Wedding Blog
Way, way WAY back before I had even FOUND Weddingbee, not to mention had applied and then become Mrs. Corn… I headed to David’s Bridal in Harrisburg, PA on the Friday after Thanksgiving 2006 to try on wedding dresses with my mom and my sister.
It was an extremely overwhelming experience (as you will see from the expression on my face in most of these pictures). We had a wonderful sales girl who was very helpful, but stretched a little thin. You see… I had the mistaken impression that on ‘Black Friday’ everyone would be too busy checking out the holiday sales to go to a wedding dress store.
Big mistake. HUGE! Turns out Thanksgiving weekend is the. weekend. to drag your entire bridal party plus all the women in your family including Old Aunt Agnes and her bridge buddies to a bridal store…
Why? Because everyone is in town.
As we head towards Turkey day this month, please keep that in mind so you don’t freak out like I did…
So WHY exactly is this my ’secret’ post? Because no one, not even my mom or sister or, heaven forbid, Mr. Corn has ever. seen. these. photos… until now. I don’t think there is a single smile from me in any of the photos and it ISN’T because of bad photography moments… I really was miserable for most of the day.
So now, without further ado, I present to you the never-before-seen photos of all the dresses I tried on before I found ‘the one’.
The very first dress I tried on had box pleats… it was the only one in the store with box pleats and box pleats had been on my request list since I had even thought about getting married when I was a kid… that and sleeves, but we all know how few of those options there are. 
The first thing I noticed about the dress was that with the dropped waist; I looked weird… to me. Maybe not to anyone else, but since I am all legs and no torso, seeing a dropped waist on me weirded me out so much that I vetoed the dress and moved on…
The next dress was the ‘crustiest’ dress in the store… absolutely covered in lace and beading. I had a strict ‘no crusty stuff’ rule for my shopping excursion, but really liked the look of the dress. I liked it so much it ended up becoming the front-runner for the day.
Next I tried on a dress with an illusion neckline. This was good for me to see because I loved the look of the illusion necklines that I had seen in the magazines… but on me, it looked ridiculous!
Below is my sad attempt to see what the potential could have been had the neckline been both illusion AND portrait. It actually, in my opinion, is much better. But alas, there were no illusion, portrait neckline dresses in the store so it was time to move on.
In my quest to find something, ANYTHING, with sleeves, I tried on a gown with a lace overlay thinking that would be the key, but I felt it looked dowdy on me and reminded me of my grandma’s housecoat, so it was rejected too.
The wrap dress below was next and got an immediate veto from my mom, which is a shame because in pictures it really was very flattering on me. I do remember thinking it was slightly uncomfortable to wear, sort of like having your nylons on twisted. But had I known how good it looked on film, it could have been a serious contender.
This next dress was all about the beautiful overlay… I loved it. The detail was so different and really gorgeous, but in the end, the dropped waist did the dress in for me. Interestingly enough, now that I am going back through all of these pictures, this is the dress that is most like the one I eventually chose.
I was interested in trying on this style of dress (below) because of the two-toned nature of it and because I had heard it had wonderful tummy hiding features, but it was the quickest ’no’ of all of them for me:
This next series of pictures is of the runner up dress of the day. This is the dress that actually inspired me to start trying on veils to see what they would look like and I finally started to relax and feel like a bride.
The last dress of the day was actually the second one I tried on, the one with all the lace and the beading. I tried it on again with a veil and a sash and was completely smitten.
In the end, I didn’t buy that dress that day… I wanted to at least go to another store and see what some of the other options were out there.
So a few weekends later, my mom came up to visit me in Boston and we headed to Manhattan Bridals in Dedham, near where I live. It is a small boutique and isn’t the fanciest of places, but let me tell you, the service was extraordinary! And personal! And just all around, a wonderful, lovely experience.
The first dress I tried was an Empire waisted Alfred Angelo dress with two toned detailing. I liked this dress a lot but felt that it was a bit young for me. I should point out that the slight sweetheart neckline did wonders for my big ole’ chest that no other dress did and I still kind of wish the dress that I eventually chose had a sweetheart neckline.
Next I tried another dress with an overlay… but it just wasn’t happening. I couldn’t shake the grandma picture out of my head.
