Wedding Wednesday // THE Dress...

As I set out for my first bridal dress consultation at the quaint bridal boutique in downtown Worthington {La Jeune Mariee} a few weeks ago, I was unaware of what the outcome might be. I was hesitant to believe I could find the dress on the first appointment and in my head I was thinking it may be too soon to start looking {being that the wedding is not until November}. However, a few weeks before at the Columbus Bridal Show, a lady at a bridal boutique stand asked me if I had started looking for a dress. I smiled, blushed and innocently replied, "Oh no, I just got engaged a few weeks ago....and my wedding is not until November". She gasped and said quickly, "Well, you should start looking now! You know it can take over 9 months to get your wedding dress...you don't know if you have to order it...you'll need alterations...do you know what style you are looking for?"

I became immediately overwhelmed. My plan was to lose about 5 lbs before I even think about trying one on, but that plan quickly changed when I realized what a process it is to find and order a wedding dress. The next day I scheduled my appointment at La Jeune Mariee. I knew that this boutique carried all designer gowns and may be a bit out of my price range. My plan was to find a style I liked best and then perhaps go to David's Bridal to see if I could find one that mimics my preferred style.

After trying on a few of the designer gowns on the first floor and quickly realizing that the price tags were making both my mother and myself uncomfortable, we decided to venture up to the 2nd floor where all the discounted designer gowns lived. Here were rows and rows of white dresses that could be bought off the rack at 25 - 50% reduced prices. The dresses were gorgeous! The second dress I tried on I absolutely fell in love with. It made me feel comfortable, it had all the aspects I was looking for and bottom line was I looked great in it! As I gave my mom the "What do you think?" glance, I noticed her eyes glazing over and a big grin on her face. She knew, as well as I, that this was the one...

The next day, the dress was mine! And now I have to wait 9 months to wear it (well, besides when I get alterations done). I had another appointment scheduled at David's Bridal that I later canceled. David's Bridal does carry a few lines of designer gowns that have caught my eye while searching online...

 

{All images via David's Bridal}

 

 

The designer of my dress is Priscilla of Boston, of whom I had never heard of before shopping for a bridal gown. The bridal consultant told me she was THE wedding dress designer even before Vera Wang started making wedding dresses.

 

After doing a little on line research, I come to find that P.o.B. has been around since 1945 and that she designed a wedding dress for Grace Kelly when she married the Prince of Monaco in 1956...



 

{via}

 

Then, I come to find that David's Bridal is the sister store of Priscilla of Boston. The 19 stores that were located through out the country closed at the end of 2011, making what Priscilla of Boston dresses that were left all on discount. It is said in {this} source that this was due to the plummeting economy between 2008 - 2010. The average wedding dress at the time was bought for a little over $1000, which is closer to the price point of the sister store, David's Bridal with a price max of about $1,400. The most expensive dress at P.o.B. is about $10,000.

 

Never the less, I got a pretty good deal on a very nice "designer" gown and I'm so excited to wear it!

 

Here are a few of her other designs...Of course, I'm not going to ruin the surprise and show you mine ;)

 

This week on the Wedding agenda is pricing DJs, Florists and Cake vendors...Weee!

 

I'm linking up with Joelle via Something Charming for Wedding Wednesday! Hop on over for more wedding link up fun!

 

I'll be back tomorrow for my 2nd installment of February Finds! Did you catch my first one {here}?