Rebecca Ingram 'Billie'

Fit and flare, floor length, strapless gown with a sweetheart neckline 

The clean, elegant crepe has lace applique on the bodice that seamlessly fades into the skirt. The train has understated, but beautiful lace edging.

I absolutely loved this dress. I'm hoping to pass it on to at least one other woman who can be as delighted by it as I was on my big day.  

Why I fell in love with this dress: 

• Mood: Romantic, feminine, classical, elegant. Also quietly powerful, and a teeny bit sexy (I have no idea how they made a dress that felt all of those things at the same time, but they did). 
• A lot of elements of this dress feel timeless, but not old-fashioned: the silhouette, the neckline, the lace along the train, etc. You know the wedding pictures where you can tell exactly what year a bride got married in because of what was trendy that year? This isn't that. 
• This dress is the perfect balance of having memorable, thoughtful details that reveal themselves the more you look at it, but it doesn't upstage the bride. 
• This dress made a curvy girl look great. Let's be honest, the willowy model also looked awesome in the pictures, but for a girl who's used to hiding her body, this one made me feel like a million bucks. I have never felt that way in any other dress.

Why I fell even more in love with my dress after purchasing it: 

• Crepe didn't wrinkle: We had to drive hundreds of miles to our out-of-state wedding, which means we had to pack this dress up in the car (and the dress is so long, there was no way we could lay it flat). Our seamstress fretted about wrinkles but when we hung it up before the wedding -- poof! That crepe didn't hold a single wrinkle. It was as if we'd taken it right from her shop. 
• Boning accommodated body changes: I was 3 months post-partum at my wedding, which meant my body was very different from the body that originally tried on the dress. Turns out: no sweat! The boning and shaping in the dress still made me look great, and feel great, on the big day. I had shapewear on standby and ended up skipping it entirely. The dress did all the work.

The dress was professionally cleaned post-wedding and I did not see any flaws when I got it back from the cleaners.

Alterations - This dress was purchased as a US Size 6:

• The original mesh on the back was cut out and replaced with a reinforced lace-up system. Pictures of the back are included so you can see how it should be laced. It's gorgeous! It not only strengthens the dress but adds a little more of that classic elegance.
• A bustle was added, making it easier for the bride to move around during cocktail hour, dancing, etc. without ruining that long, beautiful train. It's a simple hook and eye closure. You can see the dress bustled in one of the pictures.
• A little bit of length was taken off the front of the skirt to fit someone 5' tall wearing 2" heels. The seamstress did an amazing job making the alteration invisible and preserving all of the original lace edging.