Weddingbee Blog

Along with the 713 dresses I tried on at bridal stores, I also explored my ’once worn’ wedding dress options. I visited the site Pre-Owned Wedding Dresses pretty frequently (an excellent source of procrastination [who said that? I NEVER procrastinate!]), emailed a dozen people and visited three ladies’ houses to try on their dresses.

Let me give you a bit of insight. It is odd (to say the least) to visit a stranger’s home and undress down to your skivvies in their bedroom while they help you shimmy on the gown that they wore at their own wedding. Each part of the experience is awkward enough on its own, but add them all together and you get one big smorgasbord of uncomfortablness. Cue awkward laughter from Miss Pin Cushion.

Thankfully all the women I met were exceedingly nice, and didn’t seem to mind me prancing into their house and taking photos of myself dressed in the most expensive clothing item they probably own.

The first dress I tried on was by Cymbeline, style Cherie:

My expression in the photo on the right says it all; I’m pretty sure I’m trying to hold in my laughter. The dress had been so cute in the lady’s photos online, but on me, ’ridiculous’ is really the only way to describe it. The fabric was too shiny. The bottom tier was removable (to assist with boogeying down at the reception), but that only made the look sillier. And there was quite a bit of a fabric pouf in the tush-al region.

Next, was a beautiful dress that I loved online and loved in person almost as much. But the seller was charging nearly the full price. I thought I’d be able to talk her down, but no such luck. (Note to self: add “learn to bargain” to my post-wedding to-do list.)

So many tiers! I still love this one.

Lastly, was a simple Monique Lhullier dress. The woman had bought it at a sample sale and never wore it. I had a moment of thinking it was working for me, but the photos don’t lie-it was not working. The color wasn’t right and it was too simple. Plus, I’m not used to showing that much cleavage.

Head is cut off in the second photo to protect the innocent (you all) from seeing my scary zombie face (though it’s still peeking out).

The thing about trying pre-owned wedding gowns is that even if you know immediately that you don’t want the dress, you’re standing right in front of the owner, so you can’t come right out and say you don’t like it. You have to act like you’re thinking, “Oh yes. So lovely. I think I might just buy this.” Probably all three ladies I met thought I was going to call them back lickety split and buy their dress. But they were wrong.

Who else had awkward moments during dress shopping? Any underwear-gone-array moments out there? Or bad mouthing a dress while the next bride over tried it on?