Eek – just eighteen days
until my first measure for my wedding dress. Eighteen days. EIGHTEEN DAYS. I’m
not ready!!!
I never really knew what
kind of wedding dress I’d go for, I didn’t dream of my wedding dress as a
little girl and didn’t know what shapes or styles suit my body. There is just
so much choice – how can you settle on just one look? So when we started our
wedding planning, I headed out to a few bridal stores to try and find out what
I like. Straight away I disliked pretty much everything. I just found the
boutiques ever so overwhelming, tizzy and frankly, a little too much. Sequins,
lace, tulle, jewels, flowers, ruffles. Confuse-balls.
The day I went to Vera Wang
was a whole other experience though. Ryan and I were in New York in early
October to scout wedding locations, check out churches and so on. I mean, what
is a wedding trip to New York without a visit to Vera Wang. I feel I need to
preface this next part by saying it was hot and muggy in New York and I had
packed minimal clothes. So off I went to Vera Wang in my best ‘holiday’ outfit
that I had and took the subway from the East Village up to the Upper East Side
– 991 Madison Avenue in fact. I turn up and the streets were impeccable, lined
with designer stores and designer people, it was far less busy than other parts
of Manhattan, with well dressed models lazily going about their business of
being ever so fabulous. I looked down at myself and very quickly realised that
I looked a right mess in comparison. My sandals, shorts and sleeveless blouse
gave the impression that I was about to visit the Bronx Zoo and not about to
walk into the world’s most well known wedding dress boutique. Upper East Side I
was not. Even more embarrassing than that, when I arrived at the shop front I
stood there taking photos of what I thought was just a window display but
quickly discovered it was a window and when I sat in the waiting area before my
Consultant collected me, I realised I had stood just outside that window taking
photos as other brides to be were sitting in the very same waiting area I was
in watching me as I clicked away like a silly tourist in her silly Zoo outfit.
Cringe.
The other brides to be in
the waiting area were equally as glamorous as our surrounds, flanked by their
glamorous mums and glamorous bridesmaids, groomed to perfection having looked
like they stepped straight right out of a magazine and into the waiting area. I
became quite nervous as I was on my own, however I was quickly put at ease when
my lovely Consultant, Francesca, welcomed me to Vera Wang with the offer of
“champagne, juice, sparking” which I quickly accepted and sipped my champagne
up the giant staircase to what felt like heaven. It was the most amazing
dressing room I’ve ever seen, huge private rooms came off the main floor which
was full of dresses. Francesca knew by
looking at me exactly what dresses would suit my body and pulled about five and
popped them in my dressing room before asking me to walk around and pull any
dresses that immediately catch my eye. I tried on about twelve dresses and of
course, the dresses that Francesca selected were in fact, perfect for my body.
I fell in love. I fell in love with each and every dress. It was such a far cry
from the visits I had been on in Melbourne trying on dresses and feeling ever
so overwhelmed by the sequins, lace, tulle, jewels, flowers, ruffles.
I was convinced I had found
‘the’ dress and walked out on cloud nine. I skipped down Madison Avenue and met
up with Ryan to tell him all about the fact that I was going to buy a Vera Wang
wedding dress. I had all the details, they took my measurements and I simply
just had to place the order with Francesca via email nine months out from the
wedding date. I was really excited when I came back to Melbourne and started
Googling the dress and found that it was everywhere. On every single wedding
blog, there was this dress. Quite quickly, it went from being ‘the’ dress to
being ‘that bloody dress I see on every single wedding website’. I grew tired
of the dress and the fact that it was no longer special and realised I’d been
caught up in the experience that Vera Wang provided. They made me feel so
special in their fancy boutique with their champagne and motherly approach. I
decided to put my dress plans on hold. It was too early anyway and I had plenty
of time to look around.
Around the Christmas
holidays just gone, a funny thing happened. I was walking around my local area
and what did I see but a new bridal boutique with a stunning wedding dress in
the window. Sure enough, when I met with the designer at One Day Bridal I
finally realised that a custom made wedding dress was for me. No more sequins,
lace, tulle, jewels, flowers, ruffles for me. Just a lovely experience with a
gorgeous designer who is inspired by so many wonderful bits and bobs which I
also adore.
Kyha has come up with a wedding dress design which screams Natalie
and on 29th September, I will be measured for the first time. It’s a
scary thought because this date has crept up on me out of nowhere and I feel
ill prepared. Should I be at my ideal wedding weight now? I’m certainly not there
yet and it makes me so nervous. I don’t want to see myself in my wedding dress
looking far from my ideal but with only 2.5 weeks until the big measure, I have
to just suck it up (and suck it in) and stick to my fitness plan so that over
the next few months I get to my ideal the healthy way a.k.a the slow way. Just stay consistent with the old exercise regime. I don’t want to be one of those psycho
girls who gets a bit outrageous with the weight loss. It just isn’t my style
but weddings can do crazy things to people. Fingers crossed I avoid the
craziness…and fingers crossed the
torturous (fun) run I’ve signed up for with the girls from work pays off and I
run some of the excess kilos off my little 5’1 frame.
Now, back to my carrot
stick *joke*
All my love,
