The most significant dress I will ever wear could not, under any circumstances, be new.
To wed in anything but vintage would have felt like a betrayal.
(More on that later.)
Photo: Nela Kekic
I found it online and, upon its arrival, reverently unboxed it like a relic.
Urbane enough for a Manhattan City Hall wedding, yet still dainty.
So how, exactly, did this dress wind up in my hands?
Photo: Nela Kekic
Or maybe Rhode Island.
Given its circuitous journey, the dress required a little rejuvenation.
Slight adjustments to the princess seams ensured it fit like a glove.
Photo: Nela Kekic
Accessories fell into place with poetic symmetry.
A vintage Judith Leiber satin bag, antique ivory as the dress itself, was plucked from The RealReal.
The room seemed to hum with the cacophony of love stories converging in one place.
Photo: Nela Kekic
Amid the rush of it all, my dress and my carefully chosen details anchored me.
In that moment, as I said I do, I felttruly and unmistakablymyself.
Could I ask where you got that bag?
Photo: Nela Kekic
I had onejustlike it, but I gave it to The RealReal.
I admitted to her it was likely the very same purse and we bonded over its unlikely reunion.
What are the odds?
Photo: Nela Kekic
The chances were as improbable as they were perfectmuch like finding the one person in a city of millions.
Those odds felt oddly right.
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
Photo: Nela Kekic
