Bridal Portraits

Happy Monday Dears!

It took me so long to download our wedding pictures, and I am still caught up in picking our favorites. I love so many its really flipping hard, but as I sort, I want to share some pics from my bridal portraits. I had this whole plan to use these pictures for a scheduled post the day after our wedding, but that post quickly fell to the bottom of my priorities when the wedding circus took over my life about 2 months ago.

This was the first time I got my makeup and hair done, as well as the first time I got to shoot with our wedding photographer Akil Bennett, because we took our engagements with Matthew’s sister. I took bridals at Moody Mansion, a Historical landmark in Galveston, Texas. I felt it was important to keep my bridals in Galveston because, everything was happening in Galveston so might as well keep it consistent right?? I also very much considered myself to be a modern vintage bride, and this place was all the rage for the ‘vintage’ feel. What I didn’t think through, is that given the historic nature of this place I was not allowed to sit on or really get remotely close the furniture. So all of my pictures are standing. HA!

So. A little bit about my wedding dress: I wore the Pronovias 2012 “Benicarlo” from the Dreams Collection. It was about 1000 bucks over my dress budget, but I didn’t flinch when I bought this dress. It was definitely the source of an argument or two (or three) with Matthew but I dismissed all his comments pretty much. lol. You only get married once, and if you really knew me, you'd know that I fancy a new dress like no other (I live in dresses because they hide my big hips). Literally nothing was stopping me from getting this dress, AND I dreamt of wearing a Pronovias for quite some time. The only person that was with me when I found my dress was my sister, and I actually went to buy it alone. The whole entourage thing wasn’t for me. My favorite part of a wedding is the surprise of seeing the bride in her dress for the first time, so I really did not show a lot of people what it looked like beforehand.

I opted for a very simple veil at the last second. I honestlyhad always dreamed of a bird-cage-esque veil, but we all agreed that the dress already had a lot going and did not need any other distractions. I added the veil out of fear, that 10 years from now I wouldn't 'have a veil' in my pictures. You are probably thinking, "do what you want Tess" but as planning went down I realized my appreciation for certain traditions that I did not want undo.

I freaking died over the feathers in bust line at the store. You can see a them  better in the picture above and below. When I put this dress on I knew within 15 minutes that this was it, and I had tried on about 20 already. I loved the belt, and how the corset back reined in all my junk. Seriously, corset back is so clutch I highly recommend it. I also went bra-less because I did not feel that I needed one given the tightness. My ribs were also sore for two days after our wedding. The price we pay ladies, the price we pay.

I also had all these ideas of props etc., to use at my bridal shoot. Well I basically procrastinated, and  only remembered to buy sunglasses. Go figure. WELLL, it ended up working out perfectly when we decided to give out sunglasses as wedding favors at our reception. I chose one of these fun pics to display right next to our sunglasses.

Gosh I could go on and on about how much I loved my dress. Interestingly enough, It was completely not what I thought I would buy. I was going for lacy sleeves and form fitting when I was looking, so buying the big poofball was a surprise to me and probably my friends who figured I’d go for something more contemporary.

now, a bigger question - how many brides have sold their dress?? Have you thought about it?? I have seriously considered it lately, but Matthew says its a bad idea. Thougths??