Wedding Dress Donation

As you may have read about here, I decided to donate my wedding dress.

Photo credit: Kasey Lynn Photography

Here were my reasons for packing up and shipping my dress:
-I loved the idea that someone else would get to wear it for one of their most important days of their life
-Wedding dresses are expensive, and mine was worn just a few times (bridals, wedding day) so it seems so sad to not pass it on
-I don't know where I would have stored it once it was preserved, and in my case it would have just collected dust
-Matt & I are unsure if we're going to have kids, so the whole 'pass it on to my future daughter' thing isn't an important thing for me

Donating it was surprisingly harder than I expected. I was getting a little bit teary eyed when I had to pack it in the box. But after I sent it off, I was (and still am) glad I did it.

So, here is the information if you are interested in the same thing!

I donated my dress and my veil to the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation. This website has pretty much all the information you need to know, but a quick run-down:
-You print & fill out a short form on their website to include in the box that includes the value of your gown and any other items you're donating
-They suggest you donate $40 to help with the dress pressing, etc
-I picked up a box from Fed-Ex that looked like it would hold my dress, stuffed the dress and the veil in the garment bag into the box, then filled in the remaining areas with tissue paper. After closing the box, we took it back to Fed-Ex to have it shipped (with insurance).
-Shortly after the dress arrived at their headquarters, they sent me an email with the receipt and confirmation

It really was easy and something I am very glad I did and I would recommend it to anyone.

All You Need is Love: Getting dressed

Catch up here!

Here are all the things we DIY'ed for the wedding/reception
Here are our flowers
Everyone started arriving on Thursday
Friday, pre-rehearsal
Then we rehearsed
And of course ate
Then we woke up and my mom & I got our hair done
The girls got all prettied up!
Find out what the guys were up to
The details-- my something's

For all the past brides, were you the most anxious to put your dress on (that is, aside from seeing your soon-to-be husband)? I was sooooo ready and I felt like the clock was just crawling before I could do that. But the bridesmaids put their pretty dresses on and then eventually it was my turn! Yay!

And enter the awkward crawling/stepping into your wedding dress while 8 women look on. It worked though! Perhaps the hardest thing was putting on the shoes. Balancing on someone's shoulder wearing a heeled shoe while the other clips a shoe on your other foot, all with layers of tulle going everywhere makes life interesting!

As always, all pictures unless otherwise noted are by Kasey Lynn Photography.

Getting zipped up

The shoes!

Mom helping me put on my grandmother's jewelry

Me seeing myself for the first time

I will say that dress was easy to crouch in. Came in handy!

Gorgeous dress details

THE dress, with pictures

[Hello! Matt & I are currently in Disney World on our honeymoon, so I wrote this post a few weeks before the wedding and scheduled it to post this week. No, I am nowhere near a computer right now. Don't worry.]

I figured now that the wedding is over, you should be able to see the pictures from my wedding dress shopping experience. Later on this week I'll share the pictures from the bridal shower.

You can read about the dress experience here, sans pictures: click me!

So one of the reasons I went to the Princess Bridal was because they had this dress:   

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 I really liked the sleeves and how spring-like it looked. And here it is on me:

It was pretty, but I just wasn't feeling it. So I had previously grabbed other gowns, and here are some of those...

Ah, the infamous tissue dress

As I had explained in the first post, when we walked into our little suite, there was a dress on the manikin in the back corner. I walked in and immediately knew I had to try it on. And here, my friends, is that dress:

LOVE how soft it looks

Completed outfit

So long story short, yes, that's my dress. I love the way it flatters my body and I feel like I'm wearing the dress, it's not wearing me. Here is one of my bridal portraits, so you can see it post-alterations:

Photo Credit: Kasey Lynn Photography

I am so glad my dress search was relatively easy. I absolutely love it! So, what am I going to do with it now that the wedding's over? I'm looking into donating it actually. I'm sure you'll hear more about that later.

Second Fitting

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I will blame Christmas break and how when I have nothing to do, I end up avoiding the computer. 

But, I had my second fitting this past Sunday! You can catch up on my dress buying experience here and my first fitting here. Sorry, no pictures for obvious reasons. 

For this fitting, my mom and my MOH, Mary, came with me. It was great to have Mary with me since she hadn't seen the dress since we bought it. Also we were able to have a fun girls' day afterwords, something that was much needed, but I'm getting ahead of myself!

