Wedding Dresses!

This is so fun. I just was cleaning up my iPhoto pictures and came across all of the pictures I have from me trying on every dress I could possibly love. Some are totally nerdy, but here's a look at how I arrived at my dress. My first stop was a bridal store in downtown Denver. I loved my experience there in March 2013, but ended up walking away empty handed. I don't remember any of the brands of the dresses that I tried on and didn't buy... it was over a year and a half ago. #longengagementproblems

This 1920s style dress was SO pretty, but it didn't scream wedding to me... especially not mountain wedding.

This one I likes because I liked the top of it, but hated two things: the bottom and the ugly broach up top. It was out.

I almost picked this dress and altered the crap out it. The top had feathers... which was weird to me. But I like the criss-cross overlay on the top and the bottom was so manageable. I wanted the train to be a little longer, but I knew that I had found my SHAPE of a dress. It ended up being the inspiration for the dress I ultimately picked.

I fell hard for the back of this dress. Like hard. But the front was not doing anything for me... see?

Now we fast forward about 4-6 months to D'Anelli Bridal in Lakewood where I finally found my dress. This dress was on clearance for $500 and I REALLY liked the back of it and knew that I could alter the front to actually fit. I am just now noticing that the front had that criss-cross thing I liked from the runner-up dress above. But the sparkles on the top were the deal killer for me.

In the end... this was my winner. It's by Essence of Australia and given the chance to pick a dress again, I would pick it... over and over and over. It ticked all of my boxes: under $1500, simple, figure flattering, feels like a wedding dress.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

So which one would you pick for me? For yourself?

Thank You

I have tried to express my gratitude for all of the things at all of the times in my life in all of the ways. But sometimes, there aren't enough words or quotes or sayings to really express gratitude. There are certainly not enough words to encapsulate how special our wedding day was and how grateful we are to everyone that helped us, made stuff, gave us beautiful pictures, showed up, gave us gifts, sent us prayers, read this blog, followed our wedding on instagram, and loved on us that day. As excited as I am that the thank you cards are finally here, they somehow still feel flat (not a pun). They feel not enough. But that is the thing about living from a space of gratitude: you are never done giving thanks and thus, the feeling that it is not enough is normal. There is no box to check off for the day/month/year. It's a continual process, this giving thanks business. So, you. You know who you are. Thank you. Thank you oh so very much.