsed through over several hundred more.  After a while all the dresses started to run together and my eyes crossed.





I was worried I wouldn’t even find the dress I loved. Maybe it was in part because I wasn’t 100% sure on what I wanted. I didn’t have a wedding planning scrapbook some young girls start as soon as they are old enough to day-dreaming about the day they would walk down the isle. When it came time to go dress shopping with my bridesmaids I had browsed countless photos of dresses online which helped me say “no” a little easier and gave me a vision.

Lace Wedding Dress

I described what I was looking for to the sales clerk and showed him a few photos I had saved from the various websites. He walked over to the rack and picked up the exact dress I described. While I was trying on the first dress he gathered other lace covered wedding dresses for me to try. However, I knew the first dress I put on was it. It was the one. I went ahead and tried on another dress for good measure but before I even walked out in the second dress I told everyone no. Back into the first dress I went.

It’s the company’s tradition to call everyone in the entire store over to see the bride standing outside the dressing room in the dress of her choice. They rang a bell and announced loudly that I had found the dress of my dreams. They announced my wedding date and made me make a wish and ring the bell myself. Then I cried…

I blame the store. I was not planning to cry. I couldn’t even imagine I would cry over finding a wedding dress. It seems so silly. Then I realized, I didn’t cry over the wedding dress. They were happy tears but not because I picked out something as simple as a dress. It was about love. It was about so much more than a dress and everyone reminded me of that on this special day planning my big special day. I truly felt blessed surrounded by some of my best childhood friends, teenage daughter and the wonderful employees that made it a bigger deal than I would have.

Luckily one of my bridesmaids captured the whole thing on video and I can’t wait to share it with everyone. However, it’ll have to wait until after September 6th when my fiance has the chance to see the dress on our wedding day.



24 Comments

    1. I think sharing my story today reminded me how excited I really am. I sometimes forget that during the stress of actually planning the wedding. I can’t wait to put the dress on and say I do!

  1. Such a sweet story. I know your wedding is going to very “pinworthy” – I mean, let’s just look at what you did for your Twilight party, amazing stuff! 🙂

    Congratulations!

    1. Oh the pressure! Planning the Twilight parties were so much fun. Everyone got into it and the theme was easy. Plus it was just a home party. I’m leaving most of the stressful wedding decor planning in the hands of professionals. Less stressful that way. 😉

  2. That is such a great story! I’m glad you wrote it down. You are going to cherish being able to come back and read how you felt when you found the right dress in a few years. I remember when I found my wedding dress. it was a special moment, though I didn’t cry, but I was quite giddy because I didn’t really know what i wanted either. Until I put the dress on and I just KNEW.

  3. Congratulations! Your post totally made me tear up!
    It brought back so many happy memories of finding my wedding dress and being so excited about our wedding.
    Congrats on your big day!

  4. I love reading stories like this. I got married in a $10 sundress which was fine at the time, but I still wonder if I would have cried when I found a beautiful gown like that. Congrats!

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