My Vintage Wedding: Bridal Lingerie From What Katie Did

I have been thinking a lot about bridal lingerie lately. I had tried my wedding dress on with every piece of lingerie I own and nothing worked. Mostly because my dress is strapless and mostly everything I own has straps on it. I also normally favor black, so my one strapless long line bra is black and shows though my white wedding dress. This specific bra is vintage and happens to be the most uncomfortable undergarment I own. Every time I wear it I have red marks under my arms that last for weeks! This is not exactly how I want to feel on my wedding day, so I knew I needed something else to wear under my dress.

As most brides do, I wanted something special for my bridal lingerie. I wanted something more fancy then normal. I wanted something beautiful, vintage inspired and of course, functional. I wanted something that made me look fabulous in and out of my wedding dress. I wanted to wear something that made me feel confident and beautiful. I also knew that if I was going to be splurging on some nice lingerie, then I wanted to be able to wear it again and again after the wedding.

I had browsed the What Katie Did website and found that they had a ton of options that would work as bridal lingerie. They also had so many styles: corselettes, clinchers, girdles, corsets, garters, etc and pretty much everything came in a light and dark color option. Some of the lingerie had garters and shoulder straps, some didn’t, and some even had detachable straps.  Therefore, I knew that What Katie Did would have the lingerie for me. Their lingerie is not only functional, but also extremely beautiful with pretty details like ribbons and bows. They also had the perfect bridal color- peach!

I saw on their website that you can call and set an appointment for a bridal lingerie fitting. You can also bring your wedding dress to see how it looks over the undergarments. So I called the What Katie Did Hollywood Boutique and set an appointment with the store manager, Michelle. We had discussed that I would be bringing all of my bridesmaids and making a fun and girly evening out of the fitting. I knew my girls would be able to help me narrow down my choices and help me select the right thing. They also jumped at the chance to see me in my wedding dress. The bridesmaids needed proper foundation garments for their dresses as well, so it was a win-win all around. They all jumped at the opportunity to spend an evening at the boutique!

On Saturday March 3^rd I had the extreme pleasure of visiting the boutique on Melrose for my bridal lingerie fitting. As promised, Michelle was there and greeted me by name when I came in the door. All of my bridesmaids met me there and we went strait to the racks full of alluring vintage reproduction lingerie. Michelle was so helpful in pointing out the right styles for our unique body shapes, but also just let us look around at our leisure. After a short time, we all came out with handfuls of beautiful stuff to try on and so, off to the dressing rooms we went! Michelle was great about checking in on us and running to get us other sizes while we were in the fitting rooms. We sure kept her busy, but refreshingly, she seemed genuinely happy to help!

I was so excited about helping my bridesmaids find stuff that I forgot why I was there- for my bridal lingerie. I was really interested in the merry widow that I had seen on the website. It said it was meant to be worn under the classic “new look” 1950’s dresses- tight bodices and full skirts. My wedding dress is exactly that, so I knew I wanted to try that on. Michelle directed me to it and pulled a few different sizes. The peach merry widow was even more beautiful in person! Michelle helped me find the matching panties too. I was so excited to try it on! The first one I tried on was my normal bra size, and to my delight, it was too big. Don’t you love when that happens? Michelle brought me a size smaller and the fit was perfect- exactly what I wanted!

I had to show it off to all the girls! I mean, do you see this beautiful set? I wanted to show the whole world!

Before my What Katie Did lingerie maker-over:

My every-day look: Long line Rago bra and spanx.

What Katie Did for me

Va-Va-Voom!!!

But alas, I had to try on my dress over it. Again, it was a perfect fit! All of the previous lingerie I had tried on poked up over the dress at the armpit or bust, but not this set! You also can’t see the lingerie underneath the dress like you could with the black. The peach was the perfect color! The undies, garters, and stockings are all so flattering underneath the skirt, should it ever blow up in the wind or on the dance floor- accidentally of course! The stockings alone should receive their own post, that is how fabulous they are! You can tell they are high quality, not thin and easily stretched out or ripped like other brands I have worn. The stockings also come in fun colors, like pink! I will need to get pink soon (as well as multiple pairs of every color), but for the wedding I wanted the classic nude with nude back seam. The entire set was perfect, just what I wanted! I am thrilled with how it all turned out.

