At the beginning of my dress hunting journey, I had always and only imagined myself in a gown similar to something Pallas Couture makes. However, as I began trying dresses on, I quickly learned that many of the styles I initially wanted didn’t fit or flatter my body. I made a promise to myself that I would wear the wedding dress – that the dress would not wear me.
Well, long story boring, I ended up going with a dress that was completely opposite of my initial dream dress! In this blog post, I will tell you how and why I ended up getting my wedding gown. Make sure you pay attention to all details (even elements like if it fits your venue, your decor, etc.) and don’t force yourself into a dream dress if it doesn’t fit your body. By ‘fit your body’, I don’t mean your weight. I’m referring to your natural body build. I’m short and small and even then, because of my body composition, I looked ridiculous in 85% of the dresses I tried on!
My original scope of dress styles:
– Strapless sweetheart neckline
– Mermaid style
– No vintage looking lace
– Pure white
As the store associates began pulling dresses that matched my original criteria, I just didn’t love any of them on me, and that devastated me. I have a short neck and a thicker/wider upper back. My upper body just didn’t look well in those styles. Also, I wasn’t entirely sold on the mermaid anymore either. Our venue is very small and tightly spaced. Thus I realized that any poofy dress just wouldn’t fit the feel of the venue.
The remainder of my dress shopping trips consisted of me trying on these styles:
– Sleek, body contouring
– More a-line
– Plunging neckline
– Modern with slight touches of vintage lace designs
– Off-white/ivory with nude underlays
– STRAPS (I was extremely anti straps in the beginning haha)
The straps actually softened up my broad shoulders and back and the low neckline helped hide my short neck and elongate everything. If you guys haven’t noticed, I wear a lot of low cut shirts that don’t necessarily look TOO plunging on me and it’s because of my short neck. Higher neck tops make me look frumpy. Also, pure white just didn’t look good on my skin tone. My dress was ivory even though it looks white. Ivory sat softer on my skin tone and with ivory dresses, especially if there’s a lot of detailing, you’ll be able to see all the embellishments better because there’s more depth in the color.
I went with a Gala gown from Gala Lahav’s line. Her Gala line features her more affordable, made-to-wear creations. It was the one line I found that was within budget for the amount of detail, intricacy, and work put into the dresses. It has so much variation in styles and designs, and had all the elements I wanted in a gown. Her Gala dresses start at $4,900 and go up to $6-7,000. Her regular couture line begins at, correct me if I’m wrong, $8-9,000 and can go as high as $15-20,000+ depending on your customizations! The Gala line does not provide customizations (I.E. lowering the neckline or back, changing the straps, adding off shoulder lace straps, etc.) but it is still tailored and fitted according to your body and size of course!
ALSO.. any dress you see with a plunging neckline, 9 times out of 10, there is a nude mesh barrier that holds the neckline together. So if you’re worried about nip slips or your dress falling off your shoulders, don’t worry, the dress is secured!
Below are Gala dresses I tried on but didn’t go with and will explain why after each style title.
GALA 809
This dress was from the same collection as mine (Gala 802). This fit my original criteria of what I thought I wanted. It has beautiful delicate scalloped lace detailing. While it looks amazing on the model and the rack, it looked too mermaid-y on me. The scallops (ON ME) stood too prominent and reminded me of a fish. Also, PLEASE NOTE, every single dress will look completely different on every single person, so this can actually in fact look stunning on you.
Gala 912
Another strapless except with a lower plunge in the sweetheart (in the close-up photo, you can somewhat see the mesh layer that holds the sweetheart together). This one was again so pretty on the rack but looked awful on me.
Gala 704
This gown was spot on to my original dream dress image. I did love it the most on me however, again, strapless just did not flatter my body, and it lacked that bling factor. But overall, I had nothing bad to say about this dress. The lace was so soft and delicate and I loved the bustier shape of the bodice – soft but still sexy.
