I Said Yes to the Dress!

Y’all. I have been dreaming of writing this blog post for YEARS, and it’s hard to believe that A. I am engaged to the love of my life and B. I found my dream wedding dress.

Disclaimer before proceeding: This blog post does not include any portion of my wedding dress nor is it for my fiance to read. Carry on.

Back to the important stuff and the reason you’re reading this…this is the scoop on what it is like wedding dress shopping, going to Kleinfeld, and the thoughts behind choosing a dress.

After I got engaged in December, I hit the ground running with planning: I got started on dates, finding venues, price estimates, wedding planners, DJs, photographers, videographers, the works. Thankfully, my sweet fiance has helped SO much with this entire process, and we are so grateful to have all of the major things already checked off the list before March!

One of the last things? Finding “the dress,” of course!

The Experience

I rounded up a few of my girlfriends/bridesmaids, my mom, and my future mother-in-law to travel to the Polar Vortex to help me find my dream dress. Once we arrived in NYC, we started off Day 1 by going to Monique Lhuillier.

Y’ALL.

Monique was easily one of the best experiences I have ever had- so good, in fact, I wrote a very long Yelp/Google review about it all!

I had Frank as my consultant, he was knowledgeable, understanding, kind, passionate, dedicated, and attentive. Not once did he ever make me feel like I had to make a decision nor did he ever make me feel invalid. There was one dress that I was head over heels in love with, and he spent over an hour customizing it to my preferences (knowing that I might not even go through with purchasing it).

I walked away from Monique with a full heart and a certain mind, but I needed to visit the other places before making any decisions.

So onward to stop number 2: Vera Wang.

Oy, I was so excited about this appointment, but oh my stars I was wrong. From the moment we got there, the staff members acted as if we weren’t important, and the gown selections were terrible. After browsing for a few minutes before my consultant met with me, I only found 2 dresses I even wanted to try on. Everything in the salon was purple, red, or an off-white color with huge bows or distressed/frayed bottoms. To make matters worse, my consultant was very rude and pressured me a great deal. For example, I didn’t know that Vera Wang only makes drop waist gowns, and she frowned at me and goes, “Um, if you did your research you would have known and wouldn’t have wasted our time.”

Yeah, not the best taste left in my mouth.

On a positive note, I did really love one dress there. It wasn’t the one, but it was beautiful and very Cinderella-esque. See below.

During the appointment at Vera Wang, two of my best friends actually started calling around other bridal salons to see if they had any last minute appointments! Our initial list of 3 stops turned into 5 and we added Saks Fifth Ave and Bergdorf Goodman to the schedule.

Stop number 3: Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks was amazing! They had an extensive collection of beautiful dresses in the salon and my consultant, Lauren, was incredible. She was drawn to details, listened to my desires, and let me try on as many dresses as I wanted! I ended up trying on about 10 dresses at Saks, and actually re-tried on the Monique gown that I loved so much while I was there. I definitely recommend checking out Saks if you are going to NYC for dress shopping!

A few favorite designers at Saks: Berta, Monique, Reem Acra

Stop number 4: Bergdorf Goodman

Yikes, this one was a huge no from Judge Number 1. Bergdorf had maybeee 20 dresses in the entire salon, all of which are well over $8,000. I tried on 3, they were beautiful, but ungodly expensive.

As Ariana Grande says, thank u, nxt.

Last but certainly not least, stop number 5: Kleinfeld

I’ve known since I was probably 13 that I wanted to go to Kleinfeld and have the expderience.

If y’all are like me, then you’ve probably binge-watched Say Yes to the Dress in the comfort of your pjs for years. Walking through the front doors felt surreal because I had been obsessed with this show for so long! Truthfully, I was hesitant about coming here because I was unsure of the experience that I would have or if it was over-hyped.

Friends, I am here to tell you that it is amazing.

When you arrive, it seems like there are hundreds of people there all waiting for the same thing! I remember walking in and going, “Lord, this is a madhouse.” After about 15 minutes, our party was called over by a small blonde woman named Diane. Diane is actually one of the main consultants on the show and had been working at Kleinfeld’s for over 19 years! My group sat in the waiting area on the couches and I walked away with Diane to go browse the selections and discuss my visions. Diane had me walk through the salon with her to pick out dresses that spoke to me and she would pull them for me.

I ended up browsing by myself for a brief moment, and came across a hidden dress in an unexpected area. I held it up to my group and they all said, “that is the one.”

Fun fact: they were right.

My overall experience at Kleinfeld was incredible from start to finish. Diane was so kind, knowledgeable, patient, and worked with the designer of my dress choice while I was at the salon. I was SO excited to have Diane ask me to say “yes to the dress,” IN my dress IN Kleinfeld.

WHAT A DREAM.

How to choose “the one:”

I’ve heard from so many people that “when you know, you know.” I didn’t believe it until I made my decision. Truthfully, choosing my wedding dress was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I mean, you’ve waited your WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS (no pressure, right?)

I was torn between two dresses, and I grappled with it up for almost an hour (while standing in my wedding dress and heels). My little, aka my Maid of Honor, looked at me and said the following: “When you are in this dress, are you thinking of the other one wishing you were in it?”

I answered no, and that’s when everything became crystal clear and I knew I had made my decision.

There is no formula or “one size fits all” advice on how to choose your dress, however, you have to be the one who decides for yourself. This is your special day 🙂

Blog post summary:

1. Pick out your dream dress with people who love you and know your heart the best

2. Drink champagne

3. Don’t get a dress because you feel pressured, get it because YOU love it and never want to take it off!!

4. Go to Monique and Kleinfelds and Saks

5. Do not go to Bergdorf or Vera Wang

6. Celebrate!!!!

Sorry there aren’t too many spoilers, I have to keep it vague until December 29th. But trust me, y’all, this wait is beyond worth it.

#Marriage #weddingdress