ok, so as i mentioned in the first post, this blog is not going to be just about our humdrum day-to-day lives. having just experienced the whole lds wedding thing, we feel like we can be helpful (to someone, somewhere) in discussing things like wedding planning and life as newlyweds. so let’s try it out! i’ve had a strange obsession with wedding dresses since i was 15, so let’s start there, shall we?
let’s face it. if you’re looking for a modest wedding dress, and you live anywhere OTHER than utah (i.e. arizona, california, wherever), then you’ve got your work cut out for you. i mean, i live in arizona, probably the second most densely lds populated area after utah, and i know of one -one- store that actually carries modest wedding dresses for you to look at and try on. i would imagine that the situation is fairly similar across the board. of course, this doesn’t mean someone looking for a modest wedding dress should completely despair. in fact, i would say that the most important thing to remember when looking for a modest wedding dress is never to compromise. you really do deserve the dress of your dreams, and there are ways to find a perfect, modest gown! here are a few possibilities:
1) buy online
a lot of brides are afraid of this option, but this is what i did, and it worked great! granted, i’m sure i got lucky. my dress fit perfectly without needing any alterations at all! there are a few precautions you should take with this option:
-take your measurements carefully and accurately. find someone who has taken measurements before to take them for you, or just look up how to do it online.
-go to any bridal gown store and try on a dress similar (in style and measurements) to what you are ordering. this will help you make sure the style of your dress (ball gown, a-line, sheath, etc.) flatters you
-order your dress as soon as possible. that way, if it isn’t in stock, you can still get the exact one you want. some dresses can take up to three months to order and ship
-find a trustworthy place to do alterations for you. even if you get lucky and you don’t need any major measurement changes, you’ll still need to have your dress pressed and probably bustled! if you live in the phoenix area, try Sew What? at 2548 W Broadway Rd. in Mesa. they did a great job on mine and have been around for a while!
don’t be afraid to at least look online. i know-shopping online is scary. but the fact that i got a beautiful, already modest wedding dress made up for any negatives. and there really are some beautiful options out there! i really like latterdaybride.com. they have a huge selection, and their dresses are less cookie-cutter than other ones out there. plus, they were very helpful and made the ordering process easy.
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2) buy an immodest dress and add sleeves to it
this option is pretty popular, mostly because it’s cheaper! believe it or not, you can find gorgeous, cheap gowns out there (david’s bridal, group usa), and from there, it’s just a matter of finding a great alterations place, or a jacket or shrug to wear over your dress to make it modest. some things to keep in mind…
-make sure the dress you choose is fairly simple to add sleeves to. certain styles, particularly halter tops, can be difficult to make modest, even if you go with the jacket option.
-try as hard as you can to make sure your dress doesn’t look like a sleeveless dress with sleeves added on. i’m sure you know what i’m talking about. that look is ok for high school prom, but this is your wedding , for crying out loud! make sure the sleeves look like they belong there! this is a matter of finding the right fabric and pattern for adding sleeves to your dress.
-along with that, add a full sleeve to the dress, and not just a thick strap over the top that kind of covers your shoulders and doesn’t really cover your armpit. again, i’m sure you know what i mean. the thick strap option will not cover your garments! and you don’t want that.
remember that this really can work, and it might not be as big a pain as you think. my older sister bought her dress from david’s bridal, and had their alterations department add sleeves to it. they have several styles of sleeves to choose from, and her dress turned out beautifully- and modestly!
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3) start from scratch
this might seem completely daunting. it might even be completely daunting. but honestly- what better way to have the modest wedding dress of your dreams than to design it yourself? this could be especially good if you already know a fabulous seamstress, or if you just enjoy designing! tips:
-make sure you trust your seamstress. please- please make sure you trust your seamstress! ask for pictures of what they’ve done before, etc.
-have a clear cut idea of what you want. i had my bridesmaids’ dresses made for my wedding, and when we went to the store to look for patterns, i was amazed at how many wedding dress patterns there are! if you have an idea of what you want each part of your dress to look like (bodice, skirt, etc.) i’m sure you can find a pattern for it. from there, piece it together!
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really, the most important thing to think about when looking for your modest wedding dress is what YOU want. you’re wearing it, it’s your day, so go for it! have fun!
p.s. my dress ROCKED
i’m sure you read that title and thought to yourself, “what? seattle is not a sunny place. katie is crazy.” while i may be slightly borderline insane, i did not invent or imagine the fact that it did not rain ONCE while we were in seattle this past weekend!
do you see any clouds? yeah, me neither.
anyway, we didn’t just go to seattle in search of wet weather. really, we were up there for our open house! which, if you think about it, is a much better reason anyway.
