My Wedding Dress

My dream dress. I’d be lying if I said it was what I had been dreaming of my whole life. To be honest with you, I hadn’t ever thought about what wedding dress I would wear until Greg proposed. For the longest time, I didn’t even want to get married! Well, that was until Greg came around, of course. Ladies, we all want to be independent, strong women, who “don’t need no man;” but when that prince charming DOES come around, you jump on that like white on wedding cake! It doesn’t come often and I knew if I didn’t snag this one while I had him…then I wouldn’t be wearing this amazing dress ever!

I’ll have to give the story of how he proposed in another blog post. Long story short, we were in Vegas for Olympia and I had to be at the expo the next day for a booth appearance. Do you know how hard it is to sit there and smile, talk to people, and NOT be on Pinterest searching “wedding dress,” “bride dress,” “sexy wedding dress,” etc. etc.? Oh, I couldn’t wait to get out of there, I had so much planning to do! Mind you, this was not even 24 hours after being engaged.

As soon as we got home from Vegas, my mom and I wasted NO time and were already sending screen shots of dresses and ideas like it was our job. It wasn’t long before I knew what style I wanted, after a few weeks of searching what felt like the ENTIRE internet. After following all the wedding blogs, Instagram pics, Pinterest boards, and creepin’ on other girls’ pictures, it was time to actually go and look for some of these dresses! My mom came up almost every weekend for a month. Trying on dresses with my mom was a usual thing growing up doing beauty pageants, so we knew what to expect…so we thought. Shopping for a wedding dress was a nightmare! Now don’t get me wrong; we had a blast and it’s always fun playing dress up. So many bows, ruffles, rhinestones, and lace! Everything looked the same or I had seen it before. There was just so much going on with every dress! I didn’t want typical. I didn’t want what everyone else had.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m a woman who knows what she wants and I don’t just settle. I went into these shops knowing exactly what I wanted. Trying on a dress that I knew wasn’t what I wanted was not fun to me. Having someone just tell me that it looked good on me so that they could make a sale was not fun to me. I wanted to find MY dress. (Do I sound like a bridezilla yet?).

Here’s what I wanted. I wanted sleek and sexy. Fitted with an open back. A little detailing was okay, but not much. My whole life I wore bedazzled prom dresses, pageant dresses, and swimsuits. For crying out loud, I just wanted simple! A loooong, long train and just as long veil. Simple, haha…. says the girl who ended up getting a custom dress. Yeap, my dress was custom-hand made with so much love by the NHA KAHN. After so many try-on’s and not finding THE dress, you know the one you put on and just fall to the ground crying never wanting to take it off because it’s THE ONE…yeah, that never happened. My amazing wedding planner MEREDITH COMMENDER then suggested I look at some custom designers. I ended up scheduling consults with two different designers. Right away, I knew Khan was my girl. She is the Custom Wedding Dress Designer at STANLEY KORSHAK BRIDAL here in Dallas, Texas. As I am sitting down and talking through my ever so detailed, “simple” envision, she was doodling something in her notebook. I’m thinking okay, good, this is good; she’s taking notes. When I finished and I started to look around at some of the dresses, she flipped her little notebook over and said, “Something like this?” BOOM. Right then and there, the tears fell. THAT was MY dress!!!! She sat there and drew my dress on paper and it was exactly as I envisioned. I could not believe my eyes. My mom and I had the moment and knew it was the ONE! She then brought out different swatches of fabrics, tulle, and applique to see what I liked. I was building my dress as we spoke. After taking my measurements, a few decisions on fabric of the dress, the little applique I would have, and the tulle for the bottom, train, and veil, I said “YES to the dress!”  

We decided that I would have a very form fitted, mermaid style dress with a flowy bottom with a seven foot detachable train and matching veil. Plus, lace applique that would have to be hand stitched around the edges and a very low cut complete open back! It was perfection.

Now the real process came. Greg and I did a year and a half engagement. Over this entire time span, I went back and forth to meet Khan to take measurements and try on a “sheet” model of what the body would be. She would hand pin an entire side of the dress to me to see exactly where I wanted the lace applique laid. Cutting the bottom “V” to make sure it was just enough room for me to walk, but still have that very form fitted look I wanted. I would have to come back in every few months just to make sure my size hadn’t changed too much to ensure that the body was just right. Each time I went and saw Khan, it was just another “section” of my dress. I never saw my dress completed once, except on paper. It was a little nerve wracking trying to just picture what this “sheet” was going to turn out like.  She was always so amazing at explaining the process and why this happened this way or why we needed to do it like this.

A year and half later, she had worked her magic, put her heart and soul into the detailing of my dress, and it all finally came together. Khan said it best: “This dress was built on and for your body.” I began to cry and right there was THAT moment. Here it was on me, exactly as I had dreamed, and it fit PERFECTLY! The wait, the time, the measurements upon measurements were all worth it. Khan had taken my vision, drawn it on paper, and made it come to life. Incredible. It was one of a kind; there wasn’t another one out there like it. Now that’s how every woman should feel looking at her wedding dress.

The best part about it all….Greg LOVED it!

See the stages of my dress below.

Photography by: STEFANIE HAMPTON MORROW

Hair/Makeup: BRIANA DAI

Special thank you to my amazing Mother for going through this process with me and giving me the dress of my dreams.

Here are the beginning stages of the dress! See…just a little cut out sheet.

 

Khan hand pinned the entire side of the dress while it was on me!

 

The final fitting! My train was the most important piece. It was literally the one thing I had always wanted, an extremely long train! Khan gave me a seven foot, handkerchief cut, soft tulle train.

Did I mention it was detachable? Yep. The whole thing hook and eyed right off and I had a little baby train.

It took all three of my bridesmaids to carry it!

My wedding shoes were actually comfy, believe it or not! A D’orsay, pointed toe, AMINAHJILLIL Bow Pump. I just recently wore them again for our one year anniversary. I think I’ll start making it a tradition.

Aaand off they went and on with my kicks! My momma actually found these for me online and they matched the wedding and allowed me to dance the night away…and oh, did we ever!

 

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