I'll start this by saying that I pride myself on being a planner, and a very practical and decisive person...so when I had a dress already picked out and in-hand in July 2016 for my July 2017 wedding, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Tha...t was until March 2017, when I tried on my dress and had a mid-bridal-crisis and realized the dress I picked out just really did not feel like me (and I so hated to be "that" bride!) and realized that I settled for it mostly due to its extremely reasonable price. After some tears, a lot of guilt, and other dramatic musings, I pulled myself together and made it my mission to get appointments booked for THAT week, and lucky for me, Schone Bride fit me in.
Funny thing is, before I was in the market for a wedding dress, I eyed Rebecca's dresses on Etsy. At that point, I lived in DC and went to a store that carried some of her dresses and loved them, but didn't quite find the right one. Fast forward a few months, and after a very unexpected move to NYC and I realize I live .5 miles from Rebecca's shop...it felt serendipitous, to say the least.
I set up two appointments for that week, one at a store in Midtown which was fine but quite dark and dismal inside (come on, who wants to try on expensive wedding dresses in a dressing room with dirty carpet and under harsh, fluorescent lights?) I thought I found a good option there, but I made the dash over to Schone and never looked back.
After realizing that my bridal consultant (Annie!) was the coolest girl ever, she walked me through the (beautiful!) store and talked through my price range and let me know right away about a rush fee I'd have to pay to get my dress in time (which was reasonable). She made me feel at ease, she totally got why I didn't love my original dress and she didn't make me feel the least bit uncomfortable/judged about my situation. I tried on several of Rebecca's dresses that I loved, but the ones I was really liking exceeded my budget.
But! Something I didn't realize until getting to Schone/being informed by Annie was that in addition to Rebecca's beautiful dresses, Schone also features a few other collections designed by other awesome women. With that in mind, Annie steered me toward the Anais Anette Trunk show (10% discount!) that was in the store that weekend - and I found my absolute dream dress that felt so "me" that it felt like I was dreaming - I finally felt like a bride while also feeling like me - I didn't feel like I was playing "dress up" anymore. And as I patiently await my dresses' arrival, I constantly thumb through photos of it...which makes me sound a little vain, but it's really exciting to find a dress you love so much :)
Annie gets an extra star, because while I was trying on dresses, my fiance was texting me frantically as my dog was suffering the beginnings of what turned out to be a serious medical emergency (don't worry, he's ok!). Our dog is so important to us, and Annie was incredibly understanding. I can't thank her enough for that.
Thanks, Schone Bride for the awesome experience and beautiful dress!