I’ve been debating for a while when I would write this blog or if I would ever actually write it. It seemed the timing was never right or I guess I just didn’t know where to begin until now…

I recently did a trash the dress photo shoot with Warrick Price our wedding photographer. The shoot came as a part of our wedding package and I was pretty excited about it. From the first time I saw this type of shoot and photography I knew I would have to do it when I got married (or so I thought). It wasn’t until Warrick called me about the shoot and asked when I wanted to do it that I realized I wasn’t sure if I actually indeed wanted to do it. I mean don’t get me wrong I knew the pictures would be incredible due to the fact that we live in Maui and you can’t pay for better scenery but I wasn’t sure if I actually had the guts to “trash the dress.” My dress..my beautiful, amazing, expensive Vera Wang wedding dress in sand and salt water? My stomach instantly turned. I told Warrick I would have to think about it and get back to him and as we hung up I decided in the back of my head there was no way I was going to do it. I mean how could I? I LOVED my dress from the second I put it on, which is how this story comes full circle.

I have debated for so long sharing the story of my dress, it’s a good story. Actually it’s a great story probably one of my favorite stories and it has yet to be told, well until now. It’s funny because it was this time last year (October 16, 2011 to be exact) when I bought the dress and nobody ever heard the story because well I wasn’t even engaged yet, but as you can see buying the dress came as good luck to me rather than the perceived “bad” luck since we got engaged a little over a month later. I know, I know you are NEVER even suppose to look at a wedding dress until you are engaged let alone try one on and buy it, the wedding dress golden rule right? Wrong…anyone that knows me knows I don’t like to follow silly rules and that I often create my own road to follow while bumping into as many guard rails as humanly possible, and if you think that’s bad well anyone that knows my sister in law Ashley (especially Ashley & Me together) knows we always do what we want rules or no rules so it comes as no big surprise that she just so happened to be my partner in crime when the buying of the wedding dress went down.

I bought my dress during my training in California for the Hard Rock Cafe. It had become a “norm” during my training that on my days off Ashley would come down to LA to spend time with me or I would go up to Newport Beach to spend time with her. During those 4 weeks we were always getting ourselves into some kind of shenanigans including the wedding dress debacle. It had started off like any other Sunday that month which was me waking up snuggled with Ashley and both of us hung over from the night before. We had gone out and partied and were planning on a big breakfast with lots of mimosa’s to get us back in the game so we could go “shopping.” The night before we decided it would be a great idea to go wedding dress shopping. I mean why not? Neither of us were engaged but I certainly wanted to be and it was no big secret so why not just go take a peek? Ashley of course agreed I mean where in Maui would I go shopping if and when Colt and I did finally get engaged? It was pretty much a done deal and the next morning it still seemed like a good idea so we threw on some comfy clothes, washed our faces, tied our hair in a pony and off we went (I must admit I looked like a hot mess) but who cares it was Sunday Funday at its finest. We went and got some food at Woody’s, watched football and met some fans that ended up paying for our entire bill then stopped by CVS to pick up some travelers before we hit the stores. Ash of course had a full game plan of places to go so I just followed her lead. We walked into our first store a little before 4pm and by 4:35 my wedding dress was purchased. (I kid you not…)

