Thursday, March 24, 2011

BYU Bridal Guide with Heidi's Dress

The other day I received a bunch of emails from Amelia Lyon, the fabulous photographer who did Heidi's pictures.  She forwarded her responses to a whole lot of brides that wanted my info.  A big THANK YOU goes out to her.  Here is the story of why.



BYU's Bridal Guide used her picture of Heidi for a "The Dress" page.  It is the page that explains various terms of dress styles, etc.  You all know that page in dress magazines.  They credited the photographers but didn't think to put my name on the page.  No problem, thankfully Amelia passed on the info.  

Well, I decided to meet the people that put the magazine together.  I have always been curious about the publication.  So I thought it was the perfect excuse to introduce myself.  I know it is silly, but I am so glad I did.  I had a great conversation with Warren, the person in charge of the magazine, probably the most jovial person I have ever met.  He laughs with gusto, it makes me smile even now.  

We got to talk about wedding dresses.  It was interesting to hear his take on the whole thing.  We discussed the ins and outs of LDS wedding dresses.  For those of you outside of this culture, there are many guidelines you have to meet to wear a wedding dress that is appropriate.  Thus, most of the dresses you will see on this blog have sleeves and a more conservative neck line.  My question for those of you who are LDS.  Do you care if you wear the dress to the ceremony, or would you rather have a dress that is silk white or cream?  Would you rather have the over the top gown or go with one appropriate for the ceremony?  I usually avoid talking about this type of thing, but that is what a trip to BYU does to me.   

So that was the experience with the BYU bridal magazine and the happy people that run it.  The good news, Warren told me that they have had a big response to the dress.  I credit that to Heidi's open mind while making the dress and her genius choice of photographers.  I still can't get over the perfectness of that shoot!

11 comments:

Maren said...

I can NOT believe they didn't credit you for the dress - that's CRAZY!!! Especially since you are a BYU grad. That makes me mad.

But, to answer your question (like you didn't already know my answer), I want to have my cake and eat it too. And I did. Most temples are fine with silk white - no one said a word to me about the color of my dress or that it was too elaborate or anything. I am personally of the opinion that every girl should be married in her actual wedding gown, but to each her own. I would never give up having a freaking amazing Melissa-made gown, however. Nor would I consent to the gown being made of polyester (ew!!). That's just wrong. :)

melissa said...

Amen to the polyester comment. I will never ever make a dress out of that stuff again! The last one I agreed to was at least 12 years ago. I was so young and didn't know how to say no.

Maren, you crack me up. The office of Daily Universe is in the Brimhall building. It brought back memories of a great photo shoot. Remember? That has got to be one of the best buildings on campus.

Jeanette said...

What a wonderful opportunity to have "The Dress" gain more exposure! Even though you didn't get the credit you deserve, the women who like the dress will just have to do their own work to hunt you down. And locate you, they will!

Clement Park Ward Youth Trek said...

Beautiful dress! To answer your question, I wore my wedding dress to the ceremony, and I wouldn't have had it any otherway. Like someone else mentioned, I don't think they are too picky about it as long as it is white, and not creame. My dress was ivory and I wore it. And for the most part, they will let you wear it even with embellishment. My dad is a temple work and he was told not to question things,unless it's really, really not with protocol (like cream dresses, tons and tons and tons of embellishments, etc.). I wish I had known about your company before i got married! I saw you on BYU's 100 hour board :)

T said...

No way! I worked for over a year with Warren in the production department for BYU Daily Universe, he is a character! It was important to me to be married in my wedding dress because I wanted that moment to be the focus of everything. Luckily, I didn't have to sacrifice the design or the color of the dress because I got married in the Provo temple and they are not quite as strict as other temples I have heard.

Erica Tanner said...

I SAW THAT DRESS IN THE BYU MAGAZINE and was like I LOVE THAT DRESS! anyway...i did not wear my dress inside the temple. they told me plain straight white, not jewels, etc. I just wore it to my reception/bridals and such obviously. it sounded like more of a problem and limited me to only straight white which is ughh on a pale woman like me! anyway i would suggest to others to do the same as me...just so much more of a hassle.

Paperdollchick said...

I want my wedding dress to look like this! Where can I buy one??

Unknown said...

Yes, I would also like a dress that looks exactly like this one. More info on that would be appreciated.

Jessie said...

I would love to wear my dress to my temple ceremony. I'm getting engaged soon and would love to wear one of your dresses. I LOVE Heidi's dress- it's gorgeous.. everything about it. If I don't get to wear my dress to the ceremony it wont be the end of the world. I'd much rather wear a dress that I love that might be too elaborate then a dres I'm okay with.

Laynah said...

I feel like I'll want two dresses...a nice temple dress for the ceremony and another for pictures and the reception.

So lame that they didn't credit you...but I think you're being found by plenty of people! I just found your blog and have been stalking it for an undisclosed amount of time now and your dresses makes my chest HURT I want one so bad. I will have one, and I will drive 8 hours 5 or 6 or however many times you need me to until it's perfect.

With Love,
-single teenager obsessing over her wedding day :)

SamuelNelson said...

Wow, the dress looks great! I remember my wife agonizing over what dress she should get. At first she started looking for lds wedding dresses at major wedding dress suppliers, but most were not modest enough and the others she just didn't like. In answer to the ceremony question, my wife wore her wedding gown, and she was absolutely gorgeous. Enough said.