I'm not sure what other brides have experienced, but wedding dress shopping was one of the most challenging areas of wedding planning for me. I knew I wanted something different, but classic... comfortable, but flattering... artistic, but timeless. Back in June, I spent a day wedding dress shopping in New York City with my maid of honor, Tracy, Debbie and Jennifer of Jennifer's Bridal in Delaware. It was a really busy time of year in the studio, with a lot of weddings and not a lot of time - so I pretty much knew that I had one day to find the dress and order it. Debbie and Jennifer took me to Amsale, Melissa Sweet and Birnbaum and Bullock and at each place I found a dress that I loved. I remember Melissa Sweet said to me while I was trying on dresses "You are cute so most things you try on will look nice, so it's a matter of finding a dress that feels the most like who you are as a person, and what side of your personality you want to show the most of." That advice resonated with me as I was trying to narrow down my choices.

When we first went to Amsale, I found this dress which really appealed to my retro, fun side. It felt like something Carrie Bradshaw would have worn if she got married to Mr. Big. Our idea was to remove the skirt after the ceremony to reveal a a layer of light pink tea-length pink chiffon underneath at the reception (think Gwen Stefani) which would have been so fun!

Although we thought we had found 'the dress,' we decided to keep looking and Melissa Sweet was the next stop. I tried on this dress, which felt very runway/modelesque on and appealed to my love of fashion. Melissa really liked this dress on me, so that made is a very tough decision. I also loved the little jacket which was both functional as well as fashionable:

Finally, we went to Birnbaum and Bullock which is where I found 'the dress.' At first, I tried on my dress in a fantastic white fabric with sequened floral details on it. When I came out of the room, Tracy, Jennifer and Debbie all loved how it looked on me. Although I loved the fit of the dress, the sequened flowers felt like a little bit too much detail for a petite person and I had already fallen in love with a Birnbaum and Bullock shrug, which didn't work so well with the details on the dress. The designers were there and encouraged me to take things I liked and didn't like about the dresses I was trying on and have them create something custom.

I decided to go home to think about it overnight after a long shopping day in the city. The next day I woke up with a ephiphany to ask Birnbaum and Bullock to remove the jeweled flowers and create the dress in light pink! Part of the inspiration for the color is that John's favorite shirt on me is a long sleeved, tattered light pink Michael Stars t-shirt which I shipped to Birnbaum and Bullock so they could match the fabric. A few months later several pink swatches showed up in the mail one of which was a perfect match to the t-shirt and just the right thickness for the style of the dress.

Because of the unqiue color and style, accessorizing my wedding dress was so much fun! I can't remember where I found Leah C's website, but once I did I fell in love with her work. During one of my trips to NYC I visited her little studio near Penn Station with one of my bridesmaids, Kristy and picked out this veil and feathered hairpiece.

after the ceremony, i pulled off the veil and added a beautiful sparkly shrug I found at Birnbaum and Bullock. I love that i can wear this again and again... it would even look great with jeans!

for shoes, it was so hard to find cute, closed toed shoes for the winter. Jessica Claire found these for me online, and the silver went perfectly with both my wedding dress and the going away outfit. The best part is that I can wear them many times over again, unlike traditional bridal shoes:

For winter brides, I cannot reccommend highly enough getting a jacket to keep you warm. There have been so many times I was limited by not being able to go outside for photos because of a shivering bride who did not purchase a warm jacket for outdoor photos. I found this Marc Jacobs white faux fur jacket on ebay which went perfectly with my dress:

Finally, at my final wedding dress fitting I made a quick last minute decision to purchase a 'going away' dress because I was concerned as to how complicated the buttons were on the back of my dress (and that John would never be able to figure them out!). My bridesmaids helped me get out of the dress about 15 minutes before the wedding ended and into this Alice and Olivia minidress that I found on ebay:

Quick Vendor Links:

Dress and Shrug: Birnbaum and Bullock
Veil and Feather Hairpiece: Leah C BCMed netted veil, B29 headpiece
Earrings: On loan from Indulgence Jewelry in Greenville, DE
Shoes: Gina London
Jacket: Marc Jacobs (purchased on ebay)
Going away outfit: Alice and Olivia (purchased on ebay)

coming next... the bridesmaids' attire