Elegant Wellshire Event Center Wedding | The Bridal Collection Real Bride

Dream Wedding Dress

Marina’s first visit to The Bridal Collection took place years before being a bride was even a thought in her mind. She felt like a total princess while she shopped for her prom dress in high school! When it was her turn to be the bride, she knew The Bridal Collection was the perfect wedding dress shopping destination.

On her appointment day, she knew exactly what she wanted for her Wellshire Event Center wedding: a ball gown with a strapless, sweetheart neckline with lots of sparkle! She bought her fabulous shoes before even picking the dress – so the bling on the dress needed to match the bling on the shoes. One thing that was important to Marina as she tried on dresses was finding something that felt like it was made for her, not just any white dress.

She brought four important women with her: her mom, two sisters, and maid of honor. They helped her browse the showroom, selecting different dresses to try on. After trying on a dressing room full of gorgeous gowns, Marina had narrowed it down to two favorites. One dress was the group’s favorite; however, it just didn’t feel like “the one”. Her stylist noticed her glance back at a Kathryn Elizabeth ball gown in the dressing room and encouraged her to try it on again.

After seeing herself in the Kathryn Elizabeth gown a second time, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that this was her dress. While the other dresses were beautiful, this dress felt like it was made specifically for her. Her stylist added a stunning cathedral veil with a sparkly trim, which perfectly matched the sparkle trim that she was planning to add to the neckline of her dress. Her group took one look at her and that was that! She had to say “YES!”

Marina says, “Sydney was so in tune with what I wanted, and was able to block out the other voices in the appointment. The store was busy, but I never felt like I wasn’t important. I was just as special as all the other people there. The experience was exactly what I was hoping for when shopping for a wedding dress and I couldn’t be happier that I went to The Bridal Collection for my special day!”

Details

For her “something old”, Marina used a necklace given to her mom by her great uncle. However, since the bodice of her dress had so much detail, she decided to get creative with how she incorporated it. Her florist embedded the beautiful necklace into her bouquet which turned out even better than she dreamed!

As she made plans for her wedding day, Marina wanted to incorporate a lot of personal details. For instance, their wedding favors (jars of coffee) represented the countless coffee dates she and Alex went on. Some of the jars were blonde roast (representing Marina) and the others were dark roast (tall, dark, and handsome like her groom). The table numbers had photos of the two together. Instead of a unity candle, their ceremony featured a “first fight box”, where they wrote letters to one another and included a bottle of wine. During the ceremony, they nailed the box shut, intending to keep it closed until their first big fight (or their first anniversary!). Lastly, they wrote their own vows. This detail was one of the most important to Marina, and she’ll never forget their special words to each other.

Advice for Future Brides

“My advice for future brides is to do what you want to do. This is you and your spouse’s day and nobody else’s. You can’t please everyone anyways so just make sure you please you and your spouse. And I know that planning a wedding can be stressful, but don’t forget to have fun too! It really should be the best day of your life, so try not to sweat the small stuff – it will ruin your makeup for no good reason!” — Marina

Vendors:

Wedding Dress: Kathryn Elizabeth from The Bridal Collection

Venue: The Wellshire Event Center

Photographer: Ashley McKenzie Photography

DJ: Stage One Events

Florist: Newberry Brothers

Cake: Cakeheads Bakery

Hair: Celeste from Salon on the Village

Invitations: The Extra Detail