Without describing too much of the dress, they had taken in some things, altered others, put in the bustle, and shortened the length of the dress. The dress was still a bit too long, so I have to go back in a week and a half for what will hopefully be the final time, but other than that-- it was perfect!

I will say that dang, bustles are complicated! We were smart and decided to video tape them showing us how to do it. I think that video is about 7 minutes long. But I'm sure that with some practice, my mom & BMs can get that down much shorter! 

We also decided on the jewelry I would wear. It was between two necklaces that had both belonged to my late grandmother. I will also be wearing a beautiful watch that used to be hers. She passed away a little over a year ago, so I'm glad I get to wear things that were once hers.


While there are no pictures of the dress, here are two Mary took outside the bridal salon:

The history of The Princess Bridal. Our favs were that it used to be a funeral home & a hippie commune!

Me! Carrying all the bridal accessories

So yeah, successful trip! Fun girl times after lunch. Overall a very good day!


I also want to wish my fiance an early very happy birthday! Matt's 22nd is tomorrow! Wish I could spend it with him, but we're in separate cities, doing the whole family at Christmas time thing. It's exciting to think that next year that won't be the case!!

First Fitting...

Or how I'm really glad I have comfortable heels! 

On Sunday I had my first dress fitting. Though there are no pictures, here is a re-cap of my dress shopping experience: Click me! Since I had done that last June, I, like some brides, was beginning to have second thoughts about my dress. It was still at the salon, so I couldn't just put it on to remind myself. Instead, I would look at the pictures from that day, along with the other dresses I tried on.

Bad idea. Second thoughts started creeping up and I wondered if I had been so overwhelmed by my first dress shopping trip that I didn't choose the right dress. But, once I got that dress back on at the salon, all was right in the world.

Those pictures just don't do the amazingness of my dress justice. So many details I had forgotten and that just didn't show up in the pictures, the way it fit, etc. Sorry I can't post pictures, don't want to risk the fiance' seeing it. But, about the fitting experience...

After they helped me into the gown, then I had to stand there for so-o-o-o long while they pinned everything. Like every good bride, I brought my shoes that we had gotten:

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   Originally when I had thought about my shoes, I thought I would get smaller heels, for comfort. But once I saw these and tried them on, I was sold. Though they were pretty comfortable in the shoe store, they were really tested here. Having to stand there, not moving, I was so glad they were comfortable. Yay for knowing at least 1 thing will work out on the day of the wedding!

Anyway, so the alterations lady did her magic, pinning various things, getting the length right, and then doing the bustle. My mom had come with me and was quite impressed with how the lady did her work, crawling around my dress on her hands and knees, etc. She worked painstakingly on the bustle, trying to make it even on all sides and whatnot. [Man, this is hard to describe without giving out too much detail!]

Thankfully my mom was also able to take more pictures of the dress, just because I wanted them. So now no more second guessing. I get to go back in December for the second fitting, so I'll give you an update on that then. Then the next step will be learning to dance in those shoes and the dress! Any advice??

THE Dress

{ETA- if you want to see the actual dress plus others I tried on that day, go here}


So a couple of months ago, my parents, my aunt/godmother, and my MOH Mary went with me to The Princess Bridal to find my wedding gown. To all prospective brides in the Houston area- go there! It's located in Old Town Spring and the owners are so nice and also very knowledgeable.

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Interestingly enough, originally it was just going to be my parents and I, so we would have received a small dressing room. Instead, since I had a 'large' party, we got the big room. And basically, if we weren't in that big room, I never would have found my dress. So yay for changes! And sorry, no pictures of the dress until after the wedding. But I think you understand. :)

Anyway, the experience was so much fun, pretty much a girl's dream. Well, a girl that likes to wear gorgeous dresses. First, you pick out some dresses you like. Then, a woman comes and gets them on you. Once you emerge into the room with the large mirror, the pedestal, and your family/friends, everyone tells you how gorgeous you look, etc etc. After you narrow it down to 2-3, then the owner starts accessorizing the dresses, with veils and jewelry. And then it hits you, the fact that you're getting married. And to your best friend, too. Who could be luckier?

Anyway, it was fun stuff! I so wish I could relive that experience, but I love my dress, so no such luck!

But we do have pictures that I will post later (AKA after the end of May, 2011) of the dress and others, including the infamous tissue dress.

Until next time (which will probably be tomorrow), have a good one!