Somewhere in the middle of all the dancing, cake happened. Nom.
All photos by Exclamation Imagery unless otherwise noted.
Before we go forward, several things about said cake:
1. Since we opted for buttercream icing, I was told that if it happened to be exceptionally hot the day of our wedding, the cake tiers would need to be separated and on three different cake stands. Long story short, I hated all the ones the cake place had, I attempted to find my own, then attempted to make my own, then gave up. Then we lucked out with the weather and they didn’t need to be separated after all. Huzzah!
When people keep asking me if I have my dress, my answer is “well, kind of…”
As I explained earlier, dress shopping was pretty stressful for me. After a few epic fails, my older sister got on the phone and started randomly calling all the dress shops in the Tampa Bay area to see if they may have what I was looking for. I wasn’t targeting a particular designer or style number, but I knew I wanted some lace and a few other specific features. Plus I wanted to make sure the dress would be in my budget.
When I was shopping at some of the bigger bridal stores, I would try on dresses that were hundreds or thousands of dollars, and for some reason they felt cheap. I don’t know if it was the material, the bling, or the scratchiness, but it was hard to imagine shelling out 10x more than I had ever spent on a dress for a dress that didn’t feel very quality.
But…time was running out. I went to a shop by myself one day after work and found a dress that had many the features I was looking for. I guess it looked pretty good on me. I was sick of the process and just ready to walk out with a dress. I even FaceTimed my mom so she could give her approval. I almost said yes, but then I looked up and saw another bride in her dress. She was beaming. In fact, she may have even been twirling a bit. Her whole demeanor screamed, “This is the dress I’m going to get married in!”
At that moment, [much to my consultant’s chagrin] I decided I was not going to just settle and buy a dress. I wanted to beam and twirl.
I thought back to the places my sister had called. I ended up making an appointment with a little boutique in St. Petersburg, call Anglo Couture. It is a local shop where each dress is personally designed and handmade. To me this screamed $$$$. But when my sister called, the woman assured her that it was almost within my pricepoint. But…when you factored in the alteration budget, I was good to go! (Since every dress is handmade, it is sewn to fit the individual bride. Basically, no alterations are necessary.)
Anglo Couture has an adorable showroom in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg. They only schedule one appointment at a time, so to say I received personalize attention is an understatement. The owner and designer, Vicki, personally welcomed me and we sat down to review some inspiration pictures.
My experience here was the opposite of everything I had previously felt. Vicki and her assistant Megan soon had me in some sample dresses and were laying and pinning. I was able to try on different styles and fabrics. We kept tweaking different elements. I felt like Cinderella when the mice were creating the perfect dress for the ball…
The fabrics I chose are gorgeous, and to quote Vicki, “feel like butter.” The design is exactly what I had in mind, but just couldn’t find in the stores. It is classy, yet modern, and just thinking about it makes me want to walk down the aisle already! As eager as I am to show you the dress, you’ll have to wait for the big day too!! I don’t even know what the final product looks like myself (I should be stressed, but I’m not. I am SO excited.). I contemplated revealing the sketch of the design, but I can’t do that either. With that said, I can’t leave the hive completely hanging, so I have some dress porn coming your way. These are some of the amazing dresses Vicki has made in the past.
**And just so you know, my dress looks nothing like any of these 
Gosh, I’m a pain huh?
All images via Anglo Couture
