Wedding Blog

Part 1
Part 2

Weddings with Joy:
Olympia, Washington

This was a cute little store in Olympia where I was living. The prices are very reasonable and the owner is very willing to negotiate. The only downside is that their sample sizes vary a lot. Many of the dresses I wanted to try were in very small sizes. Also, I didn’t feel the owner really listened to what I wanted and instead tried to impose what she thought would look best. Some of her options weren’t bad, but in a way, I felt like she was making a round peg fit into a square hole, since there wasn’t a lot of selection.

I considered an Allure dress from here, but in the end it really wasn’t what I imagined (when I retried it at another shop for BM Seattle to see). It was a mermaid-y gown with a tank top with embellishment down the middle (see pic). I was very opposed to mermaid dresses since they don’t suit my body very well, but with Allure, you can ask them to adjust the skirt so that it’s more A-line. I think I was having a moment of desperation.

The Princess Bride:
Bothell, Washington

I had the most awful experience here. Even if I found my dream dress, I would never consider patronizing this shop. When I first walked in on-time for my appointment, I waited about 15 minutes before anyone acknowledged me. Then I showed the images I had collected to the consultant to give her an idea of what I wanted. She asked my price range and where else I had been shopping. I told her my budget and she gave me a look and then told me that I should probably just check the clearance racks. BM Seattle was with me as well, and she told us we could start pulling dresses we’d like to try.

The consultant pulled a few for me that I really did not like at all. By now, BM Seattle and I were pretty on top of the dress shopping game and started going through the dresses (they have a very large selection). We pulled about five before the consultant hurriedly chased us down and said, “That’s enough now. It looks like you have a lot to try on already.”

The first dress I tried on was a Mori Lee. It was almost exactly what I was looking for. Very similar to the David’s Bridal dress I had considered, but a huge difference in quality. It felt much airier and more comfortable to the skin. It had a light gold sash and buttons on the back (one of my favorite details). I didn’t really like how the sash stopped a bit abruptly and grew tails.

Anyway, it was in my normal street size (don’t get me started on crazy wedding dress sizing) and it fit well, but a tad tight. The dress was within my budget, but for what I was getting, it still seemed a bit high. I told the consultant that I thought the dress felt a little tight and she looked at me and with all sincerity said, “Well, all you have to do is lose five pounds. You know I lost 50 lbs and I did it by cutting sodium out of my diet… and it’s that easy! And you’re Asian, there must be a lot of sodium in your diet.”

BM Seattle (also Chinese) and I looked at her in complete horror. We couldn’t believe she said that. But we were already disliking the store and just dismissed it. We tried on a few other dresses but they didn’t fit well or just didn’t look right. We were just really uncomfortable in the store. I barely remembered the other dresses I tried on. One of the last dresses I tried on was a pink/flesh colored Nicole Miller slip dress that was marked down to $200. I thought it might make a good reception dress but it looked awful with my skin tone. I immediately didn’t like it. When the consultant saw, she just told me how wonderful I looked.

BM Seattle was baffled. I said I wasn’t interested and she said, “Well, you can always use it as lingerie for your hubby!” What?! As we were leaving the consultant started pushing the Mori Lee dress on me by offering it off the rack at double the standard retail price (what I found out later in my research). Even if I had LOVED the dress, I wouldn’t buy it out of principle.

The Bridal Garden:
Kirkland, Washington

We stopped by this store on a whim as we were running errands. I think at that point we were a bit “dressed-out.” We didn’t have an appointment, so I guess that’s why the girls working there didn’t even bother to acknowledge us when we walked in. The dresses were all quite pricey. It’s a small store and carried a lot of stuff we had already seen. I didn’t see anything I wanted to try on, but like I said, we were a little over it. I’d suggest going to La Belle Elaine’s instead since they have a much larger selection and the prices are about the same.

I Do Bridal:
Wallingford, Seattle

This is where I finally found “the one.” I visited the shop three times before purchasing. It’s imperative that you get an appointment here. The first time I stopped by, I tried to get a walk-in appointment and none were available for weeks!
The store is pretty small compared to other shops in the area, but don’t be fooled.  It’s packed to the brim and all the consultants know exactly where everything is, and everything is intuitively organized so you can still find what you want, but it’s just daunting because of how much is in there.

The fitting rooms aren’t very large, but it works in the space. When you try on a dress, the consultant is ready to help you clip it into place and adjust it properly. There are large mirrors and platforms outside for you to get a full view of the dress.

I went a second time with an early Saturday morning appointment and felt a little cramped for time, but that was the only negative of the day. I met my bridal consultant, Bridget, and she is AWESOME! One of the best people I’ve met on this whole adventure. Bridget let me pick out about 10 dresses to try on. I showed her print outs of the types of dresses I was interested in and she also magically went through the racks and pulled out stuff I might like. Since my Watters dress failure at La Belle Elaine’s, I was still hooked on the quality of their dresses. The one I wanted was discontinued, so I picked out a few new styles I liked. I Do had most of them, but I ended up trying on a few other designers as well.

Bridget really understood my style and what I was looking for and could tell immediately why I didn’t like a dress. She also managed to make me laugh and allow me to really enjoy the experience. The great other thing is that all the samples were large, but Bridget is really good at her job. She does what she calls “dress origami” pinning it in all the right places so that it would fit properly. I got to try on a lot more dresses this way without worrying the sample wasn’t in my size. Bridget was also so creative with ideas. The dress I ended up buying, I would have never considered had Bridget not whipped up a way for me to spice it up!

On my third visit (after the horrendous visit at The Princess Bride), Bridget had all the top contenders I had tried on the day before all ready and hung up in the dressing room. She even brought out a dress that was double my budget, but said to try it for fun and to get a comparison. I really liked the dress, but Bridget was first to chime in with the reality check, “You don’t really need it and the other (my top contender that was a quarter of the price) fits you much better.” She didn’t try to upsell me into a designer dress at all and I felt really grateful that she had my best interest in mind.

When I was searching for bridal shops on Citysearch, I Do got mixed reviews. But I really think it’s who you get for a consultant. Though, everyone I met there was super nice and friendly. They were consistent with communication, answering all my questions when I called, giving me updates whenever they heard from the dress company and making sure my dress was in pristine condition when I received it. Stay tuned for “the one” I went home with…

How many shops did you visit before deciding on “the one”?