We’ve been through a lot together.

We became inspired in episode 1. We shopped for wedding dresses in episodes 2. We tried wedding dresses on in episode 3. Together we embraced the difficult but significant experience of completing dress alterations in episode 4, and finally prepared for our big walk down the aisle in episode 5.

And now, I have a confession to make.

 I got married.

So there’s a bit of pretty important background to this story not the least of which are all of the selfish reasons for making this entire wedding series.

To begin, there were so many things that I didn’t do for my first wedding.

My husband, Garrison, and I got married about two weeks before he deployed to Iraq as a platoon leader and First Lieutenant with the United States Army in 2011.

 With a yearlong deployment looming days after our ceremony, we didn’t have the time, funds or desire to throw a big beautiful party before he shipped out. We initially swore there would be a 5 year vows renewal for all our wonderful friends and family to attend.

And then 5 years came in a flash and we vowed a 10 year renewal that would be even bigger and better than the 5 year we skipped.

And then our 10 year anniversary fell during a time when parties weren't really a thing…hello 2020.

The year 2022 began with a promise of newly revitalized socialization and as we embarked on our 11th year married a date stood out on the calendar. 11.11.22. November 11th was not only Veterans Day but numerically significant to us: our original wedding date was 1.1.11, seeing a theme here? We set the date and got to planning.

 So, as you can see, all of the steps that we have gone through during the filming of this wedding series were actually experiences that I was living for the very first time the only difference being that I was preparing for our 11 year vows renewal and throwing the big wedding we did not originally have.

What I didn’t anticipate when we initially embarked on this wedding series project was what it would feel like to experience all the same excitement, joy, anxiety, and stress as a first time bride despite a decade of marriage under my belt.

Now given the opportunity to have total freedom in designing the wedding dress of my dreams, I was totally thrilled and completely overwhelmed. It turned out that the hardest part of spending the last 15 years of my life working with these incredible garments from suits to wedding dresses, and everything in between, was having to narrow down and decide which aspects I would build into my own dress.

Did I wait this long to plan a full-sized wedding because I knew that I wanted to make what I wore but I had no idea what I actually wanted to wear, you ask?  No comment.

 Let’s just say I had my work cut out for me, literally.

 When I went searching for my inspiration in the design of my wedding dress, the most important thing I kept coming back to, was you. All the brides. All the people I have had the incredible fortune to meet, fit and clothes all of these years and so rather than beginning with a silhouette or shape for the dress overall, I began by collecting up little bits of all of the dresses I had worked with over my career so far. Literal scraps from beautiful lace edging and shortened satin trains to individual iridescent beads and hummingbird shaped sequined appliqués. The wealth of fabric and trims that has come off of the many hundreds of dresses I have altered since my first wedding made for an unbelievable foundation to start designing upon.

 With all of these beautiful segments collected, it was finally time to truly start assembling the wedding dress. I began by creating the train using an incredible sparkle skirt layer so full of glitter it looked like the night sky dotted with stars. I connected this layer to a fitted panel skirt that I made from the train of a light ivory colored brushed satin dress and layered the glitter over top so that from my waist to my knees I was covered in layered satin and glitter but from the knees down I had a sheer layer of nothing but sparkle trailing out behind me. The top of the dress was more complicated. I had been looking forward to using a structural pattern encompassing boning, cups, princess seams, the whole nine yards (see: Jane Set by Charm Patterns) so the construction of these pieces took more than a few samples admittedly. In the end, I pieced together satin and glitter from the skirt and train portions of the dress with all variety of unique individual pieces of lace, cobbling together a dress that was truly quilted in love. And glitter.

 But that’s not all folks.

 After the ceremony was over I had some pretty serious party plans and a beauitful, but restricting, skirt and train was not going to fit the bill. I had one more trick up my lace and tulle sleeve; I created satin hot pants that were already connected to the visible bodice but hidden by the skirt until the overlay was removed to reveal a sassy little satin romper, perfect for running around with a champagne glass in one hand and my husband holding the other.

 The reveal was spectacular.

 But enough about me, there was on other key player in this production who deserves his time in light.

As luck (and government contracts) would have it, the Army recently made a change to their dress uniform transitioning to a delightful throwback that highlighted the peak of vintage men's fashion; known to some as the Army Green Service Uniform and known to all as the ol' pinks and greens.

This impressive display of on-point fashion is a high point in the last hundred years of uniform dress in our nation's history, if I do say so myself. And in my extremely bias opinion, no one have ever worn it so well.

With a little bit of tailoring and lot of grand storytelling, we got Garrison all fixed up, from each shining gold button to the ranks and insignia on his sleeves, perfectly fit for a Veteran's day wedding.

 Now that I've gotten this incredible opportunity to share my story and wedding journey with you, all that is left is to thank you for coming along for the ride!

 If you want to see more behind the scenes on the making of the dress the tailoring of the uniform and the production of our big day join us below in the final video of The Ultimate Wedding Dress Guide series!