Category: Wedding

Saying “YES” to the Dress! One of the most special moments that will forever be imprinted in my memory! On this Wedding Wednesday, I want to take it back a little, to about two months ago when I said “yes” to the dress. After the holiday’s had passed, I decided that it would be a good time to “start looking” for a dress. Yes, I said ‘start looking’.. mostly because in my mind,  I thought things would go a lot different. And what I mean by that is.. time! The time it took me to find MY dress, was definitely less than I had originally planned for.

Originally I had thought, “Ok, Jen! Its time to start the search, because knowing me, I won’t be able to decide”.. Those were my thoughts exactly guys. My thoughts played a little trick on me that day.. I had made two appointments for the day for a start. Little did I know ONE would have been good enough. My appointments for that day included two places; First being Patricia’s South Bridal, a cute little boutique in Ft. Lauderdale that I had known through my brother and from high school. It was the place to go to for prom dresses, lol. Second, David’s Bridal, I had nothing to lose.  Going into the appointments, I was nervous, yet very excited. Nervous because I knew I had a budget that I was very adamant about not surpassing, especially that my fiancé and I are paying for our wedding. And of course, I was excited, excited because well I had never tried on a wedding dress and I knew at the moment that we walked into the store, that we were there for MY dress!

That day I decided to take with me the most special and closest of friends with me. Not all could make it to both appointments,  but spending the day with all them even if it wasn’t all together made my day sooo special! It meant the world to have them all there. I was seriously overwhelmed with joy, seeing all my girls there. The first appointment was amazing, most of my girls made it to this appointment with the exception of a couple and it was the start of a very special two hours.

The appointment started in the cutest little ‘tea room’ where my bridal consultant asked me the famous questions… “whats your style?” “what do you see yourself wearing?” “poofy not poofy?” “Veil?No veil?” the list goes on… up into everyone’s favorite question..”what your budget?”sigh… well as anyone that’s getting married can tell you budget is a big deal! Well after I had told my Bridal consultant the ultimate answer of the budget, and how adamant I was about sticking to it, my lovely girls brought the champagne out to start the festivity and the search! Little did I know, my mom and dad had a little surprise I had no clue about. Right before the toast, My mom stopped and told me that her and my dad had a surprise me… well that’s when she leaned over and whispered to me that her and my dad were paying for my dress!… How grateful I was for that gesture is beyond what words can describe! Of course the tears flowed, but flowed with joy! We are so incredibly blessed for all the support we have received from all our loved ones through this journey.

The Dress search quickly started and my amazing bridal consultant April started to put me in dresses! The best part of trying on dresses for the first time is seeing everyone’s faces when you come out and the second is seeing how what you may have hated or loved, doesn’t always go the way you thought. My advice to any bride looking for a dress… Be OPEN MINDED and be willing to try dresses on. Half of the time, the way they look on you is completely different from what you thought when you see the dress on the hanger. Well long behold, there were ‘nice’ dresses, ‘pretty’ dresses, ‘okay’ dresses and there was a ‘LOVELY’ dress.

Everyone always ask, “did the dress make you cry?””Did you get the feeling?” Well, I can now describe the ‘feeling’ most talk about. From all the dresses I tried, I always looked to mostly one person for confirmation, and that person was my momma. She liked a lot and thought many were pretty.. But how did I know that my dress was  “the dress?” I knew, as soon as my mom got up from her chair, her eyes glowed, touched the dress from head to toe.. telling me how beautiful I looked and that she couldn’t believe it. I knew it was my dress when she stared into my eyes and cried with the biggest smile on her face. When her and my little sister reached over to me and gave the biggest hugs full of joy and love.  And when I looked behind them to see my future mother in-laws face, lit up with a smile and tell me that Xavier is going to love it..and that I looked beautiful. That’s how I knew that my dress was “the dress.” Most girls, not all.. I realize this.. but most girls, look to their moms for that last confirmation.. and well, that’s me. I knew that if my momma loved it and made her get up from her seat, and my mother in-law also loved it and knew her son would too.. that, that was my confirmation to say “yes” to the dress.  Did I cry? Yes. I didn’t cry because of the dress, no. I cried because of the moment the dress brought upon us. It’s a beautiful dress and I wouldn’t want to wear any other dress. But I cried because I could see myself walking down the aisle to my future husband in that dress and i could see my mom on the side with tears of joy and confirmation. All those thoughts plus my overjoyed mom hugging and fixing the dress and how lovely the dress is.. Knowing that’s the dress I would walk down the aisle with, is what made me cry.

Yes, we went to Davids Bridal after that appointment, mostly because I wanted to include those who couldn’t make it to the morning appointment and to confirm that Yes,  I had picked the dress. Do I wish I would have kept looking for more dresses at different places? My answer is NO. I knew from the moment we had found my dress, that it was the dress. The dress I LOVED and would wear the day we get married. And while many tell me, you should have looked a little more, because ‘you never know’… I had already set my mind. If I absolutely LOVED my dress, saw myself walking down the aisle in it, my closest friends and family loved it and had such a sweet lovely and personal moment with my family.. why would I? Another tip for advice, don’t be too influenced by others, go with your heart. It makes the moment that much more special!

That’s how I said “YES” to my dress..

And to make my moment that much more special, my brother Joe also played a big part of my happy day… to my surprise he had also made a contribution to my saying “yes” to the dress.. Thank you Joe and to my parents for your endless efforts in making my memory the best one! You all are my happiness and Im so grateful for you all.

Happy WEDDING WEDNESDAY!.. How sweet is your memory of finding your wedding dress?

P.S. No my dress is not shown, for “groom” purposes.. 😉

-Jen<3