Wedding Blog

Recap: So the first time I went shopping, I had no clue what was going on and didn’t make any headway at all, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise because it sent me back to the trenches to think hard on what it was I was looking for in the first place.

This time ’round, I played it smart(er) and asked practically every female I ran into where a good place to buy a wedding dress in Vancouver was.

There were many great suggestions and the places all sounded lovely, but the idea of driving all around town again trying to cram everything into one day (because, as you may recall, Mama Sea Breeze was visiting and so my one precious day off work was all I had) made me tired and stressed out just thinking about it.

Then someone said to me: “Why don’t you go to Bridal Row in New Westminster? The entire street is lined with bridal shops on both sides.”

What’s that I hear?

I do believe it’s angels. And they’re singing H-A-L-L-E-L-U-J-A-H.

At this point, I have to tell you something straight-up because I don’t want you to go through the pain of reading this entire post only to figure it out too late and then spend the rest of the day cursing my name.

Source

I don’t have any photos of this part of my adventure. I know, I know… it’s a travesty. A Bee tried on dresses and DIDN’T TAKE PICTURES???

I swear on Hulk Hogan’s mustache that it’s not for lack of trying. But every place I went to said that there were no pictures allowed (and I was not savvy enough on this trip to try sneaking any). Which is really weird if you ask me because we’ve all seen so many other tantalizing photos here on Weddingbee. Each store told me I could only take pictures once I had already put a deposit on the dress. I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe it’s fodder for Canadian conspiracy theorists.

Moving right along then.

This time, I called ahead and booked three appointments with about an hour or so in between. My amazingly wonderful boss let me leave work in the middle of the afternoon and so Mama SB and I made the 45 minute drive out to New Westminster.

The first place I stepped into was Lisa’s Bridal Salon. After hearing about brides being wooed with tea and coffee and having cozy tête-à-têtes with their dedicated sales girl before sitting back and relaxing while the girl disappeared and fetched option after dreamy option for the bride to try on, well, you could say expectations were high.

What we got was more like: ‘Ok, well, this wall here is mostly A-lines, and this wall here is the lacey stuff, that wall there is more narrow dresses and that one there is mermaid style. So take a look around and if you find something you want to try on just let me know and I’ll put it in the room for you’.

As she walked away, my mom and I muttered to each other in Polish (I so love knowing another language just for moments like these!) something along the lines of WTF, and got down to business. Turned out I tried on three, one of which I was really, really skeptical about because it came from the ‘mermaid’ wall, but turned out to be actually quite… something. Something fun, flirty and fabulous! We left feeling pretty elated.

The next place we went to was literally next door at The Bridal Gallery, supposedly ‘B.C.’s best bridal store’. I personally could have done without the leisurely tour through the tux, mother-of-the-bride, flower-girl and bridesmaid parts of the store which was accompanied by what to me felt like a sales pitch but I don’t blame them–after all, I’m sure many people would be interested. But me? After my experience at the store before, I was all, SHOW. ME. THE. DRESSES.

Once we got upstairs there was a lovely seating area and I got my coveted cozy chat about what I was looking for with the sales girl. After telling her my criteria: no beads/sparkles, no strapless (unless I could turn it into a strapless dress with alterations) and clean, crisp lines, she went off to fetch some dresses.

Then the horror began. I know they say not to judge a dress before you put it on but I’m telling you, I judged away and I was right every time. Not one of the dresses was even close to what I was looking for. Seeing the frustration in the poor girl’s eyes, I started putting at least a few of them just so she wouldn’t feel so bad, and then standing in front of the mirror saying things to make her feel better. Once we finally extricated ourselves from there, I took one look at Mama Sea Breeze and said, “wait a second, how come I was the one who was trying to please her and not the other way around??” In the girl’s defense, there was not much she could do with the dresses at her disposal and it wasn’t her fault. Although, she might have tried hiding her exasperation a bit.

The last store on our list was Sposa Wedding World. And it was funny it worked out that way because here I found the experience to be halfway between the “fend for yourselves” and “overly (but inefficiently) helpful” ones I’d thus far encountered. Which was absolutely perfect. Mix in a sweet, funny and honest sales associate and a room full of gorgeous dresses, and you have bridal heaven. Because it was such a welcoming place, I went a bit crazy here and tried on tons, even the dresses which were a bit kooky (I know, I know! I feel like I’m rubbing in the fact that there are no pictures to document this… I’m soooo sorry). Of all of them, I fell in love with two dresses by Pronovias and then narrowed it down to one.

Was it the one? Well, I thought so. But the nagging memory of that other fun, flirty dress that I had tried on at Lisa’s Bridal kept haunting me…

(To Be Continued…)

What was your favorite bridal store approach - did you prefer the “fend for yourselves” experience or the “here, let me help you!” experience?