My Budget Wedding LA

For the past year, I've been obsessed with Paolo Sebastian's Swan Lake Dress. It retails for $6,500 which is way out of my budget. I don't think I would ever ever ever spend so much money on a dress that I'm only going to wear once (even if I could afford it). Anyway, very recently I discovered Brides by Watters! All her dresses are absolutely stunning and if you love A-line dresses and illusion necklines, Watters is your lady!

Originally I was interested in the Jacinda Gown but it had a hefty price tag of $2900. I was so determined to make it work that I was willing to make other sacrifices in the wedding. I made an appointment with Lili's Bridal in Tarzana (the only store in LA that carries all Watters dresses). Charlene, one of the store associates, asked me very specific questions and pulled out 3 dresses for me.

We started with the Wtoo Agatha dress, a strapless A-line tulle ball gown. It was just WOW. It wasn't too heavy and the fabric felt exquisite. It was so beautiful I didn't want to take it off, plus I received a lot of compliments. I honestly thought this was the dress but I wanted to make sure ... so I tried on the next dress - the Love Marley Penelope Dress, an A-line dress with an illusion neckline and a sweep train. As soon as I had it on, I knew this was REALLY it. I had found MY dress, THE dress. I didn't even bother to try on the dress I originally went in for. I was done searching!

I had my first dress shopping experience at David's Bridal. I decided to go alone because I didn't know what to expect. May I just say that dress shopping is overwhelming and stressful. The dresses that I loved looked bad on me and the dresses that I said I would never wear ended up looking good on me. An hour and a half later I had tried on 9 dresses and I was on the verge of losing it so I decided to call it a day. Out of the 9 dresses, I 'liked' 3 but I didn't love any them. The search continues ... 

Tips:

Tip 1: Don't let anyone pressure you into buying a dress that you don't love.