Finding the perfect dress

“It was so tight, I couldn’t breathe. I just wanted out of it,” she said. “Wedding dresses run small, which I didn’t realize until I got into that one and I was lucky they could zip it.”

After getting free of the constricting gown, Reed tried on about seven more dresses, but found something wrong with each one. Most were too flouncy for her taste; she was looking for a simple and elegant design.

“Some of the lace ones were amazing — and some looked like curtains or tablecloths, not a wedding dress,” said Kylie.

After looking at the pile of discarded dresses, Reed’s eyes kept turning back to the third one she had worn.

“The gal brought out the same style of dress in my size so that I could get a feel for it, and I knew it was the one,” she said.

“I really didn’t know what I wanted — but, I knew what I didn’t want — so I was pretty open to everything else,” she said.

Although she had planned to spend the entire late January day scouting for dresses with family members, including her mother, both grandmothers, aunt, future mother-in-law, Tonya Duling, and her bridesmaids, they arrived at the shop about 10 a.m. and the transaction had been made by noon.

Then the group enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the Olive Garden.

Since purchasing the dress, Kylie has been to one fitting for adjustments and anticipates that she will have one or two more fittings before everything is perfect.

“I’m not a proportional person but as the seamstress started to pin the dress to fit me, I was beginning to relax,” she said.

She is unsure whether there will be a veil with the dress because the wedding will take place on farmland above Maupin.

“If the wind is blowing, I’m not going to wear one because I don’t want it in my face,” she said.

Kylie ordered the preservation package to memorialize the day she becomes Mrs. Josh Duling.

“Who knows, I might decide to wear it some more,” she laughed. “It’s hard when you spend that kind of money to not wear it more.”

One day, she might have a daughter who wants to wear the dress and Kylie wants to give her child that option.

Her chosen dress for the Big Day is not featured in this story because, after all, it is bad luck for the groom to see his bride in her finery before the wedding.

In early April, Kylie set out to find the right dress for her bridesmaids, which include sister Sydney Reed as maid of honor and friends Ailee Aschoff, Rylee Lutter, Trish Reed and Sabrina Christopherson. Only her mother, Sydney, Trish and Rylee went on that trip.

The color scheme for the gowns was dark purple and gray. The women looked over the inventory at David’s Bridal in Portland and selected choices with a lace cap over the shoulders and a keyhole back.

“There were some bad ones but there were some good ones as well,” said Kylie. “I think we found something we all agreed on, something they could wear again — at least I hope so, that was the goal.”

After choosing dresses that would complement her own, Kylie said the group enjoyed lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

On Sept. 15, Kylie, 24, and Josh, 26, will tie the knot on his family’s wheat farm above Maupin.

Josh is “back and forth” on whether to wear a full tuxedo, which Kylie said will be his choice.

“I don’t care, I just want him to be happy,” she said.

Her younger brother, Isaac Anthony, will be the ring bearer and her flower girls will be Sage and Leona Johnson.

His brother, Nathan Duling, will be his best man, along with his other brother Joel Duling and friends Trevor Lutter, Logan Padget and Brent Fessler as his groomsmen.

Kylie is a licensed massage therapist and co-owns Infinity Salon & Day Spa with her mother, Heather Anthony, and Josh is a fourth-generation farmer.

They got engaged Dec. 22, 2017, during the Oregon Zoo Lights Festival. The family engaged in an elaborate subterfuge to make sure Kylie was surprised by the presentation of the “Asscher Cut Diamond” that was set in a band with 128 smaller stones.

Although Kylie knew the proposal was coming, she didn’t know when or where it would take place. Josh had received her father Marc Reed’s blessing a few weeks earlier. And her step-father Deric Anthony, who was present at the zoo, had given his blessings minutes before Josh took a knee to pop the question.

As the days warm up, Kylie and Josh are busy working to get the farm ready for the day they form their own family. They are busily replacing fencing and sprucing up the old barn where the reception will take place.

“It just needs some love,” she said.

She and Josh hired Jennifer Ashley of Two Little Love Birds in The Dalles to guide the wedding planning process.

“She came out and went over the site with us,” said Kylie. “We decided to have the ceremony in the wheat field with Mount Hood in the background – it’s so beautiful and I don’t want to ignore it.”

Kylie Reed tried on only three wedding dresses before finding the right style; the problem was that the gown was two sizes too small.

