Viero Bridal and How I Feel About Marriage

This beauty of a gown is a custom creation made by Viero Bridal (locations in Chicago, New York, and Las Vegas, contact info here.) They invited me in a few months ago and wanted to work on a custom dress together.  I was beyond excited, you guys all know I LOVE a dress-up moment and the process was so smooth and simple.

In addition, to sharing my experience at Viero, I wanted to share my insights of what I thought about marriage and the big question I have been asked a lot recently, “Will I get married again?”

The Viero Custom Gown experience is personable and special.  I expected the pricing to be thousands of dollars and when I met with Nadia at the Chicago headquarters,  she said it starts at $2K. She works closely with each customer on color, design, fit and if you look at the site here or their Instagram, you can see how beautiful each gown is.

Since we all know I’m not getting married, I requested a pink gown. Tulle, princess-like, and we discussed some beading. Nadia did her magic, their seamstress measured just once, and honestly a few weeks later the dress arrived and fit like a glove. Even the sleeves were perfect for my measurements.  Between the dress arriving, there were texts and emails exchanged regarding beading, what it looked like, the tulle fabric and I did try on other silhouettes at Viero.

Overall, it was such an easy experience and I never had a gown fit perfectly the first time. Believe me, I’ve been wedding shopping before, the fit is always an issue as most bridal designers just have standard sizing than you pay thousands of dollars to then fit.  I spent upwards of $5K for my gown (which had no beading) and that was 10 years ago! I went through 3 fittings and getting it to be altered was $1K. So this process was seeamless and the custom gown fit perfectly.

So onto how I feel about marriage? I grew up reading and watching Disney movies. I loved fairy tales, loved the thought of finding my husband, and living happily ever after. And then real life happened. Dating is tough, choosing the right partner is tough, and knowing yourself through the process is even harder.  Every ten years, I’ve changed. I look back at my 22-year-old self and I don’t recognize that person. I was insecure about my career, where I was headed and in a relationship that wasn’t healthy however I relied on him financially and emotionally and it took me 7 years to leave that one. I quickly leaped into another relationship, my career blossomed and that relationship became a marriage, kids, and where I am now, single.

I got to admit, I hate fairy tales now. If I had a girl, I’d be ok with her reading them but there’s a lot of knowledge I would communicate about life, intelligence, and making sure choosing the right partner meant that they compliment YOU, not “take care or save you”. In addition, the pressure to get married young and have kids after college was there and I believe this pressure is less in this day and age. Sure, having kids later in life is difficult, but making sure you feel complete on your own and have a partner to hold your hand in life is better than 2 kids, a husband, and an unhappy marriage.

People I know are happily married (#couplegoals), unhappily married, or going through some type of roller coaster ride. Some are faithful, some are cheating, some stay for the kids, some are figuring it out. Marriage is not what we thought it was and the dream became real all too soon. Money, schedules, resentment, cleaning, etc. all these daily life things replace that exciting relationship that use to be about hand holding and kissing and date night.

So marriage, how do I feel about it? I still believe in it, with the right person. And the right person I hope is around one day but I’m figuring out what is right for me. Will I get married again? It’s a big question I get asked a lot lately.  My answer “I don’t know”. The person, time and place I’ll be is unknown and until that time comes, I don’t need to answer that. I’m not scared of it but I’m certainly not searching around for it like I lost my wallet. What I hope for is a good man that loves me for everything I am, faults and all. Who wants to hold my hand and walk through life having adventures, laughing, is smart and loves my kids as much as I do. I don’t dream for a prince and for now, I’m dating myself.