I am still on a magical high from the previous weekend! I said YES to the dress! Since my blog is basically my diary for all things Brittany, I decided I would post about it on here and because I had such an amazing experience I want to pass it on!
So, normally you get together with your bridal party, mom, and mother in law and go book an appointment at the bridal stores, sipping champagne, trying on all the dresses and being together. WELL Covid-19 changed all of that. I won’t go into this much, but despite that Covid-19 is here to stay, I still can say I had the BEST experience. I would have loved to have had my entire bridal party IN person with me, but unfortunately, couldn’t. We still made the best out of a pandemic situation! So let me start at the beginning…
Thinking about a dress wasn’t what I dreamt of. If I’m totally honest, it is and will always be the shoes. Christian Louboutins. Say that again. Louby’s here I come! So when I first thought of dress shopping I wasn’t as jazzed as most women are. I wanted something either so far out of my budget *cough* Berta Bridal gown *cough* or I wanted something far fetched and gold. So for me, the whole dress store experience wasn’t my thing. At the beginning of March I did book an appointment at a place here in Saskatoon, Unveiled Bridal, where I had anticipated having my bridal party, mom and step-mother in law join me. Then Covid hit and that vanished quite quickly. Which was fine. I mean my wedding isn’t until January 1, 2022. So back to the drawing board I went, could I find a dress around $500? I don’t know but I wanted too. I laugh too because anytime I tell someone this everyone laughs at me saying whaaaaaa? They expect me to have this elaborate elaganza extravaganza gown! Thank you everyone for thinking of me as super extra- 🙂 But anyways, we are on a budget for the wedding as we have other priorities that take precendent- aka house and house furnishings! Common 75′ TV!
Here are the styles that I LOVE (and most are Berta gowns):
One day, I was scrolling on instagram and decided that I was going to book in to a bridal store (in Saskatoon) and go try on gowns to determine what styles I liked, what looked good on me, what I didn’t like etc… I also decided that I was going to go by myself, no opinions included. I went to Unveiled. On this day, I had to mask up which was fine and I had the place to myself which was awesome! I met with the two bridal consultants, Kris & Ella- they were the sweetest girls ever. They made my appointment feel like a dream! Since Covid changed the game of bridal dress shopping, I wasn’t allowed to search through the gown selections but rather have them hand picked for me. I actually much preferred this. So I told them about my wedding vibes, the style I was going for, and I showed them TONS of photos of what I loved. They curated me the most stunning selection of dresses. I honestly loved them all! This is where I wish I could just rent a gown for each hour because really? HOW DO YOU CHOOSE?
Here are the styles I had tried on:
If you want a place in Saskatoon that offers a great experience, gorgeous dresses and an appointment that makes your feel like a Princess- Unveiled is your place! I highly recommend. Kris told me I rocked every gown and told me that I had the “disease” meaning ” I looked good in every dress” disease- like commonnnn- how sweet is she?!?!?
Initially I had planned to hit up Calgary in the fall to go find my dream shoes- I wanted to say YES to the shoes- though it just does not have the same ring to it. My two Maid of Honour’s (MOHs) Kristyn & Erin originally had our annual glamping trip planned for August when it fell through due to COVID. So instead we decided, why not go to Calgary that weekend? We thought we would make a girls weekend, try on dresses, go for dinners and just have a weekend away. Plus, who knows what the fall will bring with cold & flu season. Naturally, Erin and I started planning. Researching dinners- which Calgary has SO much to offer, I need like 3 months there just to test all their restaurants. I booked three bridal appointments: Ethos Bridal, Pearl & Dot and The Bridal Boutique YYC.
I wanted this trip to be the ultimate girls bridal weekend- it was my two MOH’s and my mom. I like to make party favours, swag bags, cards- if you know me, you know my style! My mom and I made these cute little cards for all my bridal party- for the girls who didn’t attend, I had asked them to join me via House Party and provided them with a Starbucks gift card to have a coffee and join in via app! My mom and I created fun swag bags for the four of us that included pink feathered slippers, face masks, diamond pens, candy, matching scrunchies, champagne glass, hand sanitizer and custom face masks (who would have thought this would be a part of a bridal swag bag?!)
