Wedding Wednesday: The Dress

The dress...to many brides, it is the single most important piece of the wedding puzzle, next to marrying their dream guy, of course. I've been watching wedding shows for years and I've seen girls try on hundreds of dresses, searching for the most perfect one, waiting to have "the feeling," hoping to fulfill their childhood bridal fantasy. I went dress shopping with my mom last year, but I didn't know what I was looking for at the time so it felt more like playing dress up than prepping myself for my moment. After that experience, I guess you could say that I went a less conventional route.

I fell in love with a designer dress online. You'll have to wait until after October 5 to know exactly which one, but it was beautiful, perfect, and way above any amount I would allow myself or anyone who loves me to spend on a dress. So I kept looking, for something similar or something better, but at the end of the day this one just felt right and surpassed all the others, even through my computer screen. After looking at what felt like every single wedding dress on the entire internet, I started to look into custom made dresses. I figured that too would be out of my ballpark, so I was amazed to find multiple dressmakers who could create what I envisioned, on a budget. I read hundreds of reviews and totally freaked myself out about what I was considering doing, and then I found the perfect fit.

I discovered Bridal Bliss Designs on Etsy, but was excited to learn that Erin also had bridal boutique called Truly Bridal in Camdenton, Missouri. I poured over her Etsy page and her website, looking at every dress she has made, reading all of the feedback, checking her reviews on message boards, and Googling for details. Once I felt like I had sufficient information, I reached out to her with pictures of my dream dress and all of the desired changes and updates. We messaged for a few weeks, I sent her measurements, and she got to work. A few months felt like years and the anticipation was almost too much to handle! I would check her Etsy page every couple of days, just to remind myself that other brides had done this and ended up loving and looking amazing in their dresses and even though it was nuts to purchase one sight unseen, I was going to get what I wanted.

Finally, after about seven months, I received my dress last week. It is, in a word, perfect. Amazingly, it fits like a glove, the details are exactly as I described, and the changes are just like I imagined. Erin is clearly an expert and she has the gift to be able to create a dress for a girl she'll never meet, by listening intently and offering great craftsmanship. There was always a little part of me that thought it wouldn't work out and that I'd be shopping for something off the rack six weeks before my wedding day, so I am very happy to be able to fully endorse Erin's work. If any brides out there are looking for a custom made dress on a budget, I would highly recommend Bridal Bliss Designs and would be happy to answer any of your questions!

My dress will grace the blog after the wedding, but until then, here are a few of my favorite Bridal Bliss Designs gowns:

(All images: Bridal Bliss Designs)