Motivational Monday | My $10 “Sleeping Beauty” Wedding Dress

Today’s Motivational Monday comes from the winner of our iPad Mini and WeddingMix video package giveaway, Kali! While this Feburary bride-to-be is getting married this Valentine’s Day (I know, so romantic!), she proves she is anything but the conventional bride. Not only did she purchase her wedding dress for $10, she also bought it 5 years ago….when she was 18…before even meeting her fiancé…..

Kali and her fiancé are tying the knot this Valentine’s day! Now why didn’t WE think to do that??

The snow is relentless today, causing me to wonder if my February wedding will be snowed out! Regardless, it is pure, white and breathtaking. They say that at the end of the day, if you are married to the one you love, that’s all that matters.

So many nail-biting issues go along with wedding planning, BUT, lucky for me, I purchased my wedding gown 5 years ago for ten dollars at a second-hand store.

“What?” you’re thinking to yourself (and no you didn’t read that wrong). The price of the dress does not define the beauty or the sacredness of this gown that’s been like Sleeping Beauty in my closet all these years. I was eighteen at the time, and had this obsession with formal gowns, prom gowns, anything that screamed “princess.” Fitting, considering the fact that I was treated like a princess from day one. The most phenomenal man in my life (my Daddy) taught me that I was valuable right from the start. My brother followed in his footsteps and to this day he still treats me like gold. I am blessed.

Back to the dress, I was second hand shopping with my Mom, and we’d always get that rush; plowing through bins, clanging through hangers, never knowing what gems we would find. To this day I have a hard time paying full-price for anything (thanks Mom, and my soon to be “Matron of Honor!”) you taught me well.

I always looked at the formal dress section, the wedding gown section…I didn’t date till I was twenty, I was a bookworm, a self-proclaimed writer and my first two years at University were focused solely on Journalism. Needless to say, I wasn’t planning on finding a wedding dress that day. I came out of five years of school with three university degrees, discouraged at the thought of prince charming even existing.

Luckily…he did 🙂

I turned 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and the dress sat in my closet. That gown has secretly seen me through so much, it heard me cry, argue with my parents, talk on the phone for hours, play the guitar, etc… Occasionally I would peek at it, but never pulled it out. I didn’t want to fill my head with notions of “love” and “happily ever afters.” I didn’t put it on either, it was sizes too big

I knew high quality fabric and this dress was it! I asked for a sewing machine for Christmas when I was 12, needless to say, I was not a virgin to fine fabrics: it looked antique, vintage, so deeply detailed and so pure, white and breathtaking (I would love to describe to you, but I still have to wear it and don’t want to spoil the surprise). The only person who has laid eyes on it, thus far, is my Mom. So thankful she poked and prodded me to buy it that day:

“Well you never know, you might wear it someday,”

“You could always save it and use the fabric?”

“You can get it fitted, don’t worry about that..”

She’s amazing.

I fell in love with Chad after our second date…not the first, the second. I can’t really explain it, that’s just how it happened for me. Actually, I can explain: I embarrassed myself so much on our first date, I never dreamed there would be a 2nd (perhaps that’s for another post someday!)

And they lived happily ever after 🙂

Fast forward: we’re engaged, and getting married on February 14th, 2014. My dress has been fitted (cost 35 dollars). It has been dry cleaned (cost 30 dollars) for a grand total of 75 dollars! I am so proud of it, I am so thankful that it holds so many memories that I will carry down the aisle with me as well.

And just so you know, after our 2nd date, I pulled it out of my closet, and I tried it on. At that point I knew, that someday soon, it would need a night out.

-Kali Esther Wells

(Soon to be Mrs. Dawson)