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Having shared my recent bridal shower, I think it’s time I show you my wedding dress, don’t you? It has been an interesting process and in the end I absolutely love my dress. Frankly, it surpasses any expectations I could have had going into the hunt and the best part may just be the price tag…but we’ll get to that in a minute.

I think it’s important for me to note that dress shopping was not something I was particularly looking forward to and, in fact, I waited nearly five months after being engaged to start the process. The reasons for this are numerous but it basically boils down to two main issues - (1) I have recently lost a significant amount of weight, and I was worried about going to try on dresses and being disappointed. The last thing you want it go through all of that effort to be anything less than ecstatic with how you look. (2) I really really did not want to spend a lot of money on a dress. Some things were really important to me when planning our wedding (a fantastic venue, great photography and incredible invitations, of course), but a wedding dress was not high on my list of priorities…even though I am completely smitten by basically everything Jim Hjelm has ever created.

{Dress by Jim Hjelm}

I started researching all kinds of budget-friendly wedding dress options. I considered buying used, going with an online discount retailer, traveling to a larger city to hit up Filene’s Running of the Brides, buying a knock off, ordering a bridesmaid dress in ivory - you name it, I considered the possibility. This post by Weddingbee’s own Mrs. Haute Cocoa had me totally inspired and researching for hours. Finally, after months of pondering, I had a good sense for how much I could expect to pay for a dress and I rounded up my girls for a day of shopping. I fell in love with a dress that day and while it would not end up being the dress, I’d tried on enough dresses to know I was in love with Casablanca. For the price, their dresses are incredibly well made and something about the dresses just worked for me.

{The first Casablanca dress I loved, style 1872}

This past weekend, I had my first fitting after having bought my dress at a local Casablanca trunk show earlier in the year. Casablanca offers incredible trunk shows several times a year in locations scattered throughout the country and in this case, waiting a few extra weeks to order at the trunk show saved me hundreds of dollars. The dress, Casablanca style 1827, that originally retailed for over $1200 was mine for just $564 with tax. After alterations, my final dress cost was $671 - an absolute steal of a deal if you could see the incredible quality and attention to detail of this gown.

In the end, I love my dress. I love how my dress makes me feel and I’m happy that I paid a reasonable price that makes me comfortable. My advice for dress shopping? Be open to suggestions. Sometimes you will surprise yourself and find that the most unexpected dress makes you feel like a million bucks. Be optimistic. The right dress will make you feel amazing, regardless of whatever insecurities you might have - if you don’t feel great, keep looking! There is a dress out there for every girl. Be aware. Know what dresses cost, what you’re comfortable spending and where to find dresses that will work within that budget - there is no sense falling in love with a $5000 Lazaro if you’re never going to cough up that kind of cash.

How did your dress shopping go? Was anyone else afraid to start trying on dresses?