New York City

After getting engaged, the part I got most excited about before getting to the real planning was wedding dress shopping! My family had a trip planned for NYC in May after I got engaged in January. I grew up watching Say Yes to the Dress so I made an appointment at Kleinfeld. It was a magical experience and so fun to see all the beautiful dresses. My mom, Brian’s mom and Brian’s aunt went with me to the appointment. It was the first time I ever put a wedding dress on so it all started to feel real. I came close on a couple of the dresses and was starting to get a feel for the direction that I might want.

After the main location of Kleinfeld, we went across the street to the sample sale store. It has since shut down in the pandemic. At this store, you buy off the rack as is rather than ordering the dress you find in your correct size. There were a lot of dresses there in a lot of styles but not the right one for me.

Los Angeles

Later in May I went to LA to ask my best friend to be my maid of honor. We went dress shopping at Glamour Closet LA. There were so many great options and I got even closer to knowing what I wanted. I was hoping to find a magical combination of fluff and contour and lace and sparkle. Some of the dresses at this shop had some but not all of what I wanted.

Angleton, Texas

Later in the summer, I went home for a long weekend before I moved from Nashville to Madison, WI. Just for funsies, I wanted to try a bridal store there. I still hadn’t even picked a date yet so I wasn’t in a hurry to find a dress.

I tried on a lot of beautiful dresses.

And then I found THE DRESS! I had that moment when I came out of the dressing room and started crying. After I said yes, the bridal store popped a bottle of bubbly for us to celebrate!

It was such a great experience to find my perfect dress. The only alterations I ended up needing were shortening the front and adding a bustle which my sweet coworker in Wisconsin did for me. My dress was magical and exactly what I didn’t even know I wanted but it was that perfect combination of everything. On my wedding day when I hung up my dress, I wasn’t stressed about anything else because regardless of all the other things that would happen, I knew I was wearing that dress to meet my favorite person at the alter to start our forever together.