“It was so tight, I couldn’t breathe. I just wanted out of it,” she said. “Wedding dresses run small, which I didn’t realize until I got into that one and I was lucky they could zip it.”

After getting free of the constricting gown, Reed tried on about seven more dresses, but found something wrong with each one. Most were too flouncy for her taste; she was looking for a simple and elegant design.

“Some of the lace ones were amazing — and some looked like curtains or tablecloths, not a wedding dress” said Kylie.

After looking at the pile of discarded dresses, Reed’s eyes kept turning back to the third one she had worn.

“The gal brought out the same style of dress in my size so that I could get a feel for it, and I knew it was the one,” she said.

“I really didn’t know what I wanted — but, I knew what I didn’t want — so I was pretty open to everything else,” she said.

Although she had planned to spend the entire late January day scouting for dresses with family members, including her mother, both grandmothers, aunt, future mother-in-law, Tonya Duling, and her bridesmaids, they arrived at the shop about 10 a.m. and the transaction had been made by noon.

Then the group enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the Olive Garden.

Since purchasing the dress, Kylie has been to one fitting for adjustments and anticipates that she will have one or two more fittings before everything is perfect.

“I’m not a proportional person but as the seamstress started to pin the dress to fit me, I was beginning to relax,” she said.

She is unsure whether there will be a veil with the dress because the wedding will take place on farmland above Maupin.

“If the wind is blowing, I’m not going to wear one because I don’t want it in my face,” she said.

Kylie ordered the preservation package to memorialize the day she becomes Mrs. Josh Duling.

“Who knows, I might decide to wear it some more,” she laughed. “It’s hard when you spend that kind of money to not wear it more.”

One day, she might have a daughter who wants to wear the dress and Kylie wants to give her child that option.

Her chosen dress for the Big Day is not featured in this story because, after all, it is bad luck for the groom to see his bride in her finery before the wedding.

In early April, Kylie set out to find the right dress for her bridesmaids, which include sister Sydney Reed as maid of honor and friends Ailee Aschoff, Rylee Lutter, Trish Reed and Sabrina Christopherson. Only her mother, Sydney, Trish and Rylee went on that trip.

The color scheme for the gowns was dark purple and gray. The women looked over the inventory at David’s Bridal in Portland and selected choices with a lace cap over the shoulders and a keyhole back.

“There were some bad ones but there were some good ones as well,” said Kylie. “I think we found something we all agreed on, something they could wear again — at least I hope so, that was the goal.”

After choosing dresses that would complement her own, Kylie said the group enjoyed lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

On Sept. 15, Kylie, 24, and Josh, 26, will tie the knot on his family’s wheat farm above Maupin.

Josh is “back and forth” on whether to wear a full tuxedo, which Kylie said will be his choice.

“I don’t care, I just want him to be happy,” she said.

Her younger brother, Isaac Anthony, will be the ring bearer and her flower girls will be Sage and Leona Johnson.

His brother, Nathan Duling, will be his best man, along with his other brother Joel Duling and friends Trevor Lutter, Logan Padget and Brent Fessler as his groomsmen.

Kylie is a licensed massage therapist and co-owns Infinity Salon & Day Spa with her mother, Heather Anthony, and Josh is a fourth-generation farmer.

They got engaged Dec. 22, 2017, during the Oregon Zoo Lights Festival. The family engaged in an elaborate subterfuge to make sure Kylie was surprised by the presentation of the “Asscher Cut Diamond” that was set in a band with 128 smaller stones.

Although Kylie knew the proposal was coming, she didn’t know when or where it would take place. Josh had received her father Marc Reed’s blessing a few weeks earlier. And her step-father Deric Anthony, who was present at the zoo, had given his blessings minutes before Josh took a knee to pop the question.

As the days warm up, Kylie and Josh are busy working to get the farm ready for the day they form their own family. They are busily replacing fencing and sprucing up the old barn where the reception will take place.

“It just needs some love,” she said.

She and Josh hired Jennifer Ashley of Two Little Love Birds in The Dalles to guide the wedding planning process.

“She came out and went over the site with us,” said Kylie. “We decided to have the ceremony in the wheat field with Mount Hood in the background – it’s so beautiful and I don’t want to ignore it.”

The next installment of Josh & Kylie’s Wedding will reveal the improvements that have been done on the farm and more planning details.