Having always LOVED me some Audrey Hepburn classic style, I tried on a boat neck dress… HUGE MISTAKE… the girls were very. constricted. in this style below:
Ahhhh…something a bit more romantic maybe? With a cap sleeve? Close… but not quite special enough:
And then, nirvana… look how innocent I look below before getting to see myself in the mirror in the dress I eventually chose…
I liked it so much I tried it with a wrap, but that wasn’t going to work…
… so then I tried the cathedral length veil and I was h-o-o-k-e-d!!
Below are pics of the dress and me in the dress from our wedding day. I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome and I definitely felt more beautiful that day than ever before or since.
OK, so that was 13 dresses to find ’the one’. How many did you try on and did every one of them make you smile, or were you a frowner like me?
|
Share this post: The Secret Life of Bees: Corn Edition - The Long-Lost Dress Hunt
I tried on about 13 dresses, too. During the first shopping excursion, I started smiles then ended frowns. The next shopping excursion was much better. The last one I put on that day ended up being the one for me!
oh my goodness, I literally tried on about 40 dresses before I found the one. I was amazed at how long it took to find it because I’ve always heard “it will be one of the first you try on”. Not so much. I’m glad I looked around and tried so many on though, because now I can look at a dress style and know in an instant whether it will look good on me.
I tried on 4 dresses with the second one being the one
I have a question for the bees. Did anyone, like me, delete all pictures of her trying on other dresses, once she’d bought “the one”?
I knew I wouldn’t want to look at the other dresses and feel any regrets. Am I the only one?
Urgh, I don’t know how anybody could shop at David’s Bridal … it just always looks like a hellish experience.
Let’s see … 9 stores, with an average of 6 dresses per store … I guess 54 dresses! The perils of being a non-strapless bride.
Hey! I grew up just a few miles away from that particular David’s Bridal in Harrisburg! In fact, I will be there this year for Thanksgiving! (In Harrisburg. Not at the David’s Bridal… because I am already married, so I have no use for wedding dress shopping….)
DB is pretty hellish. I was also completely miserable there. The service was pretty much non-existant, and the fitting area looks (and feels) like something stuck in the back of a Home Depot or PetSmart. Seriously - crappy carpet, warehouse ceilings, horrible fluorescent lighting, really poor quality mirrors, and a whole meat market of other women stuffing themselves into poor quality dresses… Why not just haul a rack of dresses out into the parking lot and try them on there?
I tried on 7 dresses before I found mine. I only managed 3 at DB before I walked out the door - stupid of me to have stayed that long. Our lovely, small, privately owned, local bridal boutique had fantastic service, a living room sized private dressing room with nice little couches and chairs for everyone to relax in, a bridal consultant who was ours alone, and *surprise* dresses of much better quality, many for about the same prices as the supposed bargains at DB. I warn everyone I know away from that place.
I have to say, that the experience of David’s itself was not horrific because we had an amazing consultant helping us. My issue was with the thousands of onlookers who were all in the store that day. Nothing like coming out of a dressing room that doesn’t have a mirror, so you haven’t even seen yourself yet, and having a huge group of people you don’t even know all look at you you and shake their heads and go ‘no’.
I tried on about forty dresses at Vows in Watertown. Thank goodness my bridesmaids had infinite patience!
Oh lordy, I’ve only been to one store so far (not DB) and I think I tried on almost 20 dresses that day. My bridal consultant was lovely and she basically wanted to play dress-up with me. Which, don’t get me wrong, I loved. However by the end of the day I was exhausted. I have over a year til the wedding so tons of time, but I’m hoping it won’t take another 20 dresses to find the one.
Half of my trouble was just finding a dress shop that was open! My cousin flew into town the minute I called to tell her I was engaged and we only had 1 day to go dress shopping, which I think happened to be a Monday. Most of the dress shops in the area are Closed Sunday and Monday so we had to drive to the next town to find any bridal stores.
The first place we went to had 1 older woman working there (probably the owner) and was packed to the brim with dresses. I mean, we were swimming down the aisles, tripping and getting lost. The lady was trying to be helpful, and I tried a few on, but I wasn’t really feeling any of them. We went down the road and found another place, which was totally cute and organized! I tried on maybe 8-10 and found 2 really great dresses. I had to come back another time with my mom, aunt, and best friend to get more opinions before I finally picked the one.
