Our 2021 Flower Girl Dress of the Year

We created this new flower girl dress style after consulting with our bride

2021 Flower Girl Dress of the Year Runner Up

2021 Rehearsal Party Wedding/Flower Girl Dress of the Year

Our 2021 Wedding/Flower Girl Dress of the Year

2021 was a year of celebration - the country was opening up again and so were weddings, finally. The year prior to the pandemic, we had done over 8700 weddings and had to choose from almost 3000 entrants. But then came last year where only the fewest numbers of our customers actually went through with their weddings. 2020 was certainly no picnic and 2021 was no bargain for the wedding industry either. Many of us, those like my company that had been in business for decades, experienced the off-again, on-again, off-again postponement of weddings.

This Wedding of the Year was no exception, as it had been postponed as well, but this story contains a big big twist and a huge secret. More on that later. When Ryan and Katie announced their engagement in 2019, the families prepared for a wedding in 2020 originally. Then along came the pandemic and even up to the end, only 5 weeks prior to the wedding, they wanted their plans to go on. Only the state of Maryland and the fear of spreading Covid to loved ones put a stop to the original wedding date.

We went about no sure of scheduling yet planned for a special dress for Katie who was about to marry into the McCormack family. The groom's brother, coincidentally, won in 2015 the Platinum Wedding of the Year so I for one could't wait to see what they were planning. I watched Katie's Pinterest boards as I do for all our customers to get a feel for what she was thinking. I set out to show some of the fabrics that I had fallen in love with during a 2018 fabric show and we conspired together for what the girl's dresses would look like. I wanted to do a "first" for Katie like I had done for Ryan's brother. The older flower girl sister was 6 and the two younger sisters, who were just 1 and 2 1/2, were also to be flower girls. We decided on a longer length for the six year old and short, fuller lengths for the two little girls.

We put the order in overseas with some modification to the fabric design, mostly adding seed pearls and sequins to the flowers on netting, ordering both white and ivory because the bride was not quite certain what the color of her gown was, particularily by then, the pandemic arrived in the US and her gown was delayed as well. It turned out that I was so happy that I put the order in to the fabric manufacturer in November of 2019 because just a few months later, production ground down to a halt from overseas where we purchased the fabric. In the end, the fabric took 6 months to come in, mostly because it was stuck in the docks, and although it was here in time for Katie and Ryan's original wedding date, it sure was frightening to be that close. We had some difficulty with cooperation with the little ones but the photographer managed to get one photo of all three girls. However, by the time things were about to start on the day of the wedding, slowly the two little ones bowed out during the wedding day, one by one. But hey, it happens.

2021 Wedding/Flower Girl Dress of the Year

2021 Wedding and Flower Girl Dress of the Year held at The Chateau Bu-De, Chesapeake City, MD | Emily Chastain Photography Washington DC/Baltimore

Bride choose Pegeen Style 426 in white for all three flower girls, but then there were two, no, one!

See our Wedding of the Year Runner Up and our special Rehearsal Party Wedding of the Year

2021 Wedding & Flower Girl Dress of the Year

2021 PREPARATIONS

Ryan invited his buddies from dental school and his two brothers, Kevin and Daniel who was incidentally, a previous winner.

2021 PREPARATIONS

The McCormack's have a thing for socks and finding these groomsmen socks was the perfect gift for his attendants.

2021 PREPARATIONS

2021 PREPARATIONS & "First Look for the Bridesmaids"

I love the look on Jeanie (left) when she got to see her new sister in law's gown.

2021 PREPARATIONS

Exchanging gifts

2021 PREPARATIONS

2021 FIRST LOOK

Look who is sneaking a look too! I love these shots and this photographer caught the perfect moment.

2021 FORMALS

Mommy & daughter! Lily wear's Pegeen style 426 which was designed especially for the bride.

2021 FORMALS Yeah! We actually got two of the girls photographed!

2021 Flower Girl Dress of the Year FORMALS

2021 Wedding/Flower Girl Dress of the Year CEREMONY