Monday was dress shopping day one, and only!
I asked my Mom to go with me, trying to get her involved. I was origionally planning on just looking and trying to get an idea of what actually looks good on me before my appointment that would have been this coming Saturday to try on the dresses I thought I wanted. I chose David's Bridal for this initial look.
We went into the store and it was like a mad house. Even though I had an appointment, I had to wait until after three PM just to start trying things on. Our lady was not very helpful, as she was so distracted. They made me choose shoes (I tried to get flats but there were none in my size. Then I wanted to go barefoot, but she said I had to wear shoes so they could tell how to alter the dress
. I had already told her I was NOT buying, just looking!). Then, she gave me this huge slip that was sort of broken. My mom had to help me get into it in the tiny cubical. Forty minutes later (no, I am not exaggerating) the lady brought the first dress, after my mom hunted her down. I was so relieved, as I was feeling clautrophobic in that cell, er, dressing room, and I am not claustrophobic in the slightest!
Anyway, it was not a good experience overall. There was a Bridezilla on one of the stands near me, and a Momzilla across the room, which made the atmosphere unplesent. Bridezilla gave dirty looks to anyone who dared try on dresses while she did and whined about people being in "her area" during her "private appointment". Momzilla complained about everything and told her skinny, lovely daughter how ugly and fat she was
. My mom and I may not always get along, but she would never say that to me. In fact, she told me how beautiful all of the dresses made me
.
I tried on several dresses. I liked a few, and didn't like a lot. The lady helping us frustrated me because she wouldn't bring us anything we asked to see. If she thought I liked something, she would bring over more like it, even though I told her repeatedly that I wanted to try several different styles to see what I liked. I know she was doing her job, but we asked to see a specific dress at least five times before she finally brought it over. It was odd, I liked either plain and simply or totally princess poufy and nothing in between.
The last dress that I tried on was an Oleg Cassini I had seen in several magazines and loved. I didn't love the price so much, though. I liked it alot and sort of debated on it (there was a sale) but in the end I couldn't do it. I had been told that you know it is the one when you put it on, and I was still waiting for that feeling.
We left with nothing, as intended. My mom suggested that we try a store that my sister had gotten bridesmaid dresses from before. I agreed, and we went to this small salon. The lady inside was very friendly, and told us to feel free to look around, and to tell her if we found anything to try on. The dresses here were not dirty like the ones at David's were, which was nice. We found a couple of dresses, and she led us into a large room that had ample space for all three of us at once, a mirror, a bench, and a stand. She also gave me a better bra to use
. I had a strapless on, but things kept hanging up in it, and the pink band hanging out of the dresses just looked bad
I tried on a couple (she was so patient doing laceups), and she told us to see if we could find anything else. I tried a Maggie that I liked, but it was very high too. Then there were two. My mom had found this lovely dress that had peral beading all over the top, beautiful and tastefully done. The skirt was plain, but very beautiful with a chapel length train and gorgeous material. It flared slightly at the hips without looking tentlike, and was actually flattering for me, as I have no shape. The dress was two pice, but did not look like it at all once it was on. This made it more comfotable for me. I am really short waisted. I liked all of the corset topped style dresses, but they dug into me because the bottoms always came to way below my hips. I put this dress on and I got the "the one" feeling. It made me feel beautiful; very glamerous and elengent. The lady found me a veil with pearl edging, which complemented it very well. I did not care how much this cost; it was going to be mine! My mom loved it as well.
The lady had me try on one more. She loved the pearl beading one too, but said I should be sure. I tried on the last dress, and I really liked it too. I had the same feeling in it. It was a very princess dress. My mom liked it as well, but pointed out that it made me look very young, which was true. I put the pearl one back on, and said that I had to have it, no matter the cost. It was a Bonny, and we were guessing around 600-800 dollars, judging by the prices we had seen. The tag was missing.
We went to the register to pay, and the lady used the style number (385) to look it up. It was on sale, get ready for this....
$99
I couldn't believe it! With tax, the dress, veil, and bag costs $185!
. The seamstress talked to us about alterations (it needs to be taken in slightly in the chest
and have a bustle put it). She said the dress had been there for a while becuase it was not flattering on most people. She said if you have any hips at all, it makes you look huge. She told me it had been discontinued, and that I was the first person she had ever seen truly look good in it, which was nice of her, even if not true.
She also said their alterations are guaranteed to never exceed $115, and estimated mine at $50-$75! So I will come in at $300 no matter what!
I wish had gotten a picture! I can't find one ANYWHERE as it is discontinued. Here is a picture of a similar top, also by Bonny:
I was thrilled! It was ironic, because I probably would have never looked at it if I had seen the price, as I would have determined it must have been flawed or of poor quality. We examined it thorougly and could not find a single thing wrong with it!
I ordered this tiara (also on sale) before buying the dress. I will look great because of the seed pearls:
Closeup:
I was going to wear my pearls, but they looked yellow near the dress when I tried them out in the store, so this weekend, I am going to look at this necklace. It is by Swarovski, and also has tiny seed pearls in it. I think it will match the tiara well enough:
Finally, what do you think of these earrings? There are two or three tiny pearls on them as well, though they are hard to see:
Does all of that match well enough?
Now that I am dressed, we are also thinking of doing a venue change. $1000 for the WP seems high. It would be very special, but it is our wedding day, and anywhere will be very special. We love the BWI as well so or thinking SBP. I will just tell the photographers to do their best to keep Swan & Dolphin out of our pics. I think that I would regret spending the extra money somewhere down the road, so I am hoping to get the okay to put a deposit on SBP soon!
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?
Thanks for reading, everyone!
I am hoping to keep this informaion from BF, so I won't be opening circular saws, etc at my shower 
.
. I KNOW he was thinking that she drug me to Goodwill and forced it on me. Silly man, dosen't he know that, since the Goodwill years, I REFUSE to wear used clothes 
).
so I had to use an exacto knife to cut each square to 5 15/16 x 5 15/16. They had to be perfect squares in order for my idea to work. 
.
