photography: http://jessica-lauren.com (if you need a photographer...she's INCREDIBLE)
Happy Hump Day! I know, I am a little late to the game with my blog series schedule...like, a lot late haha. But that's life! It gets busy and ain't nothing I can do about it! Just kidding, but seriously this last month has been NUTS for real estate. I literally have like 10 closing happening in just this month alone. Last month I had like 5. Definitely not complaining about that, but just letting you know I was a little pre occupied :)
I'm back now though ready to get back to the blogging grind! I hope you all had a super fun and relaxing 4th! We got a new BBQ and I am OBSESSED with BBQ-ing now, haha! We seriously ate hot dogs and corn on the cob for about a week straight. Not even mad about it. Jeremy's family was out of town so we had some of my family come by and we just hung out and watched fireworks. Best part about where we live is that everyone and their mothers buy fireworks for the 4th, so we didn't have to go anywhere to watch them! Headed out to the back patio and enjoyed the show :)
Anyways, today I'm sharing 5 tips to help you say yes to the dress! I know a bunch of people getting married soon who already probably have their wedding dresses picked out, but I've also seen a bunch of people getting engaged as well! So I think this post will help out even though the timing of it is "peak wedding season." I gotta say, picking out my wedding dress was one of my most favorite parts about the whole wedding planning experience. As I'm sure it is for most brides! You get to feel like a princess all day long and try on gorgeous dresses. What's better than that?! :) When I went dress shopping I took my mom, my sister, my mother-in-law and then my sister-in-law. It was SO. MUCH. FUN! And a great bonding experience of all of us. We made a weekend out of it and went to dinner afterwards and then did a little shopping :)
Again, everyone is completely different in the way they approach things. These tips are just a few things that I feel like helped me find that perfect dress.
So without further a do, here are my 5 Tips To Help You Say Yes To The Dress:
Tip #1: Don't bring a large group with you when picking out your wedding dress
Like I just stated, I only brought along 4 people with me to my dress shopping. They were the closest 4 people I wanted and the ones I knew would be able to help me find exactly what I was looking for. The reason I say don't bring a large group with you is simply because the more people you have with you, the more opinions you will be getting and the more people you will be looking to for approval and help. Trust me, the simpler you make dress shopping, the less stressed you will be and the experience will be way more fun! And just a little heads up, you will KNOW when you find the dress. I know everyone says that and I'm sure you are thinking "how can that be, there are millions of dresses out there!?" But trust me. You will know :) and it'll be awesome.
Tip #2: Fix your makeup and wear your hair down
Having your makeup done up a little more than what you normally wear, or even going in with your actually wedding-day look will help a ton! Not only will you feel extra glammed up but it will really help you envision how you want to look on your wedding day. Going in with a coal face just doesn't quite do it. The reason I say wear your hair down is because it can completely transform how you look in each dress. Necklines on dresses look totally different when you style your hair a certain way. Wearing your hair down and style gives you the luxury of throwing it up super quick without having a mangled mess to deal with.
Tip #3: Don't knock it until you try it
I've told each and every one of my friends this tip BECAUSE IT IS SUPER IMPORTANT! Honesty, I should've probably ranked this as #1. You might think you know exactly what you want, and maybe you do! One thing I know I had told myself was that I did NOT want a strapless dress. I didn't want the hassle of always adjusting myself and I was dead set on getting an illusion neckline. I tried on all the illusion neckline dresses I could find and even one with sleeves (I liked the sleeve look as well) but nothing was really hitting home with me. I decided heck, I'm here trying on all these dresses, how many times will I get to do this?! So I decided to broaden my options and tried on every style I could find. I found out that I HATED fitted dresses and the mermaid look because I felt like I couldn't walk. I also found that the v-necklines and lace dresses somehow aged me another 10 years lol. So when I got to the strapless dresses, and had tried on the dress that ended up being my wedding dress, I just KNEW once I put it on. It was so unique (it was a 2 piece!) and I felt instantly comfortable and beautiful in it. So the take away from all this is try on all the dresses you can, because you only get to do this once (hopefully) and you don't want to miss out on finding your dream dress you didn't even know existed!
Tip #4: Always try the veil
I am a veil girl. Always have been, always will be. I just love them! They come in so many different styles and lengths now that there really is a veil for everyone! AGAIN. How many times in your life will you get to wear a freaking veil?! Never. So just do it ;) haha, I'm kidding but just as I stated with hair and makeup, a veil can totally complete the look of a dress (this may or may not be a quote that Randy said on Say Yes To The Dress...lol). A veil makes you feel so bridal and just ready to get married :) I really don't have much else to say on this one, other than just TRY the veil. I'm not saying buy one ;) but just try one.
Tip #5: Take pictures of yourself in the dress to get a better look
My mom was the one who actually thought of this and boy did it help! Mirrors are great, but pictures reallllly help show what you will actually look like in it. Having pictures of me in the dresses helped show how it fit and obviously what it would look like in my wedding pictures. Majority of the deciding factor was how I felt in my wedding dress, but there was another dress that I did like that I was comparing to help with the final decision. Another biggie with pictures, well for me, was that we spent two days trying on dresses, so after the first day I would look back on the pictures we took earlier to remind myself what each dress looked like. Another fun perk is that now you have all these pictures of you in a bunch of different dresses that you can look back on and remember ;)
xo,