I ran up to the first lady that I saw and asked her to try it on. I remember thinking it was so weird that I was asking to try it on, I mean I really should not have been trying it on but I needed to. The lady then asked me if I had an appointment, umm of course I didn’t have an appointment hello I am not even engaged! I told her that I did not have one but I would like to try the dress on anyways but she rudely told me to make an appointment. I was so bummed and Ashley was pretty pissed but we decided since we were already there we should have some fun. We picked out a bunch of dresses for Ashley to try on (apparently you didn’t need an appointment to try on regular dresses, just wedding dresses) we got all kinds of styles and hit the dressing room. As Ashley tried on dresses I very loudly complained about how bummed I was that I couldn’t try on that one dress. I mean it was right there staring me in the face and they wouldn’t let me try it on! Ashley agreed that it was crap so we just kept complaining about it until one of the other sales lady came over and asked if everything was ok. We told her we were fine but we would be much better if we could try on the Vera Wang wedding dress that I loved. She asked me which style and I told her. She smirked a bit nodded her head and told me to hang on a second. Ashley and I just stared at each other, was it really going to happen? After only a few minutes she came back with the DRESS! She said that she just had to let me try it on because she too was dying to see how I would look in it and that she thought it would fit me like a glove. She helped me into the dressing room as Ashley waited freaking out. As she was helping me in the dress she explained that the dress was 100 yards of tulle (a whole football field) and that this Vera had just hit their store. I couldn’t believe the timing of it all and that I was there in California getting to try it on! As soon as the dress was on and I turned around to have her zip it I knew it was the ONE. She was right it fit me like a glove and I knew I had to HAVE it. As I came floating out of the dressing room Ashley’s face confirmed that it was “the one” along with the sales lady who was now in tears. I turned to look in the mirror and suddenly I was crying, screaming and holding Ashley’s hands jumping up and down in pure ecstasy screaming on the top of my lungs “I’m getting married.”

Now why I was screaming that when indeed I wasn’t even engaged is beyond me the dress just kind of took over and I could see Colt and our wedding so clearly. This was it, this was the one I didn’t care if it took 6 months, 1 year or 10 years for him to ask this was the dress I needed to get married in it was MY dress. I told the lady we would take it before even asking for the price, I didn’t care I had to have it (luckily for me for a Vera it was more than affordable and my Mom was incredibly generous enough to buy it for me even though she wasn’t thrilled that I bought it before I was even engaged.) Once I said I was buying it the fun stopped and Ashley started to freak out. She sat there starring at me blankly until she finally blurted out that there was no way I could buy this dress! It was the only dress I had ever saw or tried on and I wasn’t even engaged! She went back and forth so many times on how I had to buy the dress but couldn’t buy the dress but had to buy the dress until finally I told the lady to pack it up I was sending it to Hawaii. This sent Ashley over the edge and she exclaimed that she was calling Colt. If she couldn’t reason with me he certainly would. She began to tattle on me for what seemed like forever as I got dressed back in my regular clothes. As I came out of the dressing room I could see her talk with Colt had helped and that her panic had now turned into excitement and she was back and ready to do the damn thing. I couldn’t have been more happy, it was so fun to watch Ashley go through so many emotions as I just calmly talked to the lady on how to go about holding the dress. I thanked the lady a thousand times over for letting me try on the dress (if it wasn’t for her I would have been out of luck) and of course the other lady that was rude to me was now our best friend and singing a different tune but by that point we could care less we found my wedding dress!

There are so many more details and emotions that went into that day that are just a blur from pure adrenaline but I am so happy I went with my gut and just bought the dress. I didn’t listen to what anyone had to say and believe me my Mom wasn’t happy until of course she saw the dress and then she too agreed that I had to buy it. Overall keeping the dress a secret was the hardest part. It literally got to my Mom’s house in Oahu before I even got back from conference in LA and I never saw it again until my first fitting in June eight months later. I called Ashley before my fitting with pure worry, I barely remembered what the dress even looked like what happens if I hated it? She assured me that after my reaction on the day that I bought the dress she was pretty certain it would be just fine and of course it was.

my first real raw reaction to seeing myself in the dress

It’s because of this story & orginal picture and then our actual wedding day that made me think twice about the “trash the dress” shoot. That dress means so much to me, has such a kick ass story and now holds so many timeless memories. I thought long and hard about the shoot and after several talks with Colt we finally said forget it let’s just do it. I had bought a preservation kit for it and they would clean it and make it pretty again so what was the harm? Plus a little sand and salt water was only going to add to the countless memories and great stories that dress has already giving to me so I called Warrick and set up our shoot.

When the Sunday of the shoot finally came I again was on the fence about my feelings but headed to the beach anyway. If nothing else at least I would get to wear the dress one last time. The first wave was hard and instantly made me cringe but within minutes Colt and I were soaked, laughing and loving and it was nothing but fun from there…..

the first wave…