Wedding Blog

When we last left our saga, I was in meltdown mode about my dress. I was on the phone with Momma French Fries, and I was desperately trying to figure out what was wrong with the dress in hopes that we could make it right.

For starters, I didn’t like the bodice of the gown. It was covered in embroidery and crystals, and the proportions looked off to me and made my hips look wonky. To make matters worse, it looked too short. Since I’m so tall, I was adamant in the dress shop about checking to see if I needed extra length. The shop informed me that it was a “perfect length” as is, and if I ordered extra length, there not only would be a charge for the extra material but a charge when I took the dress for alterations “just so they could chop [the length] off again”. I figured that they knew what they were doing, so I ordered the standard length, in my size. When I ordered it, I also altered the bodice a bit by taking out a mesh panel in the sweetheart neckline and extending satin all the way across. Need a visual?

I’m not going to be posting pictures of myself in the dresses (as Mr. French Fries is a regular reader and I don’t want him seeing me in white until the day of), but I will post a picture of it on a model:

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There she is. It’s a lovely dress, no doubt. I just wasn’t feeling it… and in reviewing the pictures with Momma FF and MOH FF, we all agreed: it looked too short. And no matter how much you can Tim Gunn it to “make it work”, there’s not much you can do about a gown that’s too short. I felt dejected, upset, and wished I had taken longer to look for a gown. I made a knee-jerk decision, and now I was regretting it. Big time.

In the coming days and weeks, I tried to look on the bright side, and to find any positives I could in the dress. I was coming up short. It took me awhile to realize it completely, but my heart just wasn’t in this dress. It wasn’t me. I wasn’t excited about it at all, and in fact… I was dreading the thought of wearing it. And even though I was skeptical about the WIC and girls finding their dream dresses, I had the nagging suspicion that something else out there might be better. It was too late to cancel the existing order, so I was going to go down that road. I was going to become a two dress bride.

I scoured bridal magazines for a semblance of anything that might remotely work or be close to what I really, truly wanted. I knew this: I didn’t want much (if any) “bling” on the dress at all. My engagement ring was blingy enough, and honestly, crystals and rhinestones under my arms on the bodice of my dress would cause chafing. I went to a small shop that specialized in bridesmaid’s dresses & simple wedding dresses with my sister. We found a dress that fit me like a dream — a bridesmaid’s dress, actually — and I thought that it would work for a wedding dress. It was chocolate brown, but could be ordered in white. I toyed with the idea of adding extra length to the dress and only hemming the front so that I could have a small sweep train. I reasoned with myself: “It’s a great deal! And do I really want to drag around a heavy train all day and night? How annoying that would be. It’s practical!” and on and on.

This is the best picture I can find of it — it’s a WToo (Watters & Watters):

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I wasn’t completely sold on the idea, though. I kept thinking, ‘but it’s not poofy! And this is the one day in my life where I can wear a poofy dress if I want to.’ I had already dubbed it the “practical dress” in my mind. I tried to picture walking down the aisle of my church in the practical dress, and dancing in the ballroom at our reception in the practical dress. It didn’t fit. I couldn’t do it. And then my mom hit the nail on the head: it wasn’t a dress for the type of wedding that we were having. While it would be great for a beach wedding, it would look a little bit out of place in a ballroom. And, deep down, I would have always felt like I was wearing a bridesmaid’s dress, not a wedding dress. While I still hadn’t subscribed to the “you’ll know it’s the one!” theory, I did know that I wanted to feel like I was wearing something special that day. Something that I was excited about.

(To be continued!)

Did you know right away that your dress was “the one”, or did you realize it over time (or never at all)?