dallin, dallin’s old roommate joe, and i flew to seattle on saturday morning. dallin’s other old roommate jacob and dallin’s brother dayton came to pick us up. our next few hours were dedicated to an impossible task- getting jacob engaged. ok, considering he has a beautiful girlfriend and that they were meant for each other, the task really wasn’t that impossible. but jacob needed our help. and help we did. basically, serenity didn’t know that jacob was even in washington. surprise was key. so we dropped jacob off at a strategic location, then picked serenity up and made up a reason to take her to the strategic location, where jacob proceeded to sneak up behind her, literally knock her over with shock, tie up her hands, move away from the cameras, and pop the question. thankfully, all our hard work did not go to waste, and she said yes! we are so happy and excited for them, and it was fun to share in the experience (although serenity says it’s scary how good we all are at lying…)
anyway, with the beginnings of a new wedding came the endings of an old one. we drove to dallin’s parents’ house and got all ready for the open house. it was fantastic to get to wear my dress again! dang, i love that thing. when everyone was all ready to go, we headed over to the lodge, which was just right for our special event. there was a nice separate theater-type room for playing our wedding video on, and a nice centralized entryway place for dallin and i to stand in. i met a lot of new people (in fact, i didn’t know anyone there!) but it was great that they came and supported dallin and i. we got more presents, ate more food, took some more pictures, the usual. sorry i don’t have any pictures to post right now…i will as soon as i get some from my mom! for now, you’ll just have to trust me that it was a beautiful, fabulous night! we are really grateful to dallin’s parents for planning the whole thing!
the next few days were great also. we went to church sunday, and then dallin and i drove around with my parents for a bit before heading back to his parents’ house for a father’s day bbq. even MORE good food, and a chance to enjoy the nice weather. we rode around with my parents on monday, checking out some stuff downtown and what not. my parents left that night (they almost didn’t…but they did!), and then we spent tuesday hanging around dallin’s parents’ house and going to snoqualmie falls, which is gorgeous. on wednesday right before we left, we also got the chance to go do baptisms at the seattle temple, which was great! and then we flew home and… we’re hot.
the space needle at night…and from very close up
snoqualmie falls- gorgeous!
yes indeed, we had a grand old time 
on tuesday, june 10, dallin and i celebrated our one month anniversary! it is amazing that it has gone by so fast. it’s crazy to think about how much we’ve done and learned in the past month, and we are grateful for the experience. we celebrated by going out to dinner at black angus, and then since their huge portions made us ridiculously full, we came home and watched a movie. it was a nice, relaxing night, and we were glad to have the chance to celebrate!
so, one month and counting! if life continues to be this good, my suspicion that i am extremely blessed will be confirmed.
-katie
one of the many pictures of our happiest day! don’t worry, there are many more to come
hello!
my name is katie, and my husband dallin and i officially welcome you to our first ever blog. special!
i was born in phoenix and raised in mesa, and dallin was born in spring city, utah and moved to mesa in junior high. i graduated from mountain view high school, and dallin from highland high school…but we won’t hold that against him. he served a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in mexico city, and claims to have grown a lot from the experience, although i have my doubts…
i’m kidding, of course.
dallin and i met december 15, 2006, when some mutual friends set us up on a blind date. we played laser tag, got frozen yogurt, and watched a movie. i was sick with some kind of chesty, throaty, heady thing, but something must have worked. we stayed friends for a while and then started dating more seriously in september of 2007. by october, he was hooked. ok, so i was too. we got engaged (after oodles of anticipation on my end) on february 13, 2008. remind me to tell the story sometime; it’s a good one. we were married in the mesa, arizona LDS temple on saturday, may 10, 2008. this was a perfect day. enough said.
and now, we’re living in a great apartment in chandler, arizona, minutes away from chandler mall (lucky me) and zero minutes away from dallin’s office. he works at home, running a terrific web design company called black lotus information systems. yes, he is a computer genius! no, not nerd- genius. i am the nerd of the family, thank you very much. i’m an english major at arizona state university, and quite the little bookworm, if i do say so myself. dallin is also going to asu, studying business management. when we aren’t crazy busy, mostly we just like to be together (i know- awwww). we both like music and movies and traveling. in fact, we’ve been doing quite a bit of that lately. we went to the bahamas for our honeymoon, came home for a week, and then went on a week long cruise to mexico. my mom’s parents celebrated their 50th anniversary, so the whole family went on a cruise together, which was awesome, i must say. although i’m sure it was hard for dallin to go from 3 huge, gourmet meals a day to…my cooking. let’s just leave it at that.
so, i guess that’s us. we love being married. i know everyone says that, but we mean it more than they do. we really are loving it, loving life and loving each other! we’re very excited to get this blog going. we really just want to write about a bunch of different things- keep friends/family updated on our lives, write about wedding planning and newlywed life (me), write about computers and the internet and whatever (dallin). who knows? maybe someone, somewhere will find us useful. or at least interesting. or at least bearable.
so here goes the blog, here goes a new married life! let’s get this party started. and yes, i did have that song in my head from the second i wrote the title. thanks, pink.
-katie