THE Dress!

The story of the dress is actually a short one!

I expected because of my size, and lack of shops, that shopping for my wedding dress would be a long drawn out process that i would quickly grow tired and frustrated with. None the less it had to be done so i made an appointment at David's Bridal, figuring that they would have the most selection, sizes, colors and price ranges. I was excited but tried not to get too hyped up because i still feared it would be a battle to find the dress. Once the week of the appointment came, i grew even more and more excited. the day finally came  (5/17/13) and work couldn't pass quickly enough. I raced home, joined mom and Yiya (my mother's god mother) and we raced to Fort Myer's! (there's DB in my town!)

My heart was pounding when we finally got to the store, and once i walked in i was confronted with a wall of white and ivory as far as i could see. i was a little intimidated. None the less my consultant (Andrea i believe her name was... or Anjie one or the other?) came over and quickly was all smiles and talked me through how they kind of go about picking things. I told her i didnt really have anything in mind and was really open. it was my first time in a place like this and i was looking for cut, style, color more then an actual gown at this point. I gave her a rough price point and we started off amongst the rows of gowns. My friend Wendy was also there and helped me get my mind off the fact that i was staring at all these beautiful gowns and more focused on looking at what seemed appealing. I picked about 6 or 7 dresses to try on to start with. 

She put me in a dressing room, instructed me to try on some undergarments, and then she brought in the first dress. she helped me slip it on, and then she went to work closing up the back. There were no mirrors inside the dressing room, so i could only helplessly look around the dressing room walls while she finished closing up the back side of the dress. I stepped out, careful not to step on the edges of the dress and stared out to my mother, Wendy and Yiya. Mom and Yiya smiled, Wendy cried! They loved it. I turned to look at myself in the mirror, and thought i was beautiful. I didnt actually feel much about the dress, but i hung around in it the longest of all i think. Then i tried on a few other gowns. A few of them looked really pretty on me but were too simple or too sparkly and over the top. by the end of the evening everyone was still bent on the first dress. It fit me perfectly other then needing hemming. I went into the dressing room and put it back on and stepped out and looked at myself again and thought this was totally against all the rest, the best!

So i told her yes, that i liked this one and she started gathering things and then stopped in her tracks and said "wait? do you mean this is THE dress?" and i told her yes. She informed me that David's Bridal has a tradition that when a bride picks out THE dress that she makes a wish and rings a bell for everyone to make a wish with her. She handed me the bell, i smiled nervously and i think i had tears well up for a minute...because it wasnt the veil or the mirror... it was kind of the look on my mother and Wendy's face... but it was the bell that made me realized that what i thought was a simple research trip, turned into finding the dress of my dreams! I rang the bell loudly and made a wish! 

I hope my wish comes true! 

(What you thought i'd post a pic of the dress? How will i surprise everyone if i show you guys the dress i bought? :) ) 

The story of the Rings!

This is the story of our Weddings Rings! 

Well you all have seen my engagement ring, so i figured i'd tell you about my wedding band and his. 

My Ring!

Mine is a special band with a ton of history and I like to think that i will be fulfilling a dream that never happened. A few days after my engagement my mother came up to me with a small fabric pouch and from inside she pulled out an old, in pieces, ring. She told me that if i wanted i could have this ring to use as my wedding band. I looked it over and instantly loved it. It is a diamond and sapphire eternity band. She then told me the rings story:

The ring belonged to a woman that my mom's god mother used to take care of named Nena. She never took the ring off and when the Nena passed away, her brother asked my mom's god mother that she could have anything she wanted from Nena's jewelary box since she took such good care of her all the way up to the funeral. (she was there the day she passed away) My mother's god mother said that only thing she really wanted was the ring that Nena never took off, and her brother gifted it to her. Then many years later my mothers god mother gifted my mother with the ring, she used it as her engagement ring. (even though my father did give her a ring as well.) my mother wore it all the time until she was pregnant with me and it had to be cut off. it had been repaired once but the last person to repair it said it shouldn't be worn because it was fragile. The ring had a date of June 1926 or earlier according to my father... and a name. it had since worn off from age and wear. I thought that story was special enough, but mom came back to me a few days later and told me she asked her god mother and she remembered more about the ring. She told us that the ring was Nena's engagement ring! She was engaged to a doctor who fell ill and passed away and she loved him so much she never married and never took his ring off! So i fell even more in love with the ring! It had so much history, and so much love!! I'm so happy to give this ring a second chance of fulfilling its purpose to be a symbol of love and devotion!

A friend of mine told me where i could go to get it safely restored to its original condition. i was skeptical at first because it was a 80+ year old ring, and had already been damaged and badly repaired. But the day i picked my ring up i was so happy to see that they kept it as original as possible! they did remove the date on it... maybe i should have kept it? maybe not. I didnt think it was such a bad thing, as it was like giving the room a new beginning. besides i dont think i will ever forget its story! and i will pass the story on to my children some day!

His Ring!

His ring was a lucky find! I truly believe it was meant to be! I had been looking at rings a few times at the same store that repaired my wedding band. There were several that matched my engagement ring, but nothing that really stood out to me. I had wanted our wedding bands to match, but still be able to stand alone and still look beautiful, but after mom gifted me my ring i figured i would settle with matching finishes. one day looking at rings at the store, mom and i saw a ring that had a diamond and two sapphire's! We got super excited because we were like "That's perfect!" but sadly we soon realized it was Yellow Gold and not white. We countinued shopping around the store and right before we going to leave i decided i wanted to look at the ring anyways. I dont know why i just wanted to hold it in my hands and see how much it was. My eye's must have lit up, as Marilyn (the lovely store clerk) pulled out the ring from the tray. Much to all of our surprise the ring was actually white gold!!! I was so excited and instantly sent him a pic of it and he said he loved it. I had them put it aside for me and the following week i dragged him up to see and officially put it as sold! 

I cant help but feel there is so much about this wedding that is just falling into place and seems like it was meant to be! 

So there you have it! the story of our wedding rings!