Weddingbee Blog

One Saturday in November, my amazing MOH drove in from Boston for the day (that is love and dedication), and my one and only BM came with me to one of the larger bridal-gown places in New York. The plan, since this was my first time out shopping, was to check out what styles I might like and see how the pricing was. I had a tiny budget in mind, but Mr. Crepe told me not to worry about it that day and just figure out what I liked. Sweetest man. So I tried on a few dresses that I loved, but they were definitely over budget. The store didn’t let us take photos unless we purchased the gown, unfortunately.

Before I went, I did a little bit of research on pricing. I was afraid of falling in love with a dress I couldn’t afford. I found that Watters & Watters dresses were a balance of style and price that we might be able to manage.

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The first dress I tried on was almost exactly what I was looking for, which was a sweetheart neckline and an A-line shape. The only issue I had was that the material was on the heavy side. I loved the pockets! I’m not crazy about the flower, but it actually wasn’t on the dress when I tried it on. Being a jewelry designer, I wanted to add my own accessories, so I loved that it felt like a blank slate with structured details.

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For the next dresses, I thought I should try on some unexpected shapes, since everyone told me that you couldn’t tell what type of wedding dress would look nice on your body until you actually tried them on. I loved Inez because of the interesting fabric with this organic layered look, but the crumb catcher on top made me look like I was being eaten by a giant clam monster. The dress was also much too heavy, and I could see myself drenched in sweat at my late May wedding with this on.

The Regina was soft and romantic looking in the photograph, but it was on my body for two seconds before both my MOH and I said “no” simultaneously. Couldn’t get that dress off of me fast enough. Looking back, it must have been how large the sample was. Both of these dresses would look much more beautiful on someone who actually fit the sample perfectly.

This was also when I realized that I should just stick with my instincts on what generally looks right on my body type—a slight pear shape and tiny bust. Back to sweethearts and A-line dresses!

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At this point, I had tried on all the dresses that we could find at this location that I had written down beforehand. My MOH had pulled a few for me, like this Kalahari. Oh my, this dress was just gorgeous. I went into this process avoiding pick ups, but the ones on this dress were organically placed around the skirt. I came out of the dressing room, and my MOH burst into tears. I stood there and swished the skirt around but, in the end, it was too much money and was a little too grand for our overall wedding style.

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My ideal dress going into this appointment was the Lasara, but we couldn’t find it to try on. I hadn’t even considered the Austin dress because I couldn’t see how special it was from the photograph on the website. It turned out that the Austin was a close match to what I loved about the Lasara. It had the shape of Mimi (the first dress), with a lighter, more ethereal look to it because of the layers of fabric. It was a dusty ivory, which went along beautifully with our vintage-modern wedding style, and the skirt fell in soft waves onto the ground that fluttered gently when I walked. It was so darn lovely.

I tend to lean on the practical side and usually make less emotional decisions when it comes to clothing choices (no tears here), so I quietly decided that this was what I was looking for, and it came down to price. It turned out to be even more than the Kalahari, so the three of us left to get some chicken katsu curry to discuss our next steps!

Hearing about other brides’ experiences and watching too much TV on the process, I felt like an oddball because I didn’t tear up, not even a little bit. Are there any other stoic brides out there?