With my wedding dress!

I wasn’t the only one that had good luck though. After a few times of trying various things on, all of the girls found exactly what they wanted. For one of them, it was their first bullet bra! I feel like a vintage reproduction lingerie fairy godmother!

Funny out take! 

You may not think to look at a place like What Katie Did for bridal lingerie because they don’t necessarily market themselves in the bridal world. Which is a good thing for you! Companies that market products as “bridal” will just add a “something blue” bow, write “bride” in cheap rhinestones, or an iron-on ring image and charge you three times the price. Stay away from traps like that. If you want something that is good quality, beautiful, and something that you will actually get use out of after the wedding, visit What Katie Did in Hollywood, London or online. Their prices are very reasonable for the quality. You can go to Victoria Secret or Fredrick’s of Hollywood and spend the same amount of money (if not more), but not get nearly the quality. But even more importantly, you will never get the level of customer service that we got at What Katie Did at a place like that. Isn’t that so important too? You want to feel special during your wedding planning, not like you are shopping at Target for your everyday cotton bras and panties. So whether you are a bride or not, if you have good taste in lingerie and want some special treatment, visit What Katie Did! We all need to wear undergarments, so why not have ones that are beautiful and make us feel special?

If you are a bride, why not set an appointment for your own lingerie fitting? You can even bring along your bridesmaids like I did and make a day of it! Why not got all out and bring cupcakes, champagne and hit a nice restaurant afterward (you know we did!). This is such a great option for a busy bride like me because you or your bridesmaids can host a mini-event without any planning or clean up! It’s so easy! Here are some ideas I came up with of bridal events to have at What Katie Did:

-Lingerie Shower: Your guests won’t even need to shop in advance! They can make sure to get you something you really like there, and know it actually fits! You also won’t get any duplicates and you don’t have to waste your time with a registry.

-Bachelorette Party: All of the gals can get some risqué stuff at What Katie Did before you all hit Hollywood in style! You will never feel better! I think everyone will need a pair of long satin gloves- to slowly pull off and swing above their heads of course! You can all get your favorite color too!

-Bridesmaids Luncheon: You can get your bridesmaids matching bullet bras as your bridesmaid’s gift! You will have the most perky bridal party anyone has ever seen. Then go for a champagne brunch after to giggle about it.

-Bridal Shower: Even your mother and mother-in-law will feel comfortable at a classy shop like this. They can get you a gift you will like and they will even find stuff they like for themselves too!

Shopping sure makes you hungry- dinner and drinks afterward.

These drinks were on fire, but you can't tell with the flash.

After I got home I wanted to make sure I took close of pictures of my loot for you. Especially you online shoppers who can't get to one of the two boutiques. 

The merry widow 

Beautiful soft peach color. I love the delicate trim on the bust. 

Garter clips with more frilly details

Satin and a see-though mesh side

Foam cups, not perfectly round but not too pointy. 

Boning and a strong shaping panel right at the waist.  

Detachable straps 

They had multiple panty styles to match. 

More details-love this bow! 

Nude tockings are the finishing touch

I hope this post will encourage all of you beautiful ladies to give What Katie Did Lingerie a shot. I am very confident that you fill find something you love that makes you look and feel your absolute best! When you do, make sure to tell them Dollie sent you and let me know how much you loooooove it!

Thanks to Michelle for all of her help! Vist her at the Hollywood Boutique:

7970.5 Melrose Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046
(877) 221-2472

Visit them online at WWW.whatkatiedid.us.com
or on facebook at: WWW.facebook.com/What.Katie.Did.HQ

XOXO
Dollie