Before Grace became a bride herself, she helped other brides look and feel their best. As a wedding stylist, her work centers on something most people don’t realize takes styling at all: everything that happens around the wedding dress.
What Is a Wedding Stylist?
My Wedding Wardrobe fills an important niche by meeting a need that often goes unrecognized.
“A lot of wedding stylists specialize in helping brides find their dress. Our niche is everything but the wedding dress. Katie, the founder, was getting married. She was a stylist, and she realized there are so many events around a wedding. She was a personal stylist and didn’t know how to get all of those events sorted out. When she launched the company, I was her intern. Now I’m running it with her. We help with everything around your wedding season, mother of the bride, mother of the groom, bridesmaids, all the wedding showers. We help curate a look that feeds into your personality and the vibe of the event. Our niche is everything but the dress. After you get your dress is when you realize there’s so much more coming up that you need styling for.”
Being the Bride, Not Just the Stylist
Being on the other side of the process gave Grace a new appreciation for her own clients.
“I’ve always been very decisive, so I knew exactly what I wanted my wedding dress to look like immediately. But then I realized, we have a shower in April, a shower in December, a rehearsal dinner, another shower in May. I would say it was funny being the bride, because I really felt like I could sympathize a lot more with our brides. I have a fashion background, but when it’s finally you, you think, give me some grace with these outfits. So many people would ask, are you going to wear this, are you going to wear that. Towards the end, I really put a lot of that to the side.”
Working With Katie
Katie’s approach as a stylist, and as a friend guiding Grace through her own wedding season, was less about pushing ideas and more about drawing them out.
“She was very good at helping when I asked, not pushing anything on me. She was the one who helped me figure out the rehearsal dinner look. I wanted it to be a personality outfit, not all white, something fun for the weekend. She was the one who said, you just need to go and do something like yourself. You have a great vision, and you know what you like, you just need to do it. You don’t need to buy it, you need to do something custom.”
A Custom Rehearsal Dinner Dress, Designed After Her Mother
That advice led Grace to design a completely custom rehearsal dinner dress, one with a story of its own.
“I did a custom look with Nardos. I’m still very blessed to have gotten to do that. It was funky, not something I would typically choose. It wasn’t fitted, it wasn’t a mini. We designed my dress after my Mom’s Mother of the Bride dress, and my Mom wanted to wear my birthstone color. I’m born in August, so I wanted the paneling on my rehearsal dinner dress to be hers. It was kind of like a sneak peek to the next day. I’m an only child, and my mom is my best friend, so I wanted to let her have her moment.”
A Favorite Behind-the-Scenes Service
Beyond styling and curating looks, Grace’s favorite part of the job happens in real time, on the wedding day itself.
“A big service for us is the wedding day. We steam, we prep, we walk with the bride, make sure the veil lines up perfectly, and handle all the fashion emergencies. I love our relationship with our brides. Being the bride and having Katie there with me on my wedding day really made me realize how necessary that service is. One of my bridesmaids ripped her dress on the way to the church, and Katie fixed it on the spot. My brother-in-law’s pants were too big, so she hemmed them on the spot too.”
A Stylist Who Understands, From Experience
Grace’s dual perspective, as both a stylist and a recent bride, gives her a rare vantage point in the industry: someone who has spent years helping brides look their best, and who has now lived through the experience herself, down to the last-minute fashion emergency that needed fixing. Follow Katie and Grace at @myweddingwardrobe on Instagram to see their incredible bridal styling expertise and the thoughtful, seamless day-of dressing services they provide!
