01 Mar 2017

What We Wore: Mandi’s Wedding

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Dress and Clutch – Urban Outfitters / Heels – Vince Camuto / Choker – Free People

If you follow me on Instagram and watch my stories, then you know that finding the perfect dress for the weddings I attend put a huge amount of pressure on me! I don’t expect anyone else to hold themselves to the standard that I set for myself, but I try my hardest to pick out dresses that balance three things, which isn’t always easy. The dress needs to make sense for the venue, needs to embody a little bit of the personality of the couple, and lastly – needs to stay true to my own style. The saying is true; when you are shopping for something specific, you do end up having the hardest time. I had done two shopping trips to look for the ideal dress for Mandi and Eric’s wedding and didn’t end up finding “the one” until the 3rd shopping trip. Even after putting it on and discovering it was the right fit, I still had my doubts! “Is this really the one?!” It was and to date, it’s my favorite dress that I’ve ever worn to a wedding.

After wearing a longer dress for Gelesia’s wedding, I was really feeling this length again. Since it was a fall wedding, I thought the delicate sleeves were very appropriate and the location of the venue really complimented the red and blue tones in the dress. The dress was sheer so it came with a navy slip underneath, but didn’t hit the bottom of the dress so the sheerness was still very visible in the bottom of the dress, which I loved! Did we mention that this was under $100? It’s what we always try to go for especially because after wearing one dress to a wedding and getting photographed in it can make it hard to repeat again at future events/weddings. For shoes, I wore my trusty Vince Camuto’s – I swear by these. And because I don’t shop for accessories too often, I used my Free People choker worn a little lower as a necklace and not a choker, which I bought in 2015 for my company’s holiday party. Since the dress was red and blue, I wanted to try and round things out with all the primary colors and opted for a bright yellow clutch that I had purchased from Urban Outfitters on sale back in college!

 I did my own makeup and for hair, I had my friend Mary (who is amazing!) give me a very soft look to match with the dress. We were going to initially do declicate waves throughout, but since we were short on time, decided to do soft waves just on the ends in a subtle way and then take two pieces from the front, turn it into a braid and clip them in the back. How we managed to get this altogether in time for the ceremony still amazes me to this day. Also special shout out and thanks to Mary’s boyfriend who took all of these wonderful shots for me.

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Posted on March 1, in Style