Shopping for a gown can be one of the best experiences during wedding planning, or one of the worst. There are, of course, many factors that play into how your experience pans out, but the bridal salon you choose obviously plays a huge role. That is just one reason why we’re so thrilled to introduce y’all — and especially our Alabama brides — to one very special boutique.

I adore the story of White Dresses Boutique, so here it is from the horse’s mouth:

In the 1930s, a petite woman named Madie Ella Leonard opened a fine dress store in a tiny Alabama town. Convinced that mixing the fashions of the Big Apple with service drenched in Southern charm would create a shopping destination people would have to revisit, Madie purchased her first few lines of inventory and stocked the shelves with finery that would make any Southern lady swoon. Though met with a lot of people who told her tiny Alabama couldn’t handle couture, Madie went on to operate one of the most influential dress shops in Alabama – dressing Southern women for over 40 years.

Madie, who is now 108, passed her love of fashion down to her nieces – who she treated like the daughters she never had. With the same love of couture and desire to bring something new and innovative to the bridal market in Huntsville, Madie’s nieces, along with their mom, opened White Dresses. White Dresses blends couture bridal gowns with service drowned in Southern charm to create a bridal shopping experience unlike any other. The boutique offers Southern brides a carefully curated selection of exclusive couture gowns along with a personal experience that ensures each bride has the attention needed to select the perfect white dress for her special day.

White Dresses carries bridal gown designers that aren’t found in any other Southern bridal boutique. A few of their gorgeous lines include Marchesa, Hayley Paige, Sareh Nouri, Elihav Sasson, Stephanie Allin, Anne Maier-Ulla Maija, Jesus Peiro, and Rosa Clará. They also carry Elihav Sasson, and are the only salon in the United States to do so! We adore their clean, romantic, fashion-forward style!

White Dresses is located in Huntsville, Alabama, and you can learn much more about them on their website. I’d also encourage you to check out their Blue Ribbon Vendor listing — their interview is so fun! Last but certainly not least, keep an eye on their trunk show schedule. In March, they are welcoming Blush by JLM Couture and Intuzuri to town!

How was your wedding dress shopping experience? How many salons did you visit? Let us know in the comments!

Our October was full of pretty leaves, Halloween hype and general fall fun. With the State Fair in town, it was also full of deliciously fried foods and carnival games. Take a look at what the Southern Weddings gals did last month!

1. Emily and John ventured to some waterfalls while taking a weekend trip to Asheville

2. Lara, Grace and Ari went to the McKee Farm corn maze!

3. I waited in line for a fried chicken biscuit from Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen — a Chapel Hill must!

4. Lara surprised Emily and I with some Krispy Kremes as we made our final edits on V5.

5. I ran the Color Me Rad 5K with my sister and Dad.

6. Emily, in the thick of the name change process, gathered up materials for the social security office.

7. I went to the State Fair and got to the top of the Ferris wheel just just as the fireworks show began.

8. Kristin celebrated the start of fall with some homemade chicken vegetable soup.

9. Emily, also in the mood to celebrate fall, whipped up some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins on wedding china! (She gladly shared the recipe with us here.)

10. Kristin celebrated her eighth first-date anniversary (photo from first date weekend, October 2004).

11. Marissa unpacked from Bridal Market and repacked to move! Yes, that is peanut butter in her suitcase.

12. Kristin spent a gorgeous Saturday morning at the State Fair tasting a pile of yummy (mostly fried) Southern treats: ham biscuit, fried pickles, fried snickers, roasted corn and more!

13. One of the one million gorgeous gowns Kristin saw during Bridal Market in NYC. This one is by Ines Di Santo.

14. Emily and I spent a couple of days proofing V5!

15. Marissa had dinner in NYC with Kristin, Kat Harris and former SW editor, Whitney. Once an SW girl, always an SW girl!

16. We carved a Southern pumpkin, y’all! This guy even has a dapper bow tie.

17. Lara went on a trip across the U.S. for Making Things Happen and flew over beach, canyons and snow.

18. Emily painted some golden pumpkins as her crafty project of the month.

Tell us: What did you do in October? What were the highlights of your month?

See what happened in past months:
September
August
July
June
May

It’s been a few days since Kat Harris’ work graced our blog in the form of Bridal Market goodness, and that’s just too long for our taste! We’re happy to have her back and sharing a little Southern Meets New York City shoot she and Jackie from Merci New York whipped up to share with y’all. We hear from lots of gals who grew up down South, moved away later in life, and find themselves planning a wedding that blends their past and present (and looking for ideas), so we hope these details will provide a bit of inspiration for any ladies who find themselves in this pickle!

To start, I couldn’t resist including a few behind the scenes photos – you know how we feel about those, and Kat does such a lovely job with them!

Love the neutrals + bright red pops these ‘maids are sporting perfect for a fresh fall feeling!

