the dress

 

Upon checking my email this morning I found more than a couple comments on my wedding dress and questions about where I got it. 

Can I tell you how happy it makes me that other people like my wedding dress?

(and that other people read this blog)

Because I love it.

My dress was actually custom made by none other than the lovely and most talented Nancy Barrus at Avenia Bridal here in Provo, Ut.

yes.

Just right here in Provo behind Mimi's Cafe off University.

Who would have guessed?

Not me.

She was just down right darling to work with and helped me figure out what was completely and utterly perfect for me.

However, that does not mean I didn't spend hours upon hours looking up inspiration, going dress shopping and quite honestly having no idea what I wanted my wedding dress to look like.

After much searching I finally found this lovely creation
(go through Ben & Elise's slide show on the right)
and I knew I'd found something I was crazy about.

I took those pictures to Nancy and she whipped up a couple of sketches like it was no big deal:

I also rather hope you noticed that my dress is not in fact white,
or even off white.

It's pink!

Nancy spent lots of extra hours getting that shade just right and it turned out better than I could have ever hoped for.


Now let's hold on for a second.
I feel the need to admit something here:

Getting my dress made was probably the single most terrifying thing about planning my wedding.

There, I said it.

I went from this:

(yes I did take pictures at every fitting)

To this:

And the in-between involved a lot of trusting Nancy.

Talk about a nail-bitter.


So that is my long, picture-loaded story of the dress.

I hope those of you who had questions found it helpful.
You are welcome around these parts anytime.

a summer first

So, we've been living in California since the middle of last month, but somehow David and I haven't had a spare second to escape down to the coast.

Problem solved on Thursday.

 Thank goodness!

And I only slightly burned the back of my legs!

Great success.

My next objective is to focus on getting rid of those tan lines around my neck.

You see, I had my hair and make-up preview for the big day last week (sneak peek soon to come!) and I tried on my dress and...

well, I'm not wearing a turtle-neck, so said tan lines will be completely visible.

This is a problem.

Working on it.

Sort of.

and so it begins...

So you thought I was kidding about this turning into my wedding blog.
Nope.
Totally serious:

dress shopping

aka: the hardest part of planning this wedding

(right after picking a date and finding a venue for my reception)

here's how it went: 

We went for the first time this last Saturday afternoon,

and thanks to David's impeccable timing I got to bring all these ladies with me:

We had a ridiculous amount of fun trying on many, many more dresses than there are pictures on this post and taking an equally ridiculous amount of pictures

(thanks Kristin!)

And so the search has officially begun.

I'm thinking a t length dress could be fun...?

Simple?

No beading?

Lace?
Scoop neck?
Sweetheart?
Quarter-length sleeves?
Cap sleeves?
White?
Ivory?

Okay, I'm still working on it.

In the meantime we're still going to have fun taking ridiculous amounts of pictures