Show Us Your Life - Wedding Dresses!

Kelly at Kelly's Korner is hosting "Show Us Your Life: Wedding Dresses" and I love my wedding dress so much, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to show it off!

Darren and I got married on November 17, 2007 (just 5 days before Thanksgiving that year), in a beautiful fall inspired wedding.

When I went to buy my dress in May of that year, I wasn't really looking forward to trying on a bunch of dresses, and luckily for me - it didn't take long to find my dress. It was the second one I tried on, and I "knew" as soon as I put it on, that is the dress I would wear, when I married the love of my life. I know it sounds so corny, but I knew as soon as I put it on, that I had to have it.

Of course, being the practical one, my mother made me try on a few more dresses, just to be on the safe side. I tried on one more there, at David's Bridal and then we rushed down to Alfred Angelo, before they closed, where I completely despised all three dresses that I tried on there. We then rushed back across town to David's Bridal so that I could try "my dress" on one more time, and buy it that very day! It was a total of about 4 hours trying on 6 dresses at 2 different stores, and I walked away with a magical dress.

As luck would have it, the dress was being discontinued. There was only the one dress in all the David's Bridal stores in Texas, and it was in the one store that I went to look at, in my size! I knew right that minute, that was the dress for me!

It makes me very sad that I don't have any pictures of just my dress, or shoes, but I have a couple of good pictures of me in it, so I suppose thats all that matters!

This is my dress, from the back. It "V"ed in the front and in the back. It was a fitted bodice, with a larger skirt and a 16 foot train! You can see the detail work all over the train, and there was detail like that over the bodice. In that threading, there were tiny pearls and a few little crystals every so often, so when the light hit it just right, it sparkled.

A close up of the back, and of my veils. I wore two veils - a blusher, and a veil that matched the beading on my dress. I had bought a pearl and crystal headpiece to wear with them, but unfortunately - I couldn't find it the day before the wedding, so I didn't get to wear it. (I found it when we got back from our honeymoon, in a shopping bag, in my closet).

My dad passed away 7 months before we got married, so I walked alone. I didn't want anyone "taking his place". You can see the blusher veil up close. This is as the ceremony was starting. We had a "blessing of the families". It was really special. This is us walking into the reception. Let me just tell you that 16 feet of train, bustled up is heavy! The tailor put in 32, yes 32! color coded buttons and loops, to bustle that train. She told us that is the most she had ever put on a dress before. A dear friend of mine and my mother had two entire sessions with her, to learn how to bustle it. It had to be done in just the right order, and was so much fabric, it took over half an hour to bustle! I had to post this one because this is Darren's favorite picture from our wedding!

Looking back through all of these pictures makes me want to go to my closet and put this dress on! I know that some people say that if they could go back or if they were to get married tomorrow, they would buy a different dress or try a different style. Not me! If I had to do it all over again, even 15 years from now - this would be my dress. It breaks my heart that I only get to wear it once!