I went back and forth for quite some time on whether or not I actually wanted to do bridal portraits. My practical side was battling with itself: did it make more sense to put that money into another budget item or did it make more sense to have an option to do a trial run on my hair, makeup, and dress fitting? It's not entirely surprising that the portraits won out - I've always loved getting dressed up.
I'm an avid bargain shopper and the thought of sending thousands of dollars on a dress for one day seemed simply insane. In the beginning, I explored the idea of designing my own custom dress with Anomalie. I loved the idea of the opportunity to be unique at a fraction of the cost. But then I went shopping at Coastal Knot in Raleigh, NC and after only a few others, we found "the" dress. At first, I wasn't sure if this was the dress for me. I'm more rational than emotional so I wasn't expecting any tears, but I could name at least three other people I know that have worn this dress. It checked A LOT of boxes for me: simple, clean, structured, train, no sweetheart neckline. But I really did not want to be a strapless bride and I wanted to be a little more unique, so when we added the off-the-shoulder straps (my favorite neckline of all time), I was sold! (The exact style is Allure Couture #9514). I love the simplicity of it and especially love the structure, the horsehair trim really gives the edge the ruffle impact I was vying for. I finished off the look with a custom 170 inch veil by Lamnhi Bridals and then incorporated my favorite color, a deep emerald green with my accessories.
Something new... I chose my emerald earrings from Rait London - I found this newly established, female-owned small business on Instagram. My velvet green Manolo Blahniks came from Savannah's - my mother and I had been eyeing them and we were able to score them on sale around Christmastime.
Something borrowed... My Aunt Beth has let me borrow a gold and emerald bracelet that coordinates with my other selected pieces for this day.
Something blue... This one obviously didn't fit the green theme, so my seamstress, Olga, sewed a beautiful little pendant she found into the underside of the train. She truly is the MVP of this whole look because we sized up on the dress order and then I lost a significant amount of weight before the wedding. She was able to do basically rework the entire dress in a two-day fitting spree.
I chose The Carolina Inn for my portraits. It has that perfect southern feel and has ample options of both inside and outside backdrops. When I was a wedding planner, the overwhelming majority of the weddings I planned took place at the Inn. I have many fond memories there while I learned so much about the event industry and about myself. The town of Chapel Hill is also special to Andrew and I as it is the town we got engaged in - here's the story on that.
Last, but certainly not least, is Becca Rizzo. Our rockstar photographer that I feel so lucky to have on our vendor team! She is insanely talented and so passionate about her business and her clients.
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