wedding wednesday: dress details & how I found my dress

So I'll admit it: I have always been one of those girls who planned their wedding from a very early age. Basically, as soon as I realised wedding dresses existed, I was on board. I don't even care if it makes me sound shallow! Heck...I'm writing a beauty blog. The "shallow" ship has clearly already sailed.

It took me 24 years to find the right guy (and I actually "found" him when I wasn't even looking--more on that in another wedding wednesday). But it took me a fraction of that time to find the right dress.

All of the photos in this post are taken by the amazing Anna Urban.

After we got engaged

Josh and I got engaged when we were living in Tel Aviv, Israel for work. It was thunder-storming and we were out on the balcony when he popped the question. It was perfect.

For the next few weeks, I spent more time than I'd like to admit browsing Pinterest and bridal boutique websites looking for the perfect dress. But it wasn't actually me who found it!

Moms are always right

I *always* thought that I would go with a long-sleeved lace dress with minimal volume in the skirt. But one day, I opened up my email to see a message from my mom. She'd found a bunch of Nouvelle Amsale dresses that were available at a bridal boutique in Washington. As soon as I saw the pic of the  Nouvelle Amsale Erin, something inside of me clicked. That was my dress. And it wasn't that long-sleeved lacy number I'd had my heart set on. It was a ballgown!

When we got to Hitched Salon, the Erin was the first dress I tried on. It was pretty much love at first sight. It was a size too big, so I had to do some imagining. I was really nervous that the dress would have too much volume in the skirt. I really didn't want to look like a cupcake. But the boutique assured me that if I loved everything else about the dress, they could remove some layers of petticoat.

The dress details

The Erin is a strapless ballgown with a sweetheart neckline. One of my favourite details is the delicate piece of tulle that covers the bodice/neckline area. It also features lace appliqués in various places on the bodice and waistline.

The skirt is so unique: it has a really interesting, romantic, flowy structure, with lots of sort of disorganised pick-ups.

Thank you all so much for reading! Have you been planning your wedding since you were a little girl? What's your favourite style of wedding gown?