I never guessed I would one day be buying my wedding dress in Spain! I mean, I was never really the little girl who imagined her wedding. I didn't get married on the playground like my sister or have a boyfriend in kindergarden. I preferred career Barbie to wedding Barbie any day!
But things happen and here I am, a happily married woman! You may have noticed that I haven't talked a lot about my weddings here-- I needed a break after wedding number two! But I'm ready now, in no particular order, to share the details and pictures from both of my special days.
Let's start with the dress. Choosing a dress here in Spain was a bit of a traumatizing experience. First, I only had 6 months to plan the Spanish wedding. Now, a wedding savvy person would know that 6 months is already cutting it dangerously close to order a wedding dress. I had no idea. I thought that when I went home to the states for Easter (about two months before the wedding) I'd have time to try on, order, and receive my dress. Looking back, I don't know what I was thinking!
When someone finally decided to enlighten me as to the absurdity of that plan, I was a bit stressed out to say the least. Tears were shed, and I'm sure I gave Ale some second thoughts! But I moved on with my mission. Seville was full of bridal shops, but the problem was they had Sevillana prices. A Sevillana cares a lot about her appearance. Now, there is nothing wrong with this-- I care a good deal about my own appearance, but I can't justify spending money I don't have on clothes, beauty products, hair salons, and flamenco dresses! The bridal boutiques in Seville had many lovely dresses but the ones I tried on ranged in price from 2,500€-5,000€ (I don't even want to change the prices into USD!). As someone making 1,000€ per month (and only for the 8 month school year) they didn't quite fit the budget!
Luckily, one of Ale's coworkers was dating a fabulous girl who was totally in the know. She gave me the name of a bridal boutique called Higar Novias in Fuente Palmera, Cordoba where the dresses were supposedly reasonably priced and just as beautiful as any in Seville.
But I had a problem. Fuente Palmera was in the middle of absolutely nowhere and I didn't have a car. We thought about renting one for the day, but what would Ale do while I shopped for a wedding dress alone for a few hours? Not to mention that the very idea of wedding dress shopping all by myself-- no mom, no sister-- made me want to cry.
Ale's parents offered to take us. To be completely honest and risk of sounding ungrateful, I wasn't quite thrilled about this. I didn't know how his mother would be (a pushy, opinionated Andaluz suegra or nice, patient MIL respectful of DIL's choices) and if she would make it a nice experience or not. Luckily it ended up being the latter! And being that at that moment I didn't have many options, one early morning we set out for Cordoba.
Finally there, we encountered one of the strangest small Spanish towns ever. Literally in the middle of nowhere, Fuente Palmera has a large church, small plaza, and about 50 small bridal related boutiques. Its pride and joy was Higar Novias, the shop (and manufacturer) where I hoped to find my dress.
Well, after trying on 16 different options and allowing my future MIL to fix my hair one too many times, I found the one. It was absolutely nothing like what I had imagined and I think that's what made it right-- after all a Spanish wedding wasn't something I'd ever imagined either! The designer was Manu Garcia and the price was half that of the Pronovias dresses.
So here they are, just for fun, the former contenders for my very own Say Yes to the Dress... which one do you like the best?
Did you like my choice?
Renatta
Are you still in Spain?
Lauren Aloise
I am!
Linda
I am reading these posts years after you wrote them, but I absolutely love them and you looked stunning!!
Lauren Aloise
Awww thanks Linda!
hayleycomments
I am so with you on the deadline for dress buying. I never knew you a)needed appointments to try them on in many places or b) would need fitting sessions. what a roller coaster! i wasn't planning on buying my dress in spain either but visiting a friend in El Puerto one afternoon we happened upon a shop and one thing led to another and BAM, i had a dress. i've still got wedding #2 to plan and execute - bleh 🙂
Christine
Preciosa! Amazing what you pulled off in just 6 months!
lizenespana
So pretty! I think you made the right choice though. I´m excited to hear more about the planning of your weddings. Lucky duck, you got to do it twice!
Lauren
Doing it twice was quite an experience, and now that it's all said and done I am happy how things turned out and look forward to sharing everything here-- but it wasn't easy!
Sunshine and Siestas
LOVED it! I totally creeped on you trying to take pictures of all of the details!
Lauren
Haha thanks hunny! Wish you'd been at the American one too!!!
Kaley [Y Mucho Más]
You look stunning!
Lauren
Thank you Kaley!