~by Cheryl

An Artist’s Dream:

Charlotte met Blair on the first day of class at the University of Utah in August 2008. Since they were both art majors, it happened to be a drawing class –and they had to draw each other. While chatting, they learned they lived near each other. Two days later they were both walking home from school, and Blair took the opportunity to ask Charlotte out. The date didn’t go as well as planned, however; Charlotte wasn’t wanting a boyfriend and she panicked when Blair put his arm around her. She avoided him for a few weeks, but she couldn’t repress her feelings for very long! Within a month, they were dating.

After about six months, Charlotte was considering transferring schools. Up to that point, it hadn’t even occurred to her that Blair might have anything to do with her decision. Not sure of what to do, she thought “what if I’m supposed to marry Blair?” In March 2009, she brought up the subject with Blair, thinking it was a new idea he hadn’t thought of. He replied: “I’ve known I’ve wanted to marry you for months.” A month later, they were engaged! 

The Gown:
Charlotte knew about Avenía Bridal before dress shopping; Nancy had made her sister’s wedding dress. However, she found her dress in a round-a-bout way. Just a few weeks after getting engaged, Charlotte and her mom had a little time one afternoon while shopping. They decided to go into a bridal shop “just to look.” After browsing a bit, they thought “Hey, maybe we could go to Avenía?” They gave Nancy a call, and even though it was pretty late in the day and they didn’t have an appointment, Nancy said, “Yes, come!”

Charlotte picked out ten gowns to try on, but as soon as she put on a Sposa gown by St. Pucchi she said, “This is it!” She instantly loved it. Due to religious preferences, the gown needed a bodice build-up with shoulders and sleeves. Sposa did the bodice build-up and Nancy altered it to fit Charlotte’s body perfectly.

Being an artist, it’s no surprise that the artistic parts of the gown is what Charlotte loved the most.

“My favorite part on the gown is probably the neckline,” she said. ”It truly has the best asymmetrical neckline ever. It’s a Sposa by St. Pucchi dress, and when I looked at the original I was like ‘wow! Mine is prettier!’” 

(Original gown to the right)

She also loved the material. “It’s this amazing ribbon embroidered lace that is never quite amazing enough in pictures, you just have to see it in real life,” she said. However, he most important part of her gown was that it looked just like her. Charlotte said, “The one thing everyone told me about my dress was that it looked like me and that it just fit me so well, and I think it definitely did.”

When asked what she like best about Avenía Bridal, she listed four things:

1. Nancy is so sweet. And particular. Which makes her the perfect mix for her business!

2. They did an AMAZING job at fitting my dress so that it fit me perfectly.

3. Nancy sat and hand-stitched my veil exactly how I had pictured it.

4. Everything at Avenía is just classy. And Utah Valley definitely needs that when you’ve got so many cookie-cutter shops.

Congratulations Charlotte and Blair!

*Photos by Ashley Thalman