"Every girl dreams about her wedding day."
WRONG.
JANUARY 2019, THE FIRST MEET:
Here I was, a newly engaged woman. Clueless and lost about the crazy whirlwind of wedding planning that I was about to enter. For my wedding day, I had two bridal gowns -- one for the ceremony from Rituals of Love, and my evening bridal gown: this glorious party dress designed by Ou Ma of OM Couture.
Ou and I first met in person a couple weeks after my engagement. I was upfront with the fact that I had already chosen my ceremony dress: one that was more traditional and youthful for our church ceremony. I spoke with Ou, and I told her that I since it was my wedding, and am only doing this once, I wanted my second dress to be my party dress --one that embodied me. I knew I wanted lace sleeves with a high neck, and I also wanted a high low hemline based off of Whitney Port's dress. Ou was such an amazing listener: she heard all my wants and magically amalgamated all my crazy ideas into one beautiful creation.
THE INSPIRATION:
I wanted something unorthodox, dramatic, fun, but still youthful. Ultimately, I had to feel comfortable in it because I wanted to just live the day and not worry about my dress, or anything popping out and accidentally flashing my family and friends. This was the only dress I showed Ou as my inspiration because I knew I love the silhouette. It was unusual, it was feminine, and it was fun.
I followed so many Bridal instagram accounts shortly after, and added in new ideas to the dress as we went along. However, I was fearful that the high-low hemline would not work out the way .I planned. I didn't want to look stubby on my wedding day, and Whitney Port has the longest legs in the world. You know when you take a hair inspo pic to the hairdresser and you aren't sure if you actually like the hair or just want to be the model? I was feeling that.
FEBRUARY 2019, THE MATERIAL:
After work one day I drove straight from the classroom to Gastown in order to select fabrics for my dress with Ou. She was so patient with me, and she let me explore the fabrics at my own free will. We narrowed down the type of embroidery I liked, and we put it over different types of satin because that was what the base of my skirt was going to be made of. I loved the luxurious feeling these materials gave, and together --they were just stunning, even just as samples!
MARCH 2019, THE FIRST DRAFT:
Ou created this mock up of my real dress using muslin and a "cheaper" lace... I could have totally worn this as my actual dress. She described it as using the material of a potato sack, but that was the most beautiful potato sack I have ever seen in my life. It was so stunning, and I was tingling with excitement about this process.
After the first fitting (this was around Spring), I started to really get deep into the wedding instagram wormhole. I sent screenshots and videos to Ou. I was addicted to surfing wedding dresses. I went from being the most laissez-faire person about the wedding into an intense all-knowing machine. There's a weird pressure that happens in your brain when you are a bride that makes you second guess any choice that you make. I went from being so chill about everything about me, and suddenly I had this intense fear that I would hate my dress and everything about the wedding. What I appreciate about Ou the most aside from her skill is her patience and understanding. She called me in and met with me, and talked with me as I spewed out my ideas. I left feeling relieved and far better than I had coming in.
APRIL - JUNE 2019, THE PROCESS:
Before we even began, Ou had designed 3 different types of dresses, based off of the wants that I expressed. We actually ended up combining 2 of the dresses together in the final product. For any bride that is going to have a custom bridal gown, my advice to you is to express yourself. Express all that is going through your mind, don't be scared to, because a real professional will listen to your wants, guide you through what is feasible, and will always have your wants ahead of their own. Ou was amazing through this with me. I am a control freak. I need to make sure that everything is going according to plan, and as the months rolled on, I felt that I needed it to look perfect, and in my eyes, perfect was me happy and not caring about anything.
As you can see from the first few photos to the photo I posted on the wedding day, the dress as I had imagined initially did not look like the dress that ended up happening. Throughout the creative process, I toyed with the idea of having something more voluminous because the heaviness of the satin was not providing the fun that I had imagine for this dress. As I said before, I had always imagined something sleek and understated with a bit of pop, but as the wedding loomed closer,
JULY 2019, THE FINAL FITTING:
Tulle. I never, ever, ever imagine that I would ever wear tulle on my wedding day. I hated the look of poofy and "princessy" but I knew I didn't want something basic or boring on my big day. I thought I wanted something sleek and classy, and I eventually went with something EXTRA beyond my dreams. What I've learned from this wedding journey is that your wedding pinterest board won't actually happen. Imagine everything I thought I wanted, I did a 180.
I was lucky enough to have Kim (@maruphotography) take photos to capture the moment, and Grace (@sayhuitolove) created a BTS video for my to document the big reveal. These two lovely ladies are so talented with their craft, and were able to help me feel comfortable despite the fact I get super awkward on-camera.
I'm so excited to FINALLY be able to share this video and these photos with you! I am still tingling with happiness to look back at this day knowing all that I know now :) I hope you're as happy as I am... I'm writing this post with the biggest and goofiest smile on my face, and this is just the FIRST of the many Bridal blog posts to come!
HUGE THANK YOU TO OU, KIM, AND GRACE. You girls rock.
