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meet ashley - your wedding day bff. 

New Jersey Wedding Photographer, Living on the shore with my hubby & golden Layla

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ashley

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Lifestyle & Family

September 20, 2018

Finding the Perfect Gown // Through the Bride’s Lens

After getting engaged, wedding planning gets crazy. Let’s not deny it. Personally, I knew how long it can take for a wedding dress to come in and get altered so that was one of the first things I did before even booking a venue!! We chose our wedding date pretty early on so I could make the date work in my work schedule easily, which helped a lot! Side note, I still can’t believe I photographed a wedding a week before mine then 3 days after returning from our honeymoon. Anyway! When it came to the dress of my dreams (and the wedding too!), I knew I wanted a summery bohemian style wedding and Blue Mae Events made my dreams come true! But picking a dress… well, that felt like more of a challenge.

When it came to choosing places to shop for a wedding dress, I honestly had no idea where to start because I only knew of a couple places. Immediately, I thought of BHLDN since I loved everything on their website and their prices were in my budget.  I truly thought it’d be a one stop shop and I’d find my gown there. If any of you are online clothing shoppers like me… you know that things we buy offline don’t always look like what we expected once we see it in person. Wedding dresses there were no different. Although there were some beautiful gowns, I just didn’t find MINE there.

After BHLDN in NYC, we decided to try RK Bridal. One benefit here was that the store had tons of styles, which turned out to be a great thing because it helped me rule out some of the styles I didn’t want my gown to be! As you probably guessed, I didn’t find my gown here either. We moved onto Barefoot Bride and then Castle Couture. Nothing I tried on really felt like the one I had dreamed about but I found myself torn between a gorgeous Hayley Paige dress and a Casablanca gown from Barefoot Bride. Luckily, I was able to try them on in the same day and back to back to make my decision, which really helped me focus on what I liked (and didn’t like) about them. In the end, I went with the Casablanca gown from Barefoot Bride!!!

Honestly, choosing my gown taught me a few things. The first… to be open minded and try on everything at least once (okay, not every dress, but you get the idea)… You’d be surprised what you like and everything is customizable! This was important when I did finally find my gown because it turned out to be a smidge puffier than I wanted but I had some layers removed! Additionally, this helps you realize what will or won’t work for your particular day. One dress I tried on brought both my mother and mother-in-law to tears, but it just wouldn’t have been practical for our bohemian inspired summer wedding. Maybe a ballroom or a winter wedding! The other major thing I want to pass onto brides is to think about your dress. Don’t feel like you have to rush into buying something. Try it on, sleep on it and go back to get the one you love. It’ll be better that way then to buy something and waste the money on a gown you’ll never wind up wearing – or worse, wear all day and be miserable in! I’ve known girls who’ve made the wrong dress choice and boy, was there a headache after that purchase was over!!

When all was said and done, we had a great time looking for my gown. I’m so happy I was able to bring along my friends and family and they helped me through this process. Comment below with which gown you loved the most from all the ones I tried on!! I can’t believe how many I actually put on now that I look back at them… And tell me all about YOUR gown buying experiences!!! 

And the winner…. on our wedding day!! 

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meet ashley - your wedding day bff. 

New Jersey Wedding Photographer, Living on the shore with my hubby & golden Layla

Get to know

ashley

Categories

post

weddings

engagements

personal

wedding tips

Ashley

work with

Wedding Photography

Lifestyle & Family