the wedding. the dress & suit.

I had a really hard time with dress shopping. 

I went to a bunch of dress shops here in Utah and I felt like they were all the same.  I didn't want to look like every bride and wanted something unique. 

In Utah you almost always have to get the dresses altered if you're looking for modesty. And that is pricey and the dress never looks that great in my honest opinion. You can tell it's a strapless dress with sleeves sewn in.  The other option is getting a jacket, which looks like a strapless dress with a jacket.  Didn't want that.  

Anyway, nothing worked for me in Bridal shops.  They never had my size and the dresses weren't flattering AT ALL.  Luckily my dad has a cousin who makes custom wedding dresses and has for many years.  We remembered her telling us this information a few years ago at a funeral, so we called her up!  I had an initial consultation with her to show her what I was thinking and then we picked out the fabric.  After that, I only had to drive down for about 4 fittings and it was done!  We designed my dress from about four different dresses.  I liked one neck line, but another bodice, etc.  And I got exactly what I wanted.  By the time we were all done, it cost us just as much as it would have to buy a dress and pay for an alteration.  This way I got exactly what I wanted!

Her name is Barbara Gant and here is her website.  She was absolutely wonderful and SUPER fast!  She is located in the Provo/Orem area and has her contact info on her blog.  You can see a picture of me on her blog here.  You may also recognize this wedding she just finished here.  

(She does brides maid and mother dresses too!)

I decided to get an ivory satin fabric with a lace overlay.  The lace is french and is called "Happy Rose" and is SO beautiful!  

I wanted buttons all the way up the back.  Guess what?  There are 50 of them and my cute mom buttoned them and unbottoned them for me many times.  It took us about 10-15 minutes to do them up.

The high neck in the back is called a "Queen Ann" and in the front I decided I wanted a subtle sweetheart neck.

I added ribbon for some flair.

 I wanted the skirt to be fitted tightly through the hips and upper thighs and then flair out.

I'm not a huge poofy dress girl.

So it had a slight mermaid feel.

We added some more "Happy Rose" lace in a scalop for trim around the bottom.

And these are not my wedding shoes... 

haha.

Just my dad's size 12 rain boots I wore to our bridals so I wouldn't ruin my wedding shoes.

And now:

Lincoln's attire.

We bought Lincoln's three-piece suit from J. Crew.

(I keep seeing the same suit popping up ALL over the inter-web on grooms.)

America suits/tuxs are baggy and yucky.  Lincoln and I both wanted something that looked fitted and like a well made European suit.

I would've preferred something that looked more like a light gray instead of tan, but it was the only thing we could find that was remotely close.

And get this?  J. Crew gave us a discount on it for being students!  Wahoo!

So totally remember that when you shop there.

The only thing is that it wrinkles easily.

I don't think I have a picture of his shoes, but we got them at Nordstrom.

You can see what they look like in our wedding video.

The best part is that he wears the suit and shoes all the time!  He mixes the jacket with jeans or wears the whole thing to church.

Great buy, if you ask me.

so that is our wedding attire.

if you have more questions about these, email me:

jalenetaylor(at)gmail(dot)com