Wedding Shoppe Inc.
Stories
I absolutely loved my wedding dress. Everything about it was perfect in my eyes! Thanks for all of your help!
--Meghann H., Cannon Falls , Minnesota | 8/20/2010
January 21, 2011 is going to be a Love Celebration. My fiancé and I have been together for almost 5 years and on that day we will be getting married in Hastings, MN. With less than three months until the wedding there are lots of little things that need to get done. When I start to feel overwhelmed I start signing “feel the love celebration” to the tune of Bob Sinclar’s Love Generation and remind myself that all I want is everyone on the wedding day to celebrate love. I remind myself that we have the basics, a church, reception venue with food & alcohol and DJ, and that Liane from Hyacinth Events will make it look beautiful. The little details don’t matter because we have all we need to celebrate love. I also remind myself that Noelle from Fishtale Photography will make sure I laugh and will also make sure that everyone that gets their picture taken will have a good time. After I think about all of that, I then start to think about how badly I want to put on my dress. My dress is perfect to me, it is an A line, raw silk dress with buttons all the way down the back and a beautiful train. It is has beautiful details on the front that make me feel like a Winter Princess. It is a Mori Lee dress that only The Wedding Shoppe sold when I bought it last January. The staff at The Wedding Shoppe were kind enough to let me come back three times to try the dress on to show different friends, our photographer, Fishtale Photography, and my family friend that is doing the alterations. I had to make sure it was going to be perfect in every way. It feels like I spent more time making sure the dress was perfect than I spent making the decision that my fiancé was the one, I knew that right away. The best part about the dress is that I get to wear it twice. I am originally from Washington State and we will be having a reception there as well after we get back from our honeymoon. People often ask if I will be wearing my dress at that reception and I calmingly say of course while trying not to scream yes and I can’t wait to wear my dress twice! I recently went home to Washington and four of my seven bridesmaids came with me to celebrate two bridal showers and a bachelorette party that my bridesmaids and family from Washington had planned. I don’t know how I got so blessed to have such wonderful bridesmaids and family! I also feel very lucky to have the support and love of all of the wonderful people that attended these events. My mom and I say it takes a village to raise a child and the people that have been invited to the showers and are invited to the wedding are mine & my fiancé’s “village” that shaped us to be the people that we are today. I cannot wait to celebrate love with our villages!
--Jill B., Hastings, MN | 1/21/2011
88 days and counting. I arrived at the Wedding Shoppe determined to find the one.
Just twenty days earlier on June 9th, my now fiancé Eric had dropped to one knee and popped the question. In love and ready, we decided a year of planning was not for us; we picked the date, September 24, 2010. As romantic as it seemed we quickly realized there was much to do and not much time to do it. At the top of the list was my wedding dress. I knew that I was well beyond the traditional timeline for ordering a dress and off-the-rack would be my only option. I called the Wedding Shoppe, made my appointment, and hoped for the best.
Before I knew it I was with my mom and sister at the Wedding Shoppe. To my surprise, Eric had also been there that day. When I checked in, I was given a bridal bouquet of pink peonies and told Eric had dropped them off. Peonies are my favorite flower and he knew that I would have had them as our wedding flower if they weren’t out of season in the fall. If we couldn’t have them for our wedding he thought I should at least have them while I tried on dresses. The appointment was off to a great start.
I had always had it in my head that I would buy a lace trumpet style gown, but once I started trying dresses on I felt like I had already seen that look and I quickly realized I wanted something different, something unique. As I was telling the consultant this, she goes, “That’s perfect, because I just pulled a dress that I think you’re going to love. It’s really different.” It was perfect. It was romantic, flowy, and had the most beautiful detail of petals on the skirt. It was the one. And the best part, I got to take it home with me.
88 days later I put on a dress that was more than I ever could have imagined and walked down the aisle to Eric – all in an off-the-rack dress.
--Anna L., Minneapolis, MN | 9/24/2010
I’ve often heard people say that their wedding day was the best day of their life. I didn’t believe it until our big day finally came.
March 12, 2010: The proposal came unexpectedly. Completely. My family flew out to Palm Springs, California for a week-long family vacation of golfing, tanning and relaxing. My then-boyfriend Josh met us out there and (to make a long story short) popped the big question overlooking the beautiful Shadow Ridge Golf Course within hours of our arrival.
The next day, since Josh and I (crazily) decided to plan our wedding for August 2010, the planning began. Our vacation turned into one big wedding planning festival. My poor dad hung in there with my mom and I as we immediately started compiling the guest list, possible venue choices, photographers, caterers, florists… and on and on. Overwhelming to say the least.
My life became a constant blur of color schemes, budget sheets, wedding gowns and cupcakes. I remember somewhere in the midst of all the craziness telling one of my bridesmaids that “anyone who says that this wedding planning stuff is fun, is seriously delusional.” Then, I found it. “THE DRESS.” The moment where your breath catches and you know that you found the dress you’ll be wearing when you promise to spend the rest of your life with the man you love more than anything in the world. It’s indescribable. When the woman helping me at The Wedding Shoppe saw the look on my face, she knew. I turned to her and said, “Do I pay now or later?” And that was it. August 6, 2010: Our wedding day. The whole day came and went like a flash of lightning. It was short but spectacular. Walking down the aisle, I felt the presence of everyone I love, standing up for Josh and I, supporting us as we made the ultimate commitment to each other. And in that one moment, when we looked at each other, the world stopped for us. Just for a minute, one incredible minute.
--Rachel W., Maple Grove, MN | 8/6/2010