I live in Scottsdale, Arizona and my church is Catholic ---more traditional Catholic, so many of us…read morewomen wear dresses and veils to Mass. I am 36 years old and knew I wanted a modest dress. When I met with the planners at the church, they shared with me the Wedding Policy which included some tips for brides on modesty. In it, there were three websites for examples of modest wedding gowns, which I found very helpful. One of the websites was for Moments Made. I was surprised to see how many of the dresses I loved on their website! However, I was bummed to see they were not local to Arizona. But fortunately for me, I travel to Salt Lake City often for work and already had a trip planned there. I was SO excited to book an evening appointment at Moments Made while I was there for work.
I went in on a Tuesday evening and pretty much had the entire place to myself. My consultant, Amber, was SO helpful. She made me feel like a princess, ensured she had a grasp of what I was looking for. And luckily, I had already obsessed over the website enough where I had about 8 dresses picked out. We tried on many of them and (as I'm sure happens with most brides), the one I thought would be the top contender wasn't really jiving with me. Towards the end of my appt, I was torn between two dresses. Amber was patient with me and allowed me to try both on again and spend quite a bit of time in each. She even dressed me up with a veil, had me hold flowers, put on jewelry, etc. It really helped to be able to see the whole look come together.
What I appreciate most is how thoughtful she was in helping me narrow it down. She could tell I was very torn and I didn't have any family or friends present with me to help make the decision. She asked me "What do you NOT like about each dress?" I told her for Dress #1, I didn't like that it was sparkly and it was a bit too heavy. For Dress #2, I told her that I didn't like that it was V-Neck (I wanted sweetheart) and I wanted it to have a tad fuller of a skirt for an A-line dress. Very quickly, she was able to show me that Dress #2 could be altered to make it sweetheart and also add layers underneath to make it a fuller skirt. On the contrary, it would be pretty impossible to remove the sparkles off of Dress #1. And just like that, I had my answer and was able to to say "yes" to the dress!
Amber also helped me to try to find a local seamstress in Arizona (I ended up going with someone else, but still appreciated her going out of her way). She also picked out a veil and earrings for me that looked really nice. I figured "Oh well I'll buy them and probably end up getting something else later on." But sure enough, those were the earrings I ended up wearing on my wedding day! I also got a store credit for buying the dress and was able to buy some nice sweaters while I was in store as well.
Surprisingly, as someone who is very fickle (especially with fashion), I am shocked to say that I purchased my dress in October, got married in June and NEVER once did I waver on purchasing this dress. It was so perfect for me and I got so many compliments on it. I look back at the pictures now and feel like it is a timeless, classic dress. I felt so beautiful in it and am very grateful to Amber for helping me narrow down the perfect dress for my big day!