Here is how our weekend looked:
Friday: Drive to Calgary! I told mom I wanted to drive in “style” so she brought up the Cadillac. We hit the road- went on a detour on some weird highway but we made it to Calgary! We checked into the Sheraton Suites Eau Claire. Beautiful hotel. Service was nothing but amazing. Upon each arrival, you get your temperature checked and you valet park- so again, we we’re going ALL out on this trip! Can I have valet at home, please? The girls decorated the hotel room with bridal swag, provided the cutest “future mrs. and team bride” tumblers for us four, dainty ring dishes for Colin and I, and had a bottle of champagne ready to pop! They made it extra special for me!
For our Wedding rings! 
Swag Bag Essentials – Mom added some glitter hair pins in my bag 🙂
Since we arrived in Calgary in the evening, we freshened up quickly and dined at Villa Firenze. This is an Italian dinner restaurant. Much enjoyed.
After eating plates of carbs, we headed back to the hotel. My mom surprised me with little games she made for us! It was literally the cutest thing and so much fun! We played “name that cake” ( I should have been better at this one), “what would the groom say?” and “emoji pictionary.” Whoever had the highest points won a box of fun prizes (courtesy of Mama Ju Ju). Congrats to Kristyn for killin’ it!
The next morning- we decided to roam around in our pj’s and feather slippers while ordering in room service. My first dress appointment was at 12 noon so there wasn’t much time to go for brunch. Room service was perfect! BUT if you want a good recommendation for brunch- Monki Bistro.
The first stop was Ethos Bridal. Since it being Covid- there were restrictions in place- maximum two guests and mandatory masks. So Erin and Kristyn flipped a coin and Kristyn was off to find a coffee shop for this appointment. I think she found some hippy dippy place enjoying a Kombucha- only Kristyn.
I entered this boutique and it was gorgeous. It was full of pristine fluffy white carpet, sparkling gowns everywhere you looked and it felt magical. I met with my consultant and went over all my photos of what I loved so she could hand pick a curated set of gowns for me to try on. Meanwhile, Erin got the house party app set up and the rest of the crew was ready to roll. Chandra was probably the most entertaining with her counting her tips at work LOL.
I tried on some beautiful gowns- I even decided to try on a $6,000 gown that was WAY out of my price league- god help me that I don’t choose this one right?!!? I remember Erin saying: “Don’t you watch Say Yes to the Dress? This is the one that they always fall in love with! Get ready girls, we’re going to need a go fund me!”
Well, as pretty as the $6000 dress was, it was not the one- I mean don’t get me wrong- beautiful but not exactly what I was looking for. My vision is soft, dreamy, non-traditional, romantic, and something with a sexy slit. I also don’t want to look like a “bride”- I know that seems weird but I just want to be original and not opt for the traditional wedding. Here are some dreamy dresses that I tried on:
Finally, I tried on THE dress. I remember stepping into and seeing how beautiful it was. It had what I wanted! It made me feel like a Queen. I remember looking in the mirror, behind the curtain, the biggest smile saying I LOVE this. I don’t want to delve into too many details as I won’t be showing the dress on here- SORRY!!! You’ll have to wait for the big day- T MINUS 495 days! But once the consultant draped these pristine lace pieces of fabric on the straps- I felt like I knew THIS was the dress! It was dreamy and stunning. I felt magical, I felt happy, I felt surreal. I then tried on another dress afterwards and there was no big feeling. So, I went back to THE dress, and the consultant told me she will dress it up like it’s my big day to get the full blown picture. She asked if I wanted to try it with a veil but I chose not too. I am not into veils- I just don’t think it’s me, so she brought out this beautiful headpiece- glittering in my hair, draped the final lace pieces onto the straps (which is hard to explain on here without showing the photo) and my mom and Erin waiting at the final mirrored pedestal. I remember as I walked in this dress, it almost felt like I was walking down the aisle, with everyone waiting for me. I began to tear up and this was something I didn’t do in any other dress. When I reached the end point, my mom and Erin saw me and we all teared up. This was it!!! I loved it, I loved every detail, I loved what the consultant did for me to make me feel so beautiful and find my dream look. I cried. I never felt more sure than I did at this moment, but my decision was made, and I said YES to the dress! My mom was very tearful and told me not to look at her or she’ll keep crying. AWE. What made it even better is that Kristyn was able to come in and see it in person- I mean I can’t imagine her not being there considering she was a block away. She ran so fast (to which we saw and heard on house party) and when she walked in the door – our eyes locked and both of us cried. I felt like our lives flashed before our eyes- here we are at 31 moving on to our next chapters when it feels like yesterday that we were trying to decide on our major in University and attending all the fun parties just living in the moment. We’ve been through everything together so this was a great moment and I was so glad she could slip in for the final decision. The consultant then asked me again if this was the dress? I said YES! She brought us champagne, chocolate and a bell where you ring where she explained that I must make a wish for my year, my wedding and for our life together. And I did exactly that and rang that bell several times!! Truly bliss.
