image by Ashley Caroline / dress Reem Acra from Kleinfeld / makeup Jennie Fresa / hair Jennifer Marcuson / flowers Jakkelyn Iris

Good morning from a snowed in NYC! Hope you enjoyed your snow day, if you had one. I wanted to chat on this weds-day about your wedding dress. One of the weightier decisions surrounding your big day, and one that receives a lot of hype (for good reason). Obviously, this is where my love of fashion and weddings collide, so I have a lot to say about the process. Here are some tips before you begin your big search.

1. Do your research - With any aspect of wedding planning, you'll find that Pinterest is almost always step one. No exceptions for your wedding dress; you have to do your homework. I suggest starting with a secret wedding dress Pinterest board that only you have access to (so as to reserve judgement from opinionated friends, family + stylists), and spending some time pinning every dress you like, for whatever reason. Once you've pinned 30-40 dresses, look for a common theme. Undoubtedly, there is one. Make a note of that.

2. Set your appointment - You're going to want to look for your wedding dress somewhere between 8-12 months out from your wedding. Quick note, if you're having a short engagement, you may want to think about sample sales or department stores, where you won't have to wait for the dress to be made. If you have the time, make an appointment at a bridal salon or designer show room. If you have no idea what kind of dress you want, head to a bridal salon with great inventory. They'll carry a bunch of different styles by different designers, so you can really look around. If you love a particular designer, go to their showroom. For example, if you love Amsale, make an appointment at their bridal showroom so you can see the full collection. This is something I didn't do, but wish I had done (regardless, I love my dress and experience picking it out and wouldn't change a thing).

3. Try, try, try - I've heard of some boutiques only allowing you to try on a specific number of gowns before they tell you that they don't have what they're looking for. But if you aren't happy with what your stylist pulls, ask to see more. Or refine your descriptors (long sleeved, lace, structured, champagne, etc) to help them see your vision. If what they have still isn't right, move on from that particular shop. With that being said, and this is important, you do not have to go to 5 different places to find your wedding dress - it exists and can be easily found, but you have to do your research. A lot of Brides get obsessed with finding the "perfect" dress. Don't go there, this isn't a logical process, it's an emotional one. Limit yourself to 3 trips to find your dress, and come prepared!

4. Do not skimp on alterations - Please, this is so important. Do not try and save money by taking your dress somewhere unfamiliar to be altered. It is not worth the potential money you will save. If your salon does alterations, go through them. If they don't offer alterations, ask them who they recommend - this is way better than yelping or googling somewhere random. Trust me, you won't regret it.

Here's a post about finding my wedding dress.

Any questions, tips, or comments? I'm all ears!

If you're on the search for a dress in the NYC area, here are my favorite salons:

Have a happy hump day!

xoxo,

aok

A quick tour of my good friend DropBox the other day reminded me that I have loads of pictures of me in wedding dresses that I haven't shared with anyone. Aside from the fact that the dresses are just so beautiful and I need other eyeballs to witness them, I'm hoping that you all can get a sense of how a seamless bridal appointment can lead you to selecting your wedding dress. Choosing a dress can be kind of daunting, but with the right preparation, close friends, and stylist, it can come together easily. Here's a little disclaimer: I don't remember who most of these dresses are by. However, my stylist at Kleinfeld, Ellie, definitely will, so if you're going there, bring in the picture and she'll hook you up.

When Ellie and I chatted about what I wanted, I told her that my main criteria was long sleeves. Aside from that, I didn't have a crystal clear vision. With that in mind, we began trying on...

Okay so I know this dress is by Rivini. It's exceptional, it just didn't feel like me. A little too, country or something? On to the next...

This dress was a legit contender for me. I never would have picked something like this out for myself, but I just felt so good in it!

Hashtag she's feeling herself. Ultimately, though, it felt too specific. Winter fairy queen. I loved it, I loved how I felt, but we needed to move on.

Such a cool dress...just not for me. Tits on toast though, no?

At this point, Ellie and I pow-wowed. We were moving in the wrong direction. I hate the word glam, but we needed to move away from country lace and move towards something a little more sleek. Does that make sense? Ellie, magical goddess that she is, hooked me up.

Right?

This dress is unreal! The reason we didn't chose it, though, was because of the beading; the dress had crystals, and was just a bit too fancy.

The top of this dress is everything. Perfect. The skirt was a little unflattering, so again, we moved on...to my wedding dress. Which I can't show you. But, before I pulled the trigger on it, we tried on one more for comparison.

She's so pretty. But as my sister in law said, "The other dress gave you sparkly eyes."

So I put it back on and pranced around and giggled and that was that.

If I can give you one piece of advice about selecting your dress, it's that you should go in guns blazing, ready to make a decision. I could have spent the entire day trying on dresses at Kleinfeld and then gone home empty-handed (and then have appointments with every other bridal boutique I could get my hands on). The process could have gone on for months. I decided before my appointment, though, that I would find my dress that day, and I think I made my life easier in doing so.

Let's summarize.

1. Go in with purpose.

2. Bring honest loved ones (Thank you Mommy, Meg, Gill and Emily!).

3. Trust your stylist.

Hope this is helpful / at the very least you enjoyed looking at pictures of me looking at myself in the mirror!

xoxo,

all photos by my friend Emily Karpin!

weds-day: your wedding dress

weds-day: i am not wearing these wedding dresses