Funny thing is that I was checking out our photographer’s blog the other day and the bride from her last wedding was wearing the runner-up dress. It made me wonder if I made the right decision because she looked so beautiful in it, but I just tell myself there’s a reason I went with the one I did and at least I won’t see another bride on the photographers website wearing the same dress hehe.
But Mrs Corn … is it not DB’s fault that you didn’t have a mirror in your dressing room, and were forced to go out in front of everyone else?
You also said that, as good as your consultant was, she was stretched a little thin because of how busy the place was.
Holy crap, I looked at gowns for four months before I chose! I’m lucky enough to live in a cosmopolitan city with a ton of options for wedding dresses so I felt like I should see as many as possible before making my decision. I’m glad I took my time, because I didn’t find my dress until the very last shop! And by that point I knew exACtly what I was looking for and what kind of dress would suit me the best, so I have no doubts that I chose the right gown.
I was a bit of a frowner in the Alfred Angelo store, but not nearly as much as the other girl trying stuff on at the same time! Oh, man, she was not a happy camper. I got the impression she and her mom had been there for hours by the time I got there, and she was still there when I left.
I can easily say that it was probably 40+ dresses for me and even the one I ended up with I didn’t get “the one” feeling…I was just desperate and out of time to order.
Lou - I don’t know every David’s Bridal, but my expectation going in was that there wouldn’t be a mirror in the actual dressing room and that I would be coming out into the main area…David’s Bridal has nothing to do with the fact that it was so busy that day and it is my mistake for thinking that I was the only person in the world with the fantastic idea of going while I was home for the Thanksgiving break.
And my attendant was stretched thin, not because of the amount of people in the store, but because, quite frankly, she was basically being harassed by a huge group of women from one family who were there to pick up their gowns on a day that they didn’t schedule.
I am not saying that they are the greatest experience on the planet, but I never expected them to be that.
I tried on 3 serious contenders and about a dozen ‘no-way-in-hell-but-let’s-try-it-just-for-kicks’ dresses. It served to make me love the contenders even more!
I went to three different places before I finally found the one. I think it took me so long to find the one I wanted, because I had no idea what I wanted. I thought I didn’t want the “crusty” stuff either, I thought I wanted simple, with color… turns out I really did want all the lace and beading and I was crazy for thinking otherwise. Took three stores before someone just made me try one of these on, fell in love.
Hi Mrs. Corn,
Totally not related to the post, but I was looking through my copy of Newport Life Magazine Wedding edition 2008 and there was a wedding picture at Fort Adams, is that you? I lvoe your blog, I can’t find any other Newport bloggers, do you know of any others? Thanks!
Melissa
Oh yeah, Melissa….that’s totally me and Davis I sadly don’t know of many other Newport bloggers…but maybe some of the area event planners have blogs and maybe some of the commenters are having Newport weddings too? It’s worth a shot, right?
That is so cool, I loved that feature with the photos all around Newport. The only Newport bloggers I have found are you, Snap! photography, Newport Weddings and Faith Dugan I think has one too, I’ll have to go back and check. Other than you, all vendors. Well anyways thanks for all your posts tehy are extremely helpful especillay with the lack of Newport bloggers, hopefully there will be more soon!
[...] December 24th, 2008 @ 3:20 pm by Mrs. Corn Hee hee…so remember how a few months ago Weddingbee did a feature where the bees listed out their secrets and my super-duper, top-secret secret was the ‘long lost’, anti-climatic pictures of me trying on dresses a few years ago?? [...]
| Visit our sister sites | Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Fertile Thoughts Infertility Support |
Mrs. Corn, Newport, RI
Age and Occupation in '07: 31, HR for public accounting firm
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Consultant for public accounting firm
Engagement Date: October 7, 2006
Wedding Date: September, 2007
Blogging Since: June 1, 2007
Venue: North Lawn of Fort Adams State Park
About Me: I am a lazy scrapbooker who loves the instant gratification of making cards and I am very easily distracted by all things shiny. In honor of my childhood nights spent hibachi BBQing on the beach with my family, we are hosting a traditional New England Clambake for our reception.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
Latest Gallery Pics