The One About the Wedding Dress (and Veil)

OK, so I casually mentioned in my last post that my wedding dress cost $99 and you guys made me feel like it was such a beautiful dress and wanted more details.  More details, I have them.  

I want to preface this by saying...please don't think any less of me.

Back in March 2001, a young Colleen (Senior at Franciscan) was home for Spring Break on Cape Cod while her boyfriend Phil (Junior at Franciscan) was home in Maryland on the same break.  Phil had very recently given Colleen a white rose (story here) and they had been dating for just over a year and knew they wanted to get married one day.  Fools in love, indeed.  They had already travelled around Europe together on their semester abroad in Austria (chastely! with friends! all kosher!) and felt like they truly knew each other and were a good match.  Seeing your significant other wake up with morning breath on a train in the middle of Eastern Europe will do that to a couple.

Valentine's Day Dance 2000 in Austria, about ten days before he asked me to be his girlfriend.

Colleen, this is supposed to be a story about a dress.

Ok, I know, I just want to make sure you all understood that we were on the verge of getting engaged, but I honestly knew not when or how as Phil still had another year of college left and I was about to start my MBA program.  

I have always been a big romantic...I love love and I unabashedly dreamed of being a wife and mother for my whole life.  I wanted an MRS and 12 kids and I also wanted to get my MBA and become an accountant to have a career that could potentially be flexible with a family.  My parents always told us we could be whatever we wanted, as long as we were well-educated.  "You can be a trash collector, but you're going to be an educated trash collector" - my Mom.  My dad would encourage us to finish school before getting married for an easier start to life, and I took that to heart as well.  

But there I was, on Spring Break, driving around with my mom when we saw a David's Bridal store that had a big sale sign in the window.  I'm not sure who proposed the idea of popping in for a quick look, but it was probably me.  We walked in, and like I always do, I headed straight to the clearance racks as I've always been a bargain hunter and was currently a poor college student.  I saw a dress that was $99 but not exactly what I was dreaming of (I was thinking slightly off the shoulder with long lacy sleeves and buttons down the back) however the price was right and I tried it on.  It fit perfectly!  It was simple and nice and the straps reminded me of a celtic design.  There were buttons down the back, but they were just a fake cover to a zipper, and though I had some romantic vision of my wedding night and being unbuttoned by my new husband, a zipper is certainly quicker!  

Was it my dream dress?  No.  Was it the moment of saying yes to the dress with my sisters and bridesmaids all around while I tried on multiple dresses and drank champagne?  No.  It was a pull over, take a looksie, this one will do, kinda shopping trip.

Here's the part where I don't want you to think less of me.  I bought the dress because I didn't want to lose the opportunity of getting a $99 wedding dress BUT I wasn't even engaged yet.  My mom said "You can not tell Phil you bought your wedding dress until after he proposes!" so as not to give the poor guy any added pressure.  And I did not tell him!  I was embarrassed about it actually, but I didn't have to wait long because he proposed a month later on April 20, 2001 right before my Senior Formal.  I quickly told him I already had the dress, to which he laughed and it was all no biggie.  I guess he likes red flags ;)

I spent more money in alterations than I did on the dress, as I kept losing weight every time I had a fitting (oh to be young again!) and I remember thinking that I didn't love my dress, even on my wedding day.  It was good enough.  But now looking back, I like it even more because it does have that simply classic feel like you couldn't really tell what year our wedding was...until you looked at the periwinkle bridesmaid dresses and knew it was early 2000s when that color was all the rage.  

One of those little flower girls already has a baby of her own :)

We were married a month after I finished my MBA program and merely one week after Phil graduated college.  He started graduate school that fall, and graduated in May 2003 while I held a 2 month old John-Paul in my arms.

Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville, MA May 17, 2002

I was sitting here in my parents living room, waiting for all of my sisters to finish getting ready so we could go outside and take photos before heading to the church, and the photographer thought it was so funny that the bride was the one waiting around and snapped this photo.  I was just really ready to get married y'all.

Pondering why girls take so long to get ready.

Oh, and that veil?  I bought it on ebay for about $30 from Hungary and then upon seeing how plain it was, had my mom's best friend sew that edging all along it that matched the design in my wedding dress straps.  What a labor of love that was and I definitely didn't appreciate it as much as I do now.  Fourteen years later, when it was time for Maggie's First Communion, I cut off the long layer and she wore just the short layer of the veil:

And on the clip of the veil...white roses!