Wedding. It’s happening this summer, people! I may have some wedding planning battle scars, but we’re going to keep blindly hoping that the third time is the charm.

*Skipping into the apocalypse in our 2019 engagement photos*

I’m very lucky to have an incredible designer as one of my closest friends… so naturally one of the first things I did once engaged was to ask Jacki if she would make my dress. She said yes! (yes to my dress!)

*More circa 2019 wedding stuff… god it’s been a minute huh…*

I still went dress shopping several times to figure out what I wanted. Jacki and I made plans to go fabric shopping in NYC in March 2020. In April 2022, we finally made the trip.

We started at Mood which was a magical maze of textiles. I emotionally connected with a Vera Wang base fabric, which was a win. While dress shopping, I learned that the champagne undertones that are really popular right now clash pretty hard with my Irish skin tone. Finding a white I was excited about was a relief.

*Do you know how many shades of white there are in the world, and how many look real bad on my pasty self?*

Emboldened by early success, we cruised around the fashion district and found a lace or two to play with. Jacki also amused me with entire trim stores dedicated to buttons and zippers… who knew.

While NY is obviously a hub for fashion, Jacki swears by a lace shop in Philadelphia. Although driving another hour and a half for one lace store may seem ridiculous to some, to some I say: “it’s my GD wedding dress! Let’s get some cheese steaks!”

We made a pilgrimage to Tony Luke’s where I had my first real cheese steak “wit wiz.” The sandwich was both delicious and disgusting. I was ready for a juice cleanse after.

Jacki and I finished our night at the Hop Sing Laundromat speakeasy. There were a shitload of rules (no pictures, cash only, no cell phone use) and some of the most ridiculous vaccine requirements I’ve experienced (the owner made me download an app to prove my vax card was real). Jacki and I were unamused… but then the drinks were really fucking delicious and we were like “ok fine we get it.” Unfortunately with the cash only thing and $18 cocktails we could only afford one each! We stayed the night in Philly then hit up a yum Jewish Deli for brekkie.

*The health trip continues with latkes and cherry blintzes.*

The next morning we did some sightseeing as I’d never been to Philly before. Nothing too exciting, but you gotta check it off the bucket list.

After our historical glasses runnethed over, we headed to the South Street neighborhood. This area was really cute with Federal architecture and lots of blooming trees.

We went to the fancy lace shop and sure enough, it was full of holy grail-level laces.

Eureka! Totally worth the trip. Before heading back to Boston, we stopped for lunch and Pickletinis at Tattooed Mom, an absolute gem of a lunch spot.

It was a long hall back to Boston, but in about 36 hours we got all the fabric needed for THE DRESS… great success!!

where: new york and philadelphia//ancestral lands of the wappinger, munsee lenape, and lenapehoking
when: sunny and flowery april
how: driving way way way too far in a prius

dress quest

springtime smörgåsbord

tornado in NOLA