Ok, now that you’ve heard my crazy wonderful wedding story, I have to admit something: while I had a blissful wedding day, the one item that I always wished I had, was the traditional gown. I loved that my husband was so thoughtful to buy me a gorgeous ivory silk suit for my wedding day, but I never got to experience the wedding gown.

When I told my girlfriend Sarah Maren (yes, of Sarah Maren Photography, sarahmaren.com — fabulous new Web site by the way!) about my wedding story, she suggested a “Trash the Dress” photo shoot. After many months of trying to grow my hair out just a little longer (I loved my snazzy short ‘do, but I really wanted to be able to have some fab hair goodies to go with the wedding dress — yes, I know I’m vain, but hey, if I’m only getting one chance to do this, I wanted to make it just right), the timing was just right. So in mid-October, I got all guzzied up as a bride once again, but this time in a fabulous wedding gown.

wendy_121

The location was quite cool indeed, Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg (oldsugarmill.com). We got to shoot in the warehouse — an industrial space with plenty of interesting photographic details.

The dress was from Miosa (miosabride.com); and fit like a dream. When I went to try on gowns at Miosa, Sanea brought this gown in and I just laughed, thinking it was WAY too small. Amazingly it fit, and fit pretty darned good! I know it sounds a little cliche, but I felt like a princess in that gown — it was THE gown.

My hair and make-up was done by the amazingly talented Raquel at Image Provocateur in Roseville (vip-cat.com). Talk about feeling glamorous! Yowza!

The flowers…in a word, stunning! Shannon from Flourish (flourishdesigns.com) made the one of the most unique bouquets I’ve ever seen –exceptionally creative and distinctively beautiful!

And, lastly, I got the oh so fab hair accessories to go in my (finally!) longer hair! Sarah and I were feeling a very “Sex in the City” vibe, and the accessories that I got from Hair Comes The Bride (haircomesthebride.com) completely fit that bill! The birdcage veil felt very Grace Kelly-ish (why aren’t more brides wearing these these days — they’re very classic and quite elegant!) but when I put the monstrous flower on the side of my head, I instantly was channelling my inner Sarah Jessica Parker (think her Vogue wedding photo shoot from the movie).

wendy_076

Sarah, along with her husband Dustin (sarahmaren.com), was amazing and so fun to work with! Frankly there aren’t enough superlatives to describe just how amazing these two are — they directed me in just the right way to get the best possible shots. I had so much fun and felt so glamorous — I felt like the quintessential bride. I cannot thank you guys — and everyone else who contributed to my special day — enough for everything!

For me, this photo shoot was the culmination of my wedding dream, nearly eight years after Terry and I got married, proving that it’s never too late!
If you’d like to check out our photo shoot, check out the uber-cool slide show that Sarah put together on her blog:

sarahmaren.com/wendy-post-wedding-bridal-sessionOk, truly, that’s enough about me! Let’s get started on your bridal journey!