Featured Bride Mary L., Wedding Location: Braham, MN | Wedding Date: October 1, 2011

Finding 'THE' Dress.

Some people say little girls dream of their wedding day all their lives; the perfect dress, the perfect place, and the perfect person to whom they will marry.  I myself don’t ever remember having dreams of my wedding day.  Luckily, I don’t have to dream; I’ve found the perfect person, my fiancé Tim, our church and reception sites are booked, and thanks to Carolyn at the Wedding Shoppe, I’ve got the perfect dress! When Tim and I got engaged, I told myself I wouldn’t look at wedding gowns online.  I figured I would fall in love with a wedding gown that I either couldn’t find, or wouldn’t be able to fit into the budget.  Well that didn’t last! I found that any time I was on my laptop, all I could look at was wedding stuff- favors, bridesmaid/groomsmen gifts, ring bearer pillows, guest books, gowns, you name it. Oh the gowns! Gorgeous, gorgeous gowns! And so many styles to choose from! The Knot (www.theknot.com) is a great wedding planning website that a friend had told me about.  It’s a FREE website that has a ton of ideas for anything and everything wedding you can think of.  You are also able to order many things from them, such as napkins, bubbles, and even bridesmaid/groomsmen gifts, etc. And they have an amazing collection of wedding gowns for you to get ideas.

The dress.

I quickly decided that I didn’t want a poofy “princess” dress. I wanted something “simple yet elegant” that would show my fun and youthful side, yet also allow the woman I am becoming. I realized that I wanted either a strapless gown, or a one shoulder gown. I started looking at gowns on The Knot, and found a few that I liked, then I came upon a one-shoulder Maggie Sottero wedding gown, and it took my breath away! (I think Tim is reading my posts so I can’t say which one it is! ) I fell in love with this wedding gown! I’m talking drop-dead, head-over-heels, giddy in love! I couldn’t help myself but to look at it every time I went online. I had already made a couple of appointments before finding it so I went, open-minded.  I found one strapless gown that I really liked, which my mom, future MIL, and MOH loved, but I just couldn’t make the decision before trying on the one I saw online. I just had to try on this gown! I went back to The Knot and found out that they had Maggie Sottero wedding dresses at TWS, and called to make an appointment.

Our trip to the Wedding Shoppe.

I had picked out a couple other gowns by Maggie Sottero that I wanted to try on, but especially the one shoulder gown.  When my mom, MOH, personal attendant for the wedding and I arrived we were greeted politely and told we would be helped by Carolyn.  She could not have been a better match for me! She was so great, very helpful and really understood what I was looking for.  She showed us where the gowns were, and told me she would pull the three I asked about. When we got into the dressing room, we had about 8 wedding dresses.  Carolyn suggested we separate them by strapless and one shoulder to each side of the room.  She grabbed one, moved it to the other side, then grabbed another one and looked at it, and looked back to the other side.  She asked me “did you grab this one?” and I said “Yes, I think its gorgeous!” She then said with a huge grin on her face “That’s the same dress I pulled for you!” To make an already long story short, the dress I fell in love with online ending up being “THE” dress for me! It looks gorgeous, and really was flattering to my body type.  I just can’t wait for Tim to see it! Follow Mary and her wedding journey here on My Wedding Chat.  Other Posts You'll Love: How It Happened: The Proposal Picking Your Wedding Reception Site Choosing Your Wedding Photographer

Want more?  Like Wedding Shoppe, Inc. on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.