Our Couple of the Year Jacqueline and Jared are getting married in just 64 days!! While the final planning is happening, it’s time to look back at when Jacquline found her dream dress, in a totally unexpected way!
As I would picture my wedding growing up, I could pretty much picture everything…except for myself as an actual bride. It was weird but I could never imagine what I would want to wear or even couldn’t picture myself walking down the aisle (which is strange because I played “dress-up bride” constantly). When it came time for dress shopping, I was basically just walking anxiety. To be honest, that first time I tried on dresses I was not even excited, I was SO nervous.
I flew up to Boston for my first bridal appointment and brought along my two maids of honor, Courtney and Ashleigh, as well as my mom and my sister, Julia, who is also a bridesmaid. We went to Flair Boston and had a great experience! I walked in there knowing of one dress that I had my eyes on and wanted to try. I saw a lot of other brides in it recently as well but I was not sure if that was the silhouette that I was looking for.
ADVICE: if you do not know what type of dress you want on your first appointment, get together pictures of some that you like and let the staff know that the objective of your appointment is to find out what style dress you would be looking for. Then once you find what feels right for you, you can set up more appointments to find your dress. The appointments were only between 1.5-2 hours.
It was the first dress I tried on and it was not for me. Not flattering, and it also did not flatter the style of the wedding that I wanted. It was important to me that I had the venue picked, and an idea of the decor of my wedding before I picked the dress. I wanted to make sure it made sense for a formal, garden wedding. It was hard because the dresses in a bridal boutique are all bridal sample sizes which are completely distorted from normal clothing sizes, but if you are too big or too small for the sample size, it will not always look exactly right on you with all the tools they have to use to get you into the dress (clamping you in). I knew this was the case going in, but it was honestly a little discouraging. The second dress I tried on I loved but was not completely sold on. After a few more dresses, I knew what style I wanted and we left satisfied with the fact that I got an idea of what I was looking for and made some progress, even though I didn’t “say yes to the dress” it was great having all of the girls together to be able to celebrate afterward.
A few months later I flew back up to Rhode Island and went to a different boutique with other designers so I could switch up my options. This time I went to Alexandra’s in Fall River. I tried on a lot more dresses there, and this time brought along my two grandmothers, two of my sisters, my mom, and Ashleigh. I had a better feeling about this appointment and the service was great. I still tried on a few different styles, but for some reason, I just kept comparing every dress to the second dress that I tried on at Flair. It was just so stuck in my head it had to be the dress for me, even though I LOVED some of the ones from Alexandras, they just weren’t as special. So, I left this appointment again without saying “yes to the dress” but I felt a lot better about it.
There was a problem with that second dress, though. There were a few details about it that I just was not crazy about and unfortunately because it was a designer dress, they told me that the changes that I wanted could not be made.
I am always one to put the effort into getting what I want and making sure it is worth it. So to me, if I was going to spend a few thousand dollars on a dress (SCARY) I needed to make sure I loved EVERYTHING about it. Then, I remembered that I heard about a company called Anomalie a few months back. This company custom makes dresses for you, at the same factories and with the same fabrics that designer dresses are made with, but they are able to work with you to design your custom dress and make it for you cheaper than other designer dresses because they cut their overhead costs. Not only is it such an interesting concept for a company, but it felt great to support a growing business.
I set up my consultation with Anomalie and knew that I was going to do it. I worked with a consultant and a stylist and described my vision to them and showed them pictures of dresses that inspired the dress that I wanted to get. They then had a sketch drawn out for me and we discussed price and a timeline.
It was scary because I would not be able to try on the dress until it was completed and sent to me, but the perks were worth it and the reviews were great so I trusted them. And it TOTALLY paid off. It was a great decision on my part and the only thing that I risked was stress.
I got to get the dress that I loved, with the changes that I wanted, I paid ¼ of the price than I would have paid for the original dress that had elements that I was not a fan of. A great benefit of working with Anomolie was that they made the dress to my exact measurements, and if for any reason I did not like the dress or want to follow through with it, it was a 100% money back guarantee.
So I may not have ever gotten that emotional moment where I had tears in my eyes and knew that my dress was THE dress, but I am so happy with my outcome and cannot wait to wear this dress in just a few weeks!
Luckily, finding the bridesmaids dresses and tuxes for the groomsmen was MUCH easier, that is a story for another day 🙂
– Jacqueline
