Wedding Dresses for Military Brides (and etc.)

I thought this was a great story from Military.com. A bridal shop owner in New Hampshire is giving away 50 wedding dresses today and tomorrow to brides who are active duty or who are engaged to a soldier serving overseas. By the sounds of it, the owner isn't giving away last season's throwaways either. Some of the dresses cost as much as $3000.

My wedding dress was my favorite part of our wedding (aside from the groom, of course). I think for most brides their wedding dresses are their favorite part. However, when you're on a tight budget, as most brides are, the dress can easily be put at the bottom of the list. It's nice to see that a bridal shop owner is supporting our military and military families by trying to take some of the stress out of these brides' biggest day. Especially when they already have the added stress of planning a wedding while they themselves are on active duty or their fiance is deployed.

Now, of course, I do have to show off my wedding dress :) Dude, you totally saw it coming. I love love love my wedding dress. I would seriously wear it to every and any special event if it wasn't so expensive to clean. If Stonewall ever gets elected President or I inherit a country, I will be wearing it to the ball following the inaugurations. I'm pretty sure those are the only two reasons I could have for wearing it again and not being labeled a complete weirdo.





Yes, I wore a pink dress as a bride. The dress itself was called "blush" and then the lace overlay was "rose." Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you I'm the kind of person who likes to make people look twice and say, "Wow." I have to be different and stand out. Even the shop owner where I bought the dress said I was the first one to order the dress in blush/rose. Other brides that ordered the dress ordered some variation of white/off-white. (By the way, this isn't a pic of me. This is the pic from Raylia Designs, the dress designer website.)

I've never felt more beautiful in a dress though than I did in this one. I knew as soon as I put it on that this was the dress for me. I walked out of the dressing room and said to my mom, "Okay. We're done shopping. This is my dress." Nothing could have changed my mind.

While I'm on a bragging streak, since I haven't posted about this stuff previously, I'll post about my favorite wedding day accessory: my engagement ring. Stonewall designed my ring. I tried on rings at the store and I told my mom what I liked and she passed the info along to Stonewall. He contacted a designer and sat down with her and designed my ring with my specifications. I think it is the most beautiful ring Stonewall could have gotten me. Even next to rings that cost as much as a car, I would still pick my ring. Its exactly what I wanted in a ring that I will be wearing for the rest of my life.