I purchased my dress as a “floor model”- meaning it was the dress that was previously tried on – however, this dress was in MINT condition and was a perfect fit. I barely need any alterations! (there are just two things I want to adjust that are my own personal touches.) I negotiated a good price and bam- it is now in my hands! (well, it’s actually stored at my brother’s house!)
The girls gave me a confetti Champagne to pop! (like, seriously, they are the real MVP’s- they made my experience nothing but the best and couldn’t have had it without them, after all they were apart of my NYE proposal 🙂
Later that evening, the girls and I decided to dine at one of Calgary’s elite restaurants, The Vintage Chophouse. HIGHLY recommend!! The drinks, the food and the service was 10/10. The worst thing was- HOW do we pick a FEW dishes? Like, there were SO MANY that we wanted to try! Here is what we ended up ordering:
- bottle of wine for the table
- French 75 cocktail for myself in honours of finding the dress!
- the Vintage Bacon- pork belly, house bbq sauce
- Alberta Braised Lamb Shank- red wine jus
- Canada Prime New York Strip- creamy peppercorn sauce
- Prime Rib- bone marrow butter
- Truffle Mac & Cheese
- 1/2 pound Lobster Tail
- Broccolini
- Honey Roasted Carrots
- Jalapeño Cream Corn
- Creme Brûlée
- Vintage Baked Alaska
Did I mention this was for the 3 of us? We also go through Erin to make the final executive calls. She never steers us wrong.
I had originally planned for three appointments for wedding dress shopping. The second appointment was to be at 2:30pm on Saturday at the Anais Anette Flagship Boutique– this used to be known as Pearl & Dot and was the cutest little boutique I found on Instagram. I was going to have the girls and I go to this one as I didn’t really plan on purchasing a dress here as the prices weren’t in my budget, but I wanted to have fun with my MOH’s and pretend I can afford an unlimited budget gown. However, I ended up cancelling this appointment just with having found and purchased my dress already. The last place I was to attend was The Bridal Boutique YYC on Sunday. I cancelled this one too. Had I not found the dress, I would have attended both places. Based on my conversations with the girls on the phone at each place and their Instagram pages, I would recommend checking them out if you’re in the market for a dress.
Day 2 ended up being a day of shopping, we perused downtown Calgary- though, it was like a ghost town- not much was open, but we went to the high end stores in search of my Louboutins. Unfortunately, Calgary doesn’t offer those shoes. BUT the Jimmy Choo’s, the Manolo’s and Valentino’s were all to die for. We also ventured over to the Cross Iron Mills shopping centre, had a Starbucks and picked up some liquor from the good ole Costco. We then headed back to our hotel, enjoyed happy hour at Flower & Wolf– sipping on Frosé.
We decided to stay in for the eve, and ordered in Without Papers Pizza.
I never really took any good food pics of the pizza and arancini we had, so I have included their own photos for your viewing pleasure. I very much enjoyed this pizza- I consider myself a pizza snob and this one I’d have again! We tried the Hot Cock a Doodle Do (roasted garlic aioli, roasted chicken, spicy sautéed peppers, mozzarella and cheddar- spicy!) and the Salty Dog Zza (tomato sauce, prosciutto salami, red onion, olives, basil and Fiore di Latte.) The rest of the eve, we watched cheesy romantic Hallmark movies (seemed fitting), had a photoshoot, and planned further bridal activities. OH and Kristyn and I may or may not have been practicing the dance for “the git up.”
The next morning, we packed up and headed back to Sasktoon- mission accomplished! I had such a fabulous weekend!! It was exactly what I needed- it fed my soul- my girls, my mom and finding my dream dress! I miss vacations and travelling so very much that even though this was a smaller scale sized vacay- it was SO much fun. I love Calgary and I think there is such a great restaurant scene there. I have a list of places I still need to try.
Next girls trip- Bach & Boujee in VEGA$!! (let’s cross our fingers, toes and eyes!)
I’ll leave this here for the universe 😉
1 comment
Toes, fingers, arms, legs, eyes all crossed!!!
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