The Golden Unicorn

A wedding dress is both an intimate and personal for a woman - it must reflect the personality and style of the bride.

~Carolina Herrera

The Dress.

        There is nothing like seeing yourself in a wedding dress for the first time. It is like stepping into a whole new world where the ground is a combination of silk and tulle and the clouds are made of lace. Also seeing yourself once you step up onto the pedestal all clipped into the beautiful pieces really makes you realize that you are "the bride."

     I had always planned for my mom and sister to be there to help me choose my wedding dress, it is the most special time, and to have them both there was exactly what I always hoped for, pure joy! They helping me envision walking down the isle with my dad to my future husband in each dress. With Henley knowing that she will have a very busy schedule next semester finding time for all three of us to meet in one spot was going to be a difficult challenge to coordinate. So we decided to plan a weekend when Henley was on break to start looking; it turned out that his week was the best for all of us so I packed up and headed to Denver. This trip was to try on dresses in order to find out what shape I liked most on my body… I mean we are a whole year away I DID NOT need to find "the one" this weekend!

A&B

     I made three appointments for Friday and Saturday at different shops that so that I could get a feel for what I liked. The first shop was A & B, a great little boutique dress shop with lots of different shapes and styles in many designer's lines. I went into the experience with no preconceived plans of what I wanted to wear so I started by trying on one of every shape, I recommend this for everyone because you might surprise yourself! My stylist, Bre, helped me try on about eight dresses narrowing down the styles that i felt best in and that Henley and mom said fit my shape the best- these turned out to be a fit and flare, and …wait for it…. a ball gown! I know I was surprised too!! I felt that the two were so different that it was going to be hard to nail down the type I wanted for our wedding day. I liked that the ball gown was fun, playful, and that it offered the "bride look." You know the one that makes you really feel like that bride, the one that you saw on tv for many years as a little girl. The fit and flare was sophisticated, elegant, and gave me a womanly figure-- I have never seen that before. Within the two styles we narrowed it down to two dresses and left the store. I felt great narrowing things down and knew that I was making progress in my selection process, and did not feel discouraged walking out without a dress because I wasn't there to find one this weekend!

Little White Dress

     The second shop was called Little White Dress, a little bigger shop but not one like Kleinsfield where you feel overwhelmed! My Stylist Sara was darling! She wanted to keep going on the progress we made at A & B, so she pulled ball gowns and fit and flares with lace, bedding, tule, and anything else she could find. She also told us that we came in at a great time, because they were having a sample sale of three designers. This made it fun for her too because all the dresses had been delivered the night before so she had not even seen some. She showed us the section of the dresses and mom, Hen, and I picked our favorites, and she pulled them into my fitting room along with the ones that she found. I was really good at knowing when I didn't not like the dress or when it was beautiful but not MY dress, so the turn around in some of the dresses was very quick haha! I had fun being the first person to try on most of the dresses because they were in beautiful condition; I found three that I really liked and they were once again the two different spectrums. Sara helped us narrow the selection to a fit and flare because it gives a timeless, classic, and iconic style that will always represent elegance never be trendy. This grace and elegance is what I wanted to resemble going into my new life with Zack and it fit our day perfectly as well. 

IF you have not caught onto my subtle hints in previous posts by now our wedding date is

 December 31, 2016!

     What Sara did not tell us until I was about half way through with my selections, was that within some of the dresses were ones that were "Signature, and one of a kind dresses" mixed within the sample dresses. These "were designed but could not be mass produced because the materials were either too expensive to use in large quantities or the materials were not available for more than one dress." I of course had narrowed my selection down to one that fell within that description! Since the dresses came in the night before AND I was the first to wear them they had not placed prices on the dresses yet… Sara knew that the original price of the dress was $8,000 but the within the sample sale she estimated the price of the dress was $2,800 for the next two days. This was already over my $1,500 budget I set for myself. As I was standing in the dress, in the exact time of day and light that we will see a year from now, Henley snapped a picture of me. She had had done with all the favorites of the day, and handed it to me so that I could see myself in each dress; expecting another normal picture I did not expect the reaction that followed. As I saw myself in the picture I instantly started crying… NEVER in a million years would I have thought I would have been a girl that cried in a dress!! This made the rest of the store tear up as they knew that this was my dress.

     I instantly remembered the price tag on the dress and that we were still a year out still from our wedding date. This made me start coming up with reasons not to like the dress and hesitate saying, "Yes this is my dress." The only thing was that the dress I had on was perfect and Henley and mom knew it, but they let me say that I wanted to wait and go see the chapel in person to know if I saw myself in the dress there. Sara even agreed that I needed to see the chapel and know for sure that this was my dress. She also warned me that she could not hold the dress for me because it was a one of a kind and in the sample sale, and that if I left and another girl walked in and chose it that she would have to sell it to her. As I was changing out of the dress and getting dressed, I heard Sara say that she thought that she lied to us about the price because they had not tagged the dresses yet... this of course made me sad knowing that it was probably closer to its original price. I could see my mom and Henley were thinking the same thing when she finished her sentence with, "but in a good way! I'll be right back!" I continued to get dressed and put on my shoes, stealing glances at the dress hanging on the door. As I left the room Sara came back over beaming. She told us that she had fantastic news that even gave her "goosebumps on her cheeks," the dress was on sale for the weekend for $1000...(!) So if we back track this would make a $8000, one of a kind gown, that fit me almost perfectly, and now in exactly what I wanted to pay- Sara said that they called these brides unicorns because it never happened!


     Needless to say this girl took her unicorn home and I could not be any more excited about it!! The icing on the cake is that they were able to squeeze me in for my first fitting the next day so that I would not have to make a special trip back to Denver. During this appointment I was able to FaceTime with Tammy and Allison, Zack's mom and middle sister, so they were able to be a part of the special time as well! :) This made me very happy being able to share finding my dress with all the girls I love so much! Special thanks to Sara Bearrs at Little White Dress for helping me find the dress I will walk into my future in!

* Stay tuned for new updates on #TheRoadToRoberts *