I said YES to THE dress!!!

I have waited 25 years to go wedding dress shopping. As a little girl I dreamed about my wedding and the dress I would wear. A wedding gown is the one garment you will treasure forever. You will remember your gown with fond memories and you know you looked like a million bucks that day because of that gown.

Since becoming engaged, my wedding pinterest board has been overloaded and I have watched almost every episode of "Say Yes to the Dress" and in the words of Monte, I was ready to get "jacked up"! I had an appointment with Ruth's bridals, the same place where we got Whitney and Lauren's bridesmaid dresses. Mom and I were excited. We were prepared with plenty of Kleenex and our cameras. I walked in with my kitten heels, trusty Spanx, and a PACKET of pictures that I had printed out from Pinterest. We were ready!

I quickly showed Mom the dress that Lauren and I had spotted two weeks ago. I took a picture of the gown that day and I have looked at it every day since. It has been a long two weeks and I was so ready to get into the gown. I told Diane, the owner, what I liked, didn't like, about our wedding, the look and feel I was going for and then we got to work. She pulled out gowns and based on my reaction we either put them back on the rack or in the "try on" pile. She then asked me to pick gowns that I would never pick but would try on for silhouette.

For the first gown, we tried on the gown I had been thinking about for two weeks. Y'all I put it on and it was stunning but I didn't have the "This is the ONE" moment. I was shocked. Here I had waited for two full weeks to get in this gown and I didn't have the reaction I thought I would. The gown was stunning but was this the one? Had I built up the gown too much? So we moved on. We tried on another lace gown. It was ok. Then we put on a ballgown!!! I didn't want a ballgown but loved the satin material and basically tried it on to say that I tried on a ballgown. The gown was great! I got a feeling inside of me and I felt like a bride. Whitney's advice to me was whatever gown idea you have going into the appointment is not the one you are going to walk away with. She was so right!

We continued to try on dresses. More lace. More ballgown. More decisions. To be honest with you, I wanted lace. My heart was set on lace. I wanted the traditional gown BUT...when I tried on lace gowns, I felt like an old lady. I hated them. I learned I am not a 100% lace gown girl. Lace gowns are stunning on others but it just wasn't for me.

I tried on gowns that were strapless. Listen, I am a tugger. I will pull up on the dress all night long and didn't want to be doing that at our wedding. But the strapless dresses were TIGHT and I could dance in them and there was no way there would be a wardobe malfunction in those things! Bascially, I had fallen in love with gowns that I thought I would NEVER fall in love with.

I tried the first gown back on and it was still a contender. It was growing on me and the shock of "oh my gosh I am really trying on wedding gowns" was wearing off. I loved the silouette and it was classy, timeless, elegant, and the right amount of Southern charm to it. Then Diane put me in a ballgown she had pulled and it was beautiful. It has ruching, something that I thought I didn't want. It was big, again something that I didn't want. It had embellishment, again not on the wanted list. And it was gorgeous. Diane teared up, which made Mom tear up, and I couldn't take my eyes off of the gown. Was I falling in love with a gown that I swore I wouldn't have tried on? Would Jace like the gown? Did this fit the venues and the feel of our wedding day? I just didn't know. I was in love with not only this gown but the first gown I tried on, the one I had thought about for two weeks.

Diane stopped giving her opinion at this point. This was my decision to make. She asked me to think about Jace. She asked me to think about what I had always envisioned in my mind of what I wanted to look like on my wedding day. She asked me to think about our wedding party and their attire, the church, and mentally picture all of the details I have been working on with the dress. When she said that I knew. We put the first one back on and it was the dress! She "jacked me up" with a caterderal veil and the veil was truly the icing on the cake. Without a doubt, this was my wedding dress. Diane asked me, "are you saying yes to the dress?" Just as I said yes to Jace, I said yes to the dress!

Guess what? I didn't cry. I made it through the two hour appointment without a tear! I kept coming back to the dress throughout the appointment and it was never out of the running. I knew in my heart two weeks ago, without trying it on, that it was the dress and I was right. Trying it on only solidified my feeling. By this time, I had tried the gown on three times and by this point I didn't want to take it off! Mom loved it, Diane thought the gown went with my bridesmaid dresses, and fit with my wedding venues and what I am going for.

As we were checking out, Diane told me about her Haiti mininistry. She said that for every gown that is purchased in her shop a woman in Haiti will recieve a wedding gown. She has waiting lists for gowns and will most likely fly down sometime in October. Her husband goes with her and he has the tuxes for the grooms. Is that not special? My special moment allows another women her own speical moment. It is a God thing and I am thankful there are businesses out there who do something as special as this!

I am not going to give any detail about my gown. We could only take pictures of the gown that we purchased and couldn't take pictures of all the ones I tried on. I will tell you though that I feel like a bride in the gown, I feel stunning, and can envision myself walking down the aisle in it. In this gown, I will become Mrs. Katie Stamper!

Y'all I am getting married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!