Ok, now that you’ve heard my crazy wonderful wedding story, I have to admit something: while I had a blissful wedding day, the one item that I always wished I had, was the traditional gown. I loved that my husband was so thoughtful to buy me a gorgeous ivory silk suit for my wedding day, but I never got to experience the wedding gown.

When I told my girlfriend Sarah Maren (yes, of Sarah Maren Photography, sarahmaren.com — fabulous new Web site by the way!) about my wedding story, she suggested a “Trash the Dress” photo shoot. After many months of trying to grow my hair out just a little longer (I loved my snazzy short ‘do, but I really wanted to be able to have some fab hair goodies to go with the wedding dress — yes, I know I’m vain, but hey, if I’m only getting one chance to do this, I wanted to make it just right), the timing was just right. So in mid-October, I got all guzzied up as a bride once again, but this time in a fabulous wedding gown.

The location was quite cool indeed, Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg (oldsugarmill.com). We got to shoot in the warehouse — an industrial space with plenty of interesting photographic details.

The dress was from Miosa (miosabride.com); and fit like a dream. When I went to try on gowns at Miosa, Sanea brought this gown in and I just laughed, thinking it was WAY too small. Amazingly it fit, and fit pretty darned good! I know it sounds a little cliche, but I felt like a princess in that gown — it was THE gown.

My hair and make-up was done by the amazingly talented Raquel at Image Provocateur in Roseville (vip-cat.com). Talk about feeling glamorous! Yowza!

The flowers…in a word, stunning! Shannon from Flourish (flourishdesigns.com) made the one of the most unique bouquets I’ve ever seen –exceptionally creative and distinctively beautiful!

And, lastly, I got the oh so fab hair accessories to go in my (finally!) longer hair! Sarah and I were feeling a very “Sex in the City” vibe, and the accessories that I got from Hair Comes The Bride (haircomesthebride.com) completely fit that bill! The birdcage veil felt very Grace Kelly-ish (why aren’t more brides wearing these these days — they’re very classic and quite elegant!) but when I put the monstrous flower on the side of my head, I instantly was channelling my inner Sarah Jessica Parker (think her Vogue wedding photo shoot from the movie).

Sarah, along with her husband Dustin (sarahmaren.com), was amazing and so fun to work with! Frankly there aren’t enough superlatives to describe just how amazing these two are — they directed me in just the right way to get the best possible shots. I had so much fun and felt so glamorous — I felt like the quintessential bride. I cannot thank you guys — and everyone else who contributed to my special day — enough for everything!

For me, this photo shoot was the culmination of my wedding dream, nearly eight years after Terry and I got married, proving that it’s never too late!

If you’d like to check out our photo shoot, check out the uber-cool slide show that Sarah put together on her blog:

sarahmaren.com/slideshows/post-wedding-bridals/wendy-post-wedding-bridal-session

Ok, truly, that’s enough about me! Let’s get started on your bridal journey!

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