The Gown

This is my first Friday ever participating in Kelly's Show Us Where You Live series!

Sadly, I didn't participate in the actual "where you live" segments because, well, I live in a white-walled rented townhouse that isn't too interesting... at the moment. That will all change come the fall, when we start painting! But back to Kelly - since she ran out of rooms in the house to feature on Fridays, the series is now called "Show Us Your Life" and the first item up is show us your wedding dress!

I wore Maggie Sottero's "Karen Marie" in diamond white, purchased at Jefre Bridals in Greenbrook, NJ.

I went dress shopping with my mom, sister, and maid of honor; all three made the 3 hour trip from Jersey to help me pick out the gown of my dreams. After trying on almost every gown in the Greater Baltimore Area , I finally settled on a gown. It wasn't the Maggie Sottero, and believe me, I settled. I was sick of trying on gown after gown, afraid that nothing would give me that "this is the one" feeling that everyone talked about.

The dress we settled on was beautiful, but didn't fit me quite right in the bewb area. The seamstress swore to me she could take the gown apart and make it work, so we put down a non-refundable deposit. I didn't feel like I was making a great decision, but I had made A decision and that was fine. But then I got nervous. Really nervous. So nervous, that I told my mom I had second thoughts on the gown. She let me in on a little secret - she was nervous, too. She also told me that she had just always pictured me in a strapless gown (the one we put a deposit down on had straps). Funny thing is, I had always pictured myself in a strapless gown, too. I went back to the shop with my first dress and bawled my eyes out. They were WONDERFUL and completely refunded the deposit. That afternoon I went dress shopping alone (I know, who does that?) and tried on gown after gown after gown.

And then I put on the "Karen Marie" and I knew it was The One. I knew it even without anyone to tell me. I knew it when it was all laced up in the fitting room with no mirror. I knew it when I walked out and the woman in the waiting area (waiting for her daughter to come out) looked up from her magazine and her jaw dropped open. I knew it when I looked in the mirror and despite being 15 pounds heavier than I would be on my wedding day, I felt beautiful.

I was so confident, in fact, that I placed the order without anyone having seen me in the dress. Of course, for the next 6 months waiting for the dress to come in I started to worry. What if I was wrong? Should I have had someone look at it on me before committing to it? The day I went in for my first fitting I was shaking like a leaf. I was worried sick that I'd put it on and I'd hate it. Honestly, I thought I was going to throw up as the seamstress laced it up. I didn't look in the mirror until she was done. And when I did look in the mirror, I burst into tears. I loved it.

I loved the corset back:

And the simple, structured, non-sparkly construction (ok, and the fact that it made my waist look tiny):The lack of pre-fab sparkle on the dress meant I could add those details myself. I added a simple brooch to the hip, in place of the huge silk flower that came with the dress:And Swarovski earrings:

I love this shot of everything put together, taken just before I was able to look at myself:

And then I saw myself in the full length mirror across the room. My "Holy Crap, I'm a BRIDE!!" face says it all:

Our first dance; you can kind of see the bustle, which promptly broke thirty seconds later. I ended up carrying the train all night, which I secretly wanted to do anyway.

And here's one of my favorite shots of the night. We had just come down from the top of the tower and were giggling about something:

Even though I' love to take you through my entire wedding today, I'll save you the boredom :-)Thanks for stopping by!