When I first toyed with the idea of having a reception dress, I had a general vision of how it should look. It was going to be a long-sleeved, white, sequined, hot little number that was comfortable to move around and dance in. I hated the idea of adding a bustle to the super delicate fabric of my formal gown… plus, who wouldn’t want to have a second dress?!?!

I was shocked at how difficult it was to find a decent, unmatronly cocktail dress with sleeves that is not black. Out of options, I began to accept the idea of having a bustle affixed to my formal gown. The sad news was I was lukewarm toward my formal gown at that point. {Read about how my final formal dress came to be here.}.

So, at a routine hair appointment, a woman beside me started to chat about a new store in downtown Concord, NH called BRAVO that specialized in custom evening wear with walls and walls of accessories to match. I winced at the idea initially, only because GOBS of money was already being spent and I was feeling very broke. “Custom” sounded expensive to me. She insisted that I speak with the shop owner, AJ. I figured it couldn’t hurt to talk with the man, right?

The following day, I popped in for a visit and immediately hit it off with AJ! I have always been into glitz and glamour and it felt a little like returning to the mothership upon entering his store. I told him what I could realistically afford and AJ presented fabric options that fit the budget. I proceeded to tell him what I envisioned for my reception dress and his eyes lit up. I was instructed to come back to the shop later to see a sketch for what he had in mind.

I returned that evening with the deposit and was shown the sketch. My jaw literally dropped. He nailed the design and what I had envisioned to a “T” and even added a few embellishments!

Here is a scan of the original sketch.

Instead of a fully covered sleeve, he added cut-outs from the shoulders to the wrists and affixed the fabric with marquis shaped crystals. When I tried it on during my first fitting, I lit up like a disco ball…. BINGO!!! EXACTLY what I had wanted! The dress was fun, cute, sexy and really comfortable.

Here I am trying to diva-it-up for one of our wedding guests! Our friend snapped a couple of photos from the front and one from the back! My goal was to have at least 1 bootie shot of myself at this event…. luckily, this was just the first of 3!

Our professional photographers, Elizabeth Bradford Photography, also got in on the action during the outfit-change.

You can see how easy it was to move around in the reception dress. I loved it!

I cannot stop gushing about AJ’s creativity and quick turnaround. The man is a genius! I just adore him and could not be more grateful for our friendship. Ladies, if you are ever visiting Concord, NH you must check out BRAVO on 26 Warren Street!! XO

Tags: Personal Wedding, Wedding Dress

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Personal Wedding, Wedding Dress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.