Cookie’s Wedding Gown
Cookie shares her lovely wedding gown made in just three months.
I officially got engaged on June 8, 2001 but it wasn’t until August 2002 that my fiancé and I started planning our wedding in earnest. Blame it on the little critter in my formerly flat belly.
A dozen phone calls to churches and hotels later, the date was set. November 9, 2002 was the day. We had exactly 3 months to plan everything out.
First thing on the agenda was the traje de boda.
It was bad enough that I didn’t want to wear a gown. My best buddy, who has forever been designing me out-of-this-world creations since college, was insisting that I wear an out-of-this-world confection of silk, lace, crystals, and instead of a veil I was supposed to don a fedora. I was actually considering it but my common sense got the better of me. Add to this that my fiancé was this close to strangling my best friend for even suggesting the idea. To make matters worse, my friend insisted that he would pay for my gown if I would wear his design. To make the long story short, it never happened.
Honestly, I had no illusions of wearing the pristine white gown with kilometric train and a wispy veil. Nope, not for me. Well, that’s what I thought. After consulting with several designers, I was a mess. I actually wanted to be that princess bride who had everyone in tears as I sashayed down the church aisle in a gown made of duchesse satin in ecru, beaded in pearls and swarovski crystals. And I had spoken with 3 designers who each sketched me a proposal and I liked them all.
After much deliberation I settled with the designer who promised to make me look “not so big” on the big day. By then I would be well on my way to my 2nd trimester so that would pose a bit of a challenge.
As if the stars had been playing with me, the gown was to be made of duchesse satin in ecru and beaded with pearls and swarovski crystals. Funny that the designer had this down pat when I didn’t even tell him anything yet. The cut was empire-waist to sufficiently cover the slowly growing middle. It would have a moderately long train. For my veil, I asked for a simple sheath that would cover me almost entirely. This would be held up by a small tiara.
On the day of my first measurement, my designer made slight allowances for my growing belly. On my first fitting, which was about a month after, my designer was pleasantly surprised that I actually had not grown an inch. For my final fitting, I had grown only slightly which made my designer very happy and relieved. There were no adjustments to be made because the allowances given were sufficient enough.
When I finally wore my finished gown I really felt like that princess I imagined being.
And true enough, when I walked down the church aisle in the arm of my Father, there was a nary a dry eye among our guests. Truth be told, even my fiancé was in tears.
Me, I had the biggest smile on my face and I was wearing the gown of my dreams.
We’d love for you to share your wedding planning experiences with us. Our Wedding Day Memories category contains stories of how women made their fairy-tale weddings come true despite being on a limited budget, or what they did to find the perfect wedding gown. Even those who are single can contribute to the section by telling us all about your Dream Bridal Gown.
If you would like your story to be featured in our blog, send a digital photo of your wedding gown and story to [email protected]
Continue reading here: Disney Fairy Tale Wedding Gowns
Was this article helpful?