Kaybrie finds her dress

She found her dress! The couple has not shared when they are getting married just yet.

Tiffany finds her dress

On December 5th, Tiffany was able to find her dream dress. 

We can't wait to see how it looks. 

Esther finds her dress

Esther Keyes is one step closer to becoming Esther Bates. 

Esther announced that they are getting married in the fall. On July 8th, she was joined by two of Nathan's sisters, his mother,  Esther's sister and a family friend.

Katie's wedding dress search

This week, Katie is looking for her wedding dress. 

Josie and Willow are heading down to Florida to help her.

Carlin and Layla headed down there yesterday. 

Kelly and Addallee are going down there with Josie and Willow along with one of Katie's friends. 

Update: On May 3rd, Katie was able to find her wedding dress 

Carlin and her dress

We are so excited to share that Carlin found her dress. As many of you know, she is planning to get married this May!

Bates Family Blog - Searching For A Wedding Dress An Amazing Yet Trying Experience

I believe in love at first sight. It’s true, I do. The day I met Brandon, I knew he was the one I wanted to marry. I’ll admit that it took a little more convincing on his part, but he eventually came around and here we are today — right where I always believed we would be. In tonight’s episode we were just two months away from the day I had waited for my entire life and yet, the dress was still to be found.

To me, finding a dress meant I was one step closer to forever. By this time, I had put in about a month of online browsing, searching thousands upon thousands of dresses so I had a pretty good idea of what I liked and more so of what I didn’t like! This was going to be a piece of cake (preferably white cake with fresh strawberry frosting).

Trying on a wedding dress for the first time was overwhelming in the best way. It was surreal and felt almost like a dress rehearsal for my “big” day. Honestly, I don’t know how many dresses I tried on, but I can tell you after the first dress, things got less romantic and I was beginning to lose hope.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to bear the burden alone because my Mom and sisters came along with me. Did I mention how “refreshingly” honest they are? Thankfully my sweet sister-in-law Whitney came too — and bless-her-heart — she worked hard at softening the blows!

While the show tonight left everyone on a bit of a cliffhanger wondering if I’d ever find the dress of my dreams… those of you who keep up with Brandon and me on Instagram know that I did indeed find the dress of my dreams (after a few alterations of course)!

While I really don’t believe searching for a wedding dress is a “real” problem, watching tonight’s episode made me think of a song my brother Lawson wrote called “Problems.” You can hear it here.

Everyone has problems. Sometimes our problems are small and manageable and sometimes they’re unbearably painful. I just want to remind us to not give up and to not lose hope. Remember, God causes all things to work together for good. The Bates family — and now the Keilens — are praying for you all!

God bless!

Love,

Michael — a.k.a Mrs. Michael Keilen

Recap: The Quest for the Dress

Michaella has so much to do on her list before the wedding. Both Michaella and Kelly headed over to meet with Aunt Kim to talk about the flowers for the wedding. Kim owns a flower shop Gallery Florist which is located in Mebane, North Carolina. She has done flowers for Kelly, Zach, Erin, Alyssa and now Michaella’s wedding. Michaella would like the flower cherry blossoms but since they aren’t in the season, she has to settle for silk flowers.

Kelly’s mom adopted two daughters. One of the girls, Beth, are due to be married about a month before Michaella so the girls meet up with the family to head to the wedding shower. Michaella and Beth are only a year apart in age and are close friends.

During the shower, the guest divide into teams to make a toilet paper wedding dress. Gil decides that he wants to gather all the leftover toilet paper to take home so they could save money.

Chad and Erin are heading to get Carson’s newborn photos done. Nathan did not know that anyone would want to take photos of new babies but when they want to take the clothes off and put them in a bucket or something.

Michaella gathers all of the girls to head to White Lace and Promises to find the prefect dress for the big day. Michaella wants a simple gown that makes her look skinny and has a train and sleeves.

Michaella is surprised by how many dresses there. Josie reveals that they are not scared to say what they think however Whitney doesn’t do that. Whitney knows that it’s good to be honest but you have to do it in a loving way.

Tori and Carlin are the family biggest critics. Michaella starts to feel discourage right after trying on a bunch of dress. She started to think that they should have elope or have a small wedding.

Michaella finally finds the right dress but the dress needs a lot of work. They have to remove the poof and add capped sleeves but everyone agrees that the dress is her.

With all the changes, it will cost nearly $2,000 which is over the budget that Brandon and Michaella set aside for their wedding. She decides to pray about the cost and then make the final choice in a few days.