Journal--My Wedding Dress (Bonus: My Wedding Ring)

I'm continuing with the journal writing assignments I was given in my ward a few years ago.  One of the writing assignments that was given was to talk about and describe your wedding dress.

I actually bought my wedding dress when I was engaged to my first fiance.  We only went to one store...Bridal Image up in Bountiful.  I had plans to go to many stores.  But I found my dress at the first place we went!

I had always thought that I wanted to look like a princess on my wedding day with a Cinderella-type ballgown.  And honestly, they did look good on me and some of them were absolutely beautiful.  But they were so heavy and so uncomfortable!  I really didn't expect that.

While I was hunting online, I found a dress that I thought was really pretty.  I sent the picture to my sisters and mom.  That dress really didn't stand out to them.  Well, they happened to have that very dress at this store, so I decided to try it on.  (cue the angelic choir music)  It was so comfortable, so simply, yet so beautiful.  It felt like...me.  It was the only one in the store.  Seriously, on the hanger, no one would have given this dress a second glance.  But on, it was perfect.  In fact, one of the other girls that was shopping that day asked to try it on, so I had to send it over to her and I continued to try on more dresses.  The more dresses I tried on, the more I realized I really loved that one.

I loved the 3/4" length sleeves.  I loved the two little ruffles on each sleeve.  I loved the ruffles on the skirt.  I loved that it wasn't what everyone was wearing to get married in at the time.

So, we put a deposit down on the dress and planned to come back another day for alterations.  Besides that, the dress was a steal--only $225.

However, my fiance broke off our engagement only about two weeks later.

I was heartbroken...and the least of my worries was what to do about my dress.  I would have been married on April 8th.  A week after what would have been my wedding, the bridal shop called me to see if I still wanted the dress.  I thought to myself "Hey, I love that dress.  That dress had nothing to do with him.  Heck yeah, I want that dress!"  So, I drove up to the store right after work, paid the remaining balance, drove home and played dress-up for a few minutes (only to discover by the fact that my blinds were open and one of my drawers was askew that our little basement apartment had been broken into while my roommate and I were at work!  We never found out who did it.  I wasn't missing anything, but my roommate's camera got stolen).

Above: Behold my awesome veil.

Above: I loved those sleeves!

Above: Look at those cool skirt ruffles!

So, when I got engaged to Jeremiah, I took the dress back to Bridal Image for the alterations.  It was still my dress and just as beautiful as ever.  And after all was said and done (after alterations), the dress only cost about $350 tops.  Can you believe it?

As for my wedding ring, something similar happened there.  My first fiance and I went ring shopping first at Shane Company.  I wasn't really wowed by any of the rings there, but we ended up picking something out anyway.  But then we canceled that order the very next day because neither of us were too impressed with that ring and we had buyer's remorse.

So, we went to Losee Jeweler's down in Provo (my fiance worked at a bank and had helped the owner a number of times).  The rings there were so much more impressive.  Hand crafted and hand designed.  So beautiful.  The owner gave my fiance a really good deal because of their past history.

Then, of course, my fiance called off our engagement and I returned the ring to him.

Honestly, once time had passed and my broken heart had healed, I felt more regret about the loss of that ring than I did about the loss of him!

When Jeremiah and I started talking about getting engaged, he asked me what I wanted to do about the ring.  I very sheepishly told him that I was still in love with the ring I had gotten the first time.  Jeremiah is a very bold and confident person and he simply told me that we would just get me my ring again.

So, we went together to Losee Jeweler's and spoke with the owner (seriously, the nicest guy).  I explained the situation to him.  He totally remembered me and thought that I had married my first fiance and we had simply neglected to send him an invitation because my ex-fiance never took the ring back and never said a word to him about it.  (I have since discovered that my ex-fiance got married about 2 years ago.  It makes me wonder if he gave her my first ring or if he tried to exchange it at the time he got engaged to her.  So, if you ever see a ring that looks just like mine on some cute little blonde gal down in Provo, just you remember that I was the one who picked out and designed that ring!  And it was mine first!  Ha ha!).

The owner of Losee Jeweler's simply looked up the past order so that he could exactly duplicate the ring...except that both he and Jeremiah agreed that something needed to be a little different.  They both decided that it needed to one-up the past ring by having a bigger diamond.  :)  So, my first ring was .90 carats and my second and final ring was 1 full carat.  The cut of my current diamond was somehow even more gorgeous too.  It had a cool geometric pattern and sparkled like you wouldn't believe.

When we left the store, I told Jeremiah "I hope that wasn't awkward for you.  I really appreciate you doing that for me, because I loved that ring and it had nothing to do with the other guy."  He said "You should be able to have what you want.  And besides, I got the girl.  That's all that matters."

I sure love that Jeremiah of mine.  It was a very sweet response and it made me feel very special.

And I still love my wedding dress and my wedding ring.  They were both just right for me.

Above: I took this picture just this week because Jeremiah took my ring in to be cleaned.  The owner of Losee Jeweler's still remembered him!  And my ring came back just as gorgeous, shiny, and sparkly as the day I first received it.