Wedding Blog

When I first began sifting through magazines to find the perfect dress, I have to admit I was a bit discouraged. While I loved devouring magazines about as quickly as I could purchase them, I never found any dresses that caught my eye. Maybe it was the models? Or maybe the poses? Is it just me, or do all the models have bad posture or just plain take themselves way too seriously??

Once the discouragement had settled in and I had given up hope on finding the “perfect” dress, I saw this one:

The delicate lace, the open back…oh, I could go on! This was the first dress that jumped out at me.

So, of course, I had to go try it on. I made an appointment at the Flagship Beverly Hills Monique Lhuillier salon and could hardly wait!

My appointment was in the early afternoon (around 12) and when I walked in the shop was bustling. There was someone in the front to check in with, who then assigned me to a saleswoman. There were about 5 saleswomen eagerly helping each customer. I was told to look around and pick whatever caught my eye. After having selected a few options I was brought into a spacious dressing room (with a real door!–I’m not a fan of the curtain ones because I’m sure someone will walk in while I’m struggling to get into the dress…!). The room was very large and had mirrors on three sides. So, here’s what I tried on…

The Morgan

The Claire

The Scarlet

The Tamara (the same dress as in the ad!)

After having tried them on, my favorite was the Scarlet on the top half (loved the v-neck in front and open back!), and the Tamara (it fit perfectly along the hips) on the bottom half! What the saleswoman (Christine - who was wonderful and really honest with me) recommended was ordering the Tamara and they could customize it by making it with the Scarlet top. With the customization the grand total would come to $6,820*.

While I really did like the dress, that was definitely more than I had intended to spend. I had to try it on because it was the dress that started it all , but ultimately, I didn’t think it was worth it.

The service was pretty good–I really liked Christine. However, the feel of the salon was a bit impersonal. It didn’t help that there were at least four other brides there (one who brought an entourage of 5 or 6 people who would make commentary about every dress as someone tried it on!). The dresses truly are gorgeous and definitely worth trying on…but somehow, I knew there was another out there for me…

More to come as I find my dress…!

* price as quoted in January 2007