I let my fiancé see my dress before the wedding, and I lived to tell the tale

Guest post by Ashley
First Look

Whenever I show someone the photo of me in my wedding dress, and they ask me who took the picture, their first response to my answer is an audible gasp.

“He saw you?!” they say in a mixture of disgust and horror.

Yes. He did see me. I asked him to take the photos. And yet, I don't feel as if our relationship is doomed for failure. Weird.

You see, I live with my fiancé almost nine hundred miles away from my family. His family is about two hundred miles or so away. Which means most of the time it's just us. Him, me, and the dog. And try as I might, I have yet to teach Sophia how to use a camera with her paws. Which leaves me to one option.

When I began my dress shopping adventure, I was a bit more traditional in my thinking. But as time went on and I began to hate every dress I tried on, I would flip through photos on the internet and ask my fiancé's opinion on them.

This went on for months. Until one day I bit the bullet and bought a dress that I didn't hate. I bought it used, online from a private seller and the transaction couldn't have gone better. I had no regrets.

Still, I was a bundle of nerves as I tracked the dress on the UPS website, waiting for it to arrive. For safety reasons, and because I don't trust my neighbors, I had the dress shipped to my work. While my coworkers did manage to persuade me to open the box, I didn't try the dress on. Instead, I went home where I knew I'd have a couple hours alone before my fiancé came home from work.

At home, I was able to be by myself, unpack the dress and really take it all in. After I took the dog outside (taking no chances) I put myself in the dress. I don't have a full-length mirror at my place so there was a lot of turning and bending trying to get a good view in the bathroom mirror.

By the time my fiancé came home, I'd taken off the dress. He knew it had arrived, though (I'd been keeping him up to date on its ETA for three days) and I wanted to show it to him because buying this dress was a huge deal to me. And I loved it, and I was excited. I didn't have my family, my sisters, or my best friend nearby to share that excitement with. And I was okay with that. Because I had my fiancé — the guy who asked me if I would spend the rest of my life together with him.

Of course I wanted to show him my dress. Not only that but I had just bought the most expensive piece of clothing I will most likely ever own. It deserved to be shown off.

He loved it. He said I looked beautiful and that it was better than “any of those other ugly dresses you were looking at.”

I don't regret showing him my dress. In fact, I would do it again. I did do it again two days later when his parents came to town for the weekend and I surprised them in it.

I'm not worried about losing out on any special moments when I walk down the aisle. When I do put on the dress for my wedding my hair will be styled instead of pulled back and frizzy from work. And my make up will be flawless instead of smeared from the day's events.

Besides, it's a wonderful dress and my fiancé should see me in it as often as possible.

Where do you stand on the issue of your partner seeing you in your dress before the wedding day?

Meet our fave wedding vendors