My Bridal Portraits (and the story of dress shopping)

Everybody I talked to about taking bridal portraits seemed to have an opinion one way or the other. It seems as though people either love them, or they think they are a waste of time. I personally LOVE bridals! Guys don't care about getting all dressed up and taking tons of pictures, so this gives the bride a chance to "show off" a little :) Also, it is a trial run through for hair, makeup, accessories, and of course… the dress! It would be terrible if the day of your wedding you decided you didn't like those earrings, your hair was too high, or your dress didn't lay just right. For all of these reasons, I decided to have bridals done! My other "must have" was to feel absolutely comfortable with my photographer! It is pretty tough to feel beautiful when you are nervous :) Therefore, I knew from day one that I wanted my best friends mom, who is also an awesome photographer, to take them!! (Thanks a million times over Jacque!!!) Kendra and I have been best buddies forever! So, of course Kendra was my maid of honor! That made taking pictures with her and our mom's that much more fun!! Julia, who is basically my second mother, is a lovely beautician, so she was in charge of hair & makeup :) My dad was just the innocent bystander that was forced into handling all of the ladies! 

When I thought about what kind of dress I would want, I was all over the place! I have always loved poofy, princessy ball gowns. I also LOVE fashion, so mermaid styles appealed to me. I knew I had to have bling! I also really love bows and flowers. …Like I said I was ALL OVER THE PLACE! :) That made dress shopping stressful and fun! I liked just about everything I tried on, but there was always something not quite right. The first place I went was Petals & Promises in Logan. I had seen a lot of their dresses at the Bridal Fair on campus, so I knew I liked their inventory. I walked through my sizes, and picked out a bunch of different styles to try on. When the lady started helping into them she said, "I have one on the sale rack that is in your size. I'm going to go grab it." Everyone knows how much I LOVE a deal!! When she started helping me into it, she says, "I don't know how you feel about this, but the bottom rips off to make a cocktail dress." AHHH I was soooooo excited!!!! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could ever afford a dress like that!!! That was a very distant dream of a dress! On top of all of that, it had bling & flowers! I knew this would be a hit :) The only downside was it was ivory. I always thought I would want a WHITE dress. I loved everything else about it, so I tried it on. Even though I had liked everything so far, this was the first time I came out of the dressing room beaming! My mom knew right away that this was the dress! I told her my concerns: it was ivory, it was kinda tight, but worst of all…my best friend & maid of honor wasn't there to share the joy with me :( We decided to sleep on it. They agreed to hold it for 24 hours, but since it was on clearance that was the longest they would wait. Well it was a Saturday, so that meant 24 hours was Monday morning! I thought about it ALL weekend, kept looking it up online to critique even more. I called Kendra and told her all about it, and she helped me think through everything. I felt better having "shared" with her. In the end I decided it just wasn't right. I couldn't get over the ivory. 

Nearly two months later, my parents and family friend Nancy came to Logan for my confirmation. (Nancy was my sponsor :) I knew we had to go shopping again, and we were guessing Petals & Promises may have gotten some new styles in by now. Plus I wanted Nancy and my friend Hanky to see me in some dresses :) I went through my sizes again, and I picked out almost all of the same dresses! I go in the dressing room to start, and the same lady that helped me before was with another bride. She said to the gal helping me, "Hey that is my sale rack bride! We still have your dress!" (Yes she said MY DRESS!!! Was this a sign??) I couldn't believe that after two months on 50% off clearance it was still there! I said I want to try that on last because I already know I love it! I tried on a few others, and then I tried on a WHITE dress. I mean it was WHITE WHITE! It made me look like a ghost! That is when I realized nothing could compare to the ivory! It made my skin look golden rather than white. It was perfect! There was no reason not to love the ivory! My dress was absolutely perfect for me :)

When I came home from UT one weekend, my mom had a surprise for me! She had found my grandma's wedding dress in an old shadow box!! We had no idea we had it all of these years. It was very special for my mom and I. My grandma was tiny tiny, so there was NO WAY I would be trying that little thing on!! (Maybe my left thigh could have, but I wasn't about to chance it haha) We wanted to get a picture with all three generations of dresses in one picture! We knew we would get mannequins for my grandma's and my mom's, and I would wear mine. It was Jacque's idea to stage the picture as it is :) It was perfect!!! I love that I am looking back at them as if they might offer inspiration for me :) It was very special moment for me! 

Ever since I was a little girl I remember thinking about my mom's wedding dress. In my mind it was her dress. It was her style when she got married. I knew the "thing" was to wear your mother's wedding dress, but for me I always felt like that was weird. After all, it was HER dress. In my mind that was special to her and my dad on their wedding day, and I wanted the same for Josh and I on our wedding day. For as long as I can remember, I have known I wanted my own wedding dress, but I also knew that I wanted to take bridal portraits in my mothers wedding dress! It was very important to me that I get to put on her dress and have the memory for both of us. It just wasn't supposed to be on my wedding day. I am not sure how others feel about this, but for me it was very important! I knew exactly what I did and didn't want for our dresses :) When it came time to go shopping for a dress, my mom knew I wouldn't be wearing hers. It was almost like an unspoken agreement. She says she doesn't know why she kept it because she didn't expect me to wear it. But she did! That is when I told her I wanted to have portraits done in her dress too :) It was also very important to me that she didn't see me in it! I had tried on her dress one afternoon at home, but not while I was dressed up. I had our cousin Marge "entertain her" while I snuck away with Jacque & Kendra to take pictures. I planned to have them printed for her before she saw them, but life got in the way! Oh well. They are still special in our hearts :) 

This was honestly one of the best days ever! We had so much fun!!