Gala 708
This was the first dress I tried on that went against everything I initially was searching for but finally allowed me to feel I was moving in the right direction. Finally, I was beginning to wear the dress instead of having the dress wear me. However, it didn’t have any bling on it and I needed a bling factor!
Gala 904
So funny story, this was the dress I actually originally was supposed to go with. This had everything I wanted.. sexy, sleek, low neckline, the perfect lace… something that you could in detail but wasn’t too harsh, and an amazing BACK. The only thing that I wasn’t set on was that it didn’t flare out enough for me. It was too straight in the front, but after having tried on 50+ dresses, I was like, whatever, I love everything else too much that maybe I could settle. Long story boring, I made another appointment for my bridesmaids to come in and help me say ‘Yes!’
They were running late, so to kill time, I tried on another dress (Gala 802) I thought was pretty, not at all expecting it to be something I would like. As the associate placed me on the box platform with this random dress on, all my girls walked in and were like, “OMG YES, THAT IS THE ONE!! WE LOVE ITTTTT!! YASSSSSS!” Well, at this point, you can only imagine how I felt haha! They LOVED the dress that wasn’t what I was planning to get *face palm*! Anyway, so I changed into the Gala 904 and they were like.. “Well, it’s pretty but the other is still better”. SO moral of the story… I ended up saying ‘Yes to the Dress’ on the random dress I decided to try on to kill time while my maids ran late.
Before I get to THEE dress, here are side by sides of a few of the dresses I mentioned above:
Do you see what I mean by the strapless making my upper body look wider? So again, don’t force yourself into your dream dress if it doesn’t look 100 on you! Be open to trying on different styles.
Okay, now, drumroll please…!!
My Beautiful Baby Gala 802
When I stepped into this gown, I had that WOW factor. I did with the 904 but it was truly that ‘omgosh, this dress was made for me’ feeling. Without thinking I’d change my mind about the 904, I thought, “Well, I’ll see what the girls say, maybe they’ll still like the 904 better”, but it was a pretty clear and unanimous decision when I walked out. Even my mother loved this more than the 904 and she was ALLLL about the 904.
I got my flared out shape… somewhat of mermaid but without the poofiness, my plunge neck, my off-white tone with nude underlay which complemented my skin so well (pure white didn’t look good on me at all), my bling, and the dress gave me shape. I have no curves or hips but the way the rhinestones are angled on the dress totally gave me hips and an even smaller waistline! The only thing the dress didn’t have as much of was a really intense back – I love a sexy back. If I could combine the back of the 904 with this dress, I totally would have but since there were no customizations allowed in the Gala, I had to stick with the dress as is. But again, I loved everything else about it SO MUCH that I easily said my peace with it!
Below are dresses I saw and thought were so cute but didn’t get to try on!
Gala 1009
Although I love this dress, I think how high the lace runs up by the armpits would’ve ended up making my wider back and shoulders even more wide! Aside from that, love everything about this. It’s fierce.
Gala 1002
Okay, I’m not much of a whimsical starry person but DUDE, THIS IS SO CUTE. The store associate told me a girl had come in and bought this as her PROM DRESS. I mean, holy cow… I think my prom dress was at most $120 and I was pained to have spent that much on it, so I could not imagine spending $5,000 + alterations for prom!! Anyway, that girl is #blessed to say the least haha. If I had found something similar to this but less poofy and way cheaper, it would have made for the most adorable reception/dancing dress!
If you live in Los Angeles, Galia Lahav has a flagship store on Melrose. Here is a list of stores her gowns are sold at. Large department stores like Neimans and Bergdorf, as well as many bridal boutiques carry her line. However, if you want to try on and see every single piece in all her collections, I suggest setting up an appointment at her flagship store!
And as promised, here is a list of other brands of dresses I love:
– Berta Bridal
– Pallas Couture
– Rue de Seine (modern boho)
– Made with Love
– Inbal Dror