We love when a wedding day revolves around a wedding dress. A timeless, romantic celebration, it’s only natural that real Essense of Australia bride, Kristine, selected a long-sleeve ballgown for her wedding day. Read on to hear more about her special day, but be prepared to swoon over each and every photo!
From the bride: My husband proposed to me on Christmas Eve of 2016. The proposal took place in my parent’s backyard under their Gazebo that was lit up with Christmas lights. Two summers prior, I had almost lost both of my parents in their home as they suffered a devastating house fire which led them to needing to rebuild our family home I grew up in. Where my husband proposed was the most sentimental place I could have ever imagined this taking place. A place that held all my childhood memories. Being alone with him in that gazebo as he asked me to marry him (with all my family members peeking through the house windows of course) was a day I will never forget!
Having a Catholic wedding with an outdoor reception in the beginning of fall, it was important for me to find the perfect fall wedding dress with lace sleeves. I wanted to find a dress my 87-year-old grandma would absolutely love and find classy, but also a dress that revealed some skin in an elegant way for my Husband.Â
Finding a long sleeve dress wasn’t easy as it narrows the wedding dress stores to about 10% of their dresses but I am beyond thrilled I found exactly what I was looking for at Dolce Blue in Seattle Washington who had beautiful Essense of Australia dresses and the Illusion Sleeve Wedding Dress was the perfect dress for the beginning of the Fall season.
Our wedding was everything we had imagined it to be. Having both grown up on the outskirts of Seattle, we were hoping to find a Washington destination that offered beautiful country with fun surrounding attractions for our guests. This led us to choose Basel Cellars Estate Winery in beautiful Walla Walla Washington. The morning of our wedding my husband and I were surrounded by 8 of our closest friends we had chosen to be our bridal party. Saving our first look for the ceremony was very important to me (call me old fashioned I guess) so our bridal parties spent the entire day in separate areas of the Estate. Having a shared faith with my Husband, we got married at St. Patrick Catholic Church and had our reception at Basel Cellars Estate Winery. For our reception, it was important to give off a laid-back country feel for our guests but with touches of rustic elegance shown in all our decor. With our wedding date being the end of summer and the start of Fall (our favorite season) I had chosen a long sleeve lace wedding dress that kept me more than comfortable for our outdoor reception that went well into the night. Our wedding colors were blush pinks, greens, and golds. We had a large white tent that had rustic farmhouse tables for our dinner and speeches, and a dance floor that was outside the tent under twinkle nights. I not only got to marry my best friend, I got to marry him in front of 170 of our closest friends and family. A day we will cherish for the rest of our lives.
The most special memory of our wedding day was our First Look. It was very important for me to save our first look for our wedding ceremony (call me old fashioned I guess). I will always remember having the white cathedral church doors open as the last one to walk down the aisle with the man of my dreams waiting at the end to take my hand as my father leads me to him, It was a moment I got to share in front of 170 of our closest friends and family and was the most real moment of our day that will forever be cherished.