Let’s talk accessories for a minute, shall we? The monogram bracelet is by Max & Chloe, the bride’s earrings are the “Georgina” by Madame Mathilde, and her sash is the Serena cluster sash. For the bridesmaids, the dotted tights were a nice little gem of a find from Forever 21, the beaded sash is from Jannie Baltzer, and that cute little python platinum clutch can be found here.

Now on to the yummies: caramels, mini pies, hot NYC pretzels, and, of course, a liberal amount of whiskey all tied up with seersucker and striped trimming. As the gals behind this shoot said, “We realized that Southern Style and East Coast Style have quite a bit in common, including classic silhouettes, that All-American preppy flare, and delicate and elegant femininity. We also know that both East Coasters and Southerners love their whiskey, so put together a DIY Whiskey Bar for our ladies!”

Love it, y’all! Thanks again to Kat, Jackie, and Molly of Glitter and Rye for pulling everything together!

This week in the Southern Weddings office, we gushed over new wedding gown designs, squealed over updates for our V5 launch party and anxiously waited as the new issue passed through the press (it’s printing right now, y’all! Here’s Em and I proofing last week. We look very serious.). There is so much to share, but for now our week of Bridal Market recaps will have to hold you over. No complaints, there, right?

We started off the week with Romonoa Keveza, Claire Pettibone, Christos and Kenneth Pool and just died over each dress!

Then, Reem Acra, Amsale and Monique Lhuillier made our jaws drop. No seriously, y’all.

Ines Di Santo, Anne Barge and Rivini blew us away.

Badgley Mischka, Lula Kate, Watters and Donna Morgan were up next and, no surprise, we adored all of them!

Heidi Elnora, Sarah Seven and Pnina Tornai were full of amazing details and sparkle.

Last, but not least in the Bridal Market Series, Kelly Faetanini and Matthew Christopher stole our hearts and Marissa and Kristin partook in a little street style shoot!

Who else is pumped for the arrival of V5? To help us count down the days, we’re giving away two bow ties a week! Enter here.

Real Weddings are the bees knees

Kelsey + Brandon’s peachy North Carolina wedding took place just down the road from our office! We love that they included a bourbon bar! See it here.

Don’t forget, we’re throwing a big anniversary bash to celebrate V5! RSVP here if you can make it.

A big hug and congratulations go out to all of the belles and beaus tying the knot this weekend, including our Southern Bride Blogger, Sheila!

Have a terrific weekend friends!

Yes, we’re back with one last Bridal Market post! If you haven’t been keeping up on the blog, be sure to take a gander at all the previous posts. It’s one pretty page after another!

Let’s start with Miss Kelly Faetanini. Isn’t her purple peplum outfit adorable?

Okay, onto dresses! Kelly’s collection was what I like to call wearable fashion forward. Each gown had on-point style trends without being too risky for real brides to try on their wedding days.

I love the layered lace peplum of this tulle ball gown, and the best part… it’s removable! How clever is Kelly? What a fun way to wear the trend, but have the option for a more classic tulle ball gown look. I also adore the bustle in the front of the dress on the bottom left. This fit-to-flare gown is made of silk santung. Fancy!

Oh, and this finale! My oh my! Kristin and I literally gasped when this gown came down the runway. The simple silk satin fit-to-flare is accented perfectly with a lilac ombre-feathered skirt. Talk about wow factor! After the show, we couldn’t stop talking about those ombre feathers!

Now let’s talk glam! Matthew Christopher’s 2013 Couture collection was all about glamourous red carpet-esque gowns, and I’m all about that!

Classic silhouettes with luxe details gave the MC collection a sophisticated feel. Opulent silk satin was mixed with raw-edged organza flowers to combine into romantic pieces. My favorite has to be the Toujour L’Amour (on the bottom right) — this gown was inspired by cathedrals, and features a silk duchess bodice wrapped in elaborate beading, raw edge ruffles and crystals and pearls in a heart-shaped motif. Tres chic!

In between shows we were thrilled to be able to shoot a little Street Style session with our awesome photographer Kat Harris! She even snagged these behind-the-scenes shots of us running between shows. Yes, I am totally into my iPhone in both shots – either tweeting, or more likely trying to map out directions to the next show!

Isn’t Kristin adorable? That girl has sass! I’ll let you in on a little secret: this is my favorite outfit, and I wanted to wear it the entire trip! (I didn’t, though!)

Kat asked us to do our serious face. Well, you see how long that lasted! Want to know a little more about our outfits? Check out Kat’s blog! She featured US in her Refined Woman series. We’re so honored!

Thanks again to Kat for all of these images!

But wait, have you STILL not had enough Bridal Market 2012 goodness yet? Be sure to check out our designated board for all of this year’s styles, and set aside some time to watch the videos our friends at Lover.ly put together! The one for Anne Barge’s show is below, but you can see more designers here!

Video courtesy of Lover.ly – search, shop, save and share wedding ideas all in one place. For more designer interviews, DIY tutorials, and more, check out Lover.ly’s newly launched video channel!