Inspiration Dress vs. Actual Dress

I thought I wanted an A-line everyone told me a mermaid would look good. I hate mermaid/trumpet/fitted I still tried on every type of silhouette. I chose A-line. Lol.
Am a little bummed I was never offered that cocktail dress shown above. 😂

View Quoted Comment Good for you for choosing the style you liked best instead of being swayed by other opinions! And lol, I'm also bummed that none of the dress shops by me carried that dress in the original post! 😂

I definitely knew I wanted an A-line from the get go. I did try on multiple silhouettes though so I wouldn't have any regret. I ended up with a-line. I thought I wanted something simple, like satin/very little detail. I actually ended up with a dress with beading and lace and a unique back and I just loved everything about it. Here's a pic of it

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Oh wow, that is a very unique and very pretty back on that dress! It looks beautiful on you! Awesome that you knew what shape you wanted from the very beginning. I had initially thought I wanted lots of lace and sparkle and detail, and then found a very plain dress that I loved, and then went back to looking at the sparkle and lace gowns because my fiance (now husband) had mentioned that he preferred dresses with lots of detail.

I thought I wanted a fitted lace dress, possibly with sleeves and buttons down the back. Maggie Sottero dresses stole my heart when I first started looking.




I ended up buying an A-line dress with a full tulle skirt. It still had lace on the bodice, like I was imagining, but otherwise was completely different! I put it on and the feel of the tulle swishing about my legs and the small beaded accents on the bodice were just magical! I couldn't imagine anything different once I had it on.

View Quoted Comment Maggie Sottero dresses are so pretty! I tried a few of them on as well, and almost bought one of them (Johanna by Maggie Sottero), but ended up going in a different direction. The dress you ended up with is stunning!! Awesome that it still incorporated part of your original vision too.

So I thought I wanted white, full lace, 3/4 or full length sleeves and an A line silhouette with absolutely no beading/bling.
Once I started trying on dresses I felt like I was wearing dresses that were 2-3 sizes too big in the A line because of all the fabric. I tried on a bunch of different silhouettes after that, including sheath and the (dreaded) mermaid. I originally didn’t like the mermaid styles because they felt overly sexual to me, especially for a formal event.
I ended up trying on what you in the picture- an ivory, crepe sheath/mermaid dress with a bling belt. It fit in all the right places without making me feel uncomfortable or inappropriate for the formal event. There wasn’t a moment where I knew this was it. It was more like a “I finally feel comfortable and beautiful in this one”. It wasn’t until I took it off and tried on more that I knew I wanted to try it on again. After that, I knew this was the right one for me.

View Quoted Comment I agree, when I tried on A line dresses, they felt like ball gowns to me, since there was so much fabric! I LOVE crepe dresses, the ones I tried on were so comfortable! There was one I almost bought, but my (now) husband had said he envisioned me wearing a dress with lace and sparkle, so I went with a different dress. Your dress looks beautiful!! Awesome that you knew it was the one for you!

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much! I didn’t really know how comfortable it was until I tried it. I originally thought it felt plain. I
Glad you found you dress too! Can I see the one you ended up picking?

View Quoted Comment Definitely! Here's the one I ended up with:


It's Casablanca's Jaden in all ivory, with a few modifications. Here is the photo of the dress from the designer (though this has champagne underneath instead of ivory):




This is the crepe dress I loved. I'm not sure of who the designer is:


And this is another dress I almost bought. It's Johanna by Maggie Sottero:


Photo from the designer:

View Quoted Comment Love your final pick! I think the ivory underlay was a great choice. The lace is stunning

While browsing online this one was THE ONE in my head:



And I bought this one!



Just picked it up last week. Alterations this summer! 🥰😍🥰

The dress I bought is actually very similar to my inspo dress! I always knew I wanted an a-line dress and lace and tulle just feels so romantic to me. I ended up buying my dress on a whim secondhand and I love it!

It hasn't been altered yet, so the fit is a little off.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! ♥ the lace and the train were my favorite parts of that dress! I loved the ivory underlay instead of the champagne color, it felt a lot more bridal to me.

View Quoted Comment Oh wow, the one you picked is ***stunning***!!! Did you buy the veil too? It looks so epic with that dress! Did you also try on the one you saw online?

View Quoted Comment Oh wow, your dress looks so romantic! The lace across the top of your dress resembles the lace on the bottom of your inspiration dress. So pretty!!

View Quoted Comment I did buy the veil! I LOVE it. It's really really heavy, but worth it.


I did try it on! Just didn't suit me and I was a little sad about it but over the moon with the dress we found 🥰

View Quoted Comment Awesome that you got the veil too!! The dress and veil combination are stunning!


That's great that you at least got to try on the inspiration dress! A bummer it didn't work out, but at least you were able to find that out so you could find a different dress that looks amazing on you!

Both of those gowns are beautiful!! The details on the shoulders of the gown you chose are really pretty. Even better that the price was right!