Joyce Found The Dress @ The Dress

 

 Joyce found the dress @ The Dress to wed her fiance, Michael, at their August 2011 wedding. The couple met during their first year in college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where Michael was studying computer engineering and Joyce was on the pre-med track. A mutual friend introduced them and the rest is history!

How Michael popped The Question... "Michael surprised me by taking me to the Chicago Botanic Garden. I had been wanting to go for quite some time. It also happened to be one of the days during the Bonsai Festival, and bonsais have a special meaning for us. We walked around, bought some bonsais and on our way out he stopped me at the pond by the entrance and nervously got down on one knee to propose!

The couple chose August because they wanted a month that was free of major holidays or family member's birthday. For the ceremony location, "We definitely wanted a church and one with great stained glass windows - I think we found just that!" The ceremony was at St. John's Lutheran Church in Lombard.

The Morton Arboretum was chosen for the reception of 175 guests. "For the reception we absolutely wanted a place with windows to allow natural light, a nice-sized dance floor and excellent food options."






Why Joyce chose The Dress... "I had originally fallen in love with the style of the Aire Barcelona collection: dramatic yet simply elegant, with lots of lacy/flowy features."
After trying on several gowns at The Dress by Nicole she chose the Blue by Enzoani "Cincinnati" style that embodied all of the qualities she was looking for.

The dress was made of soft tulle and netting with lace appliques. The fitted trumpet silhouette was perfect for Joyce and the beautiful straps that created a V-neck were used for a little more coverage in the church. The straps were later tucked in to make the dress strapless at the reception. Her tiny waist was accented with a gorgeous sparkly ribbon sash and a beautiful elbow length veil.

Joyce wanted a bright and colorful wedding that was tastefully done. Her favorite color is yellow so she made that the primary color and worked from there. She loved the fall colors of deep purples/reds and burnt yellows and tweaked that a little to work for the late summer wedding. Her color palette ended up with lemon yellow, coral, and magenta and she loved how it turned out. Her gorgeous flowers were by Fleur Couture in Downers Grove.

Joyce's favorite moment of the day was their ride from the ceremony to the reception. "Where Michael and I got to sit and do nothing except for soak in the whole experience and smile, while enjoying the company of our families." :)

Her favorite and unique detail at the wedding was "Hora Loca! It’s a carnivale-themed hour of the reception where the music is fast paced the whole time, there are balloons and masks, and an overall electrifying mood. Everyone loved it and I’m glad they got to experience a piece of Colombian wedding culture!"

Joyce's advice for other brides while planning is... "The earlier you start the better! Get on Pinterest, Gawker, etc. and start figuring out what you like and what you don’t like and, most importantly, the overall theme for your wedding; this will guide the rest of your planning! Her advice for other brides on the actual wedding day... "All of your hard work has paid off! Relax and enjoy :) this was possible for me thanks to our wonderful wedding coordinator!


Thank you Joyce and Michael for sharing your day with us! If you would like to be featured as a bride that found The Dress @ The Dress contact us!