Weddingbee Blog

… I can’t help but wish I had partaken in more dress shopping excursions before I found “the one”.

I know it may seem crazy to some brides… brides that are overwhelmed by the hours spent pulling jeweled encrusted piles of taffeta and satin over their heads. But, for me it was something I built up in my head as this uber-tastic experience. One where I would be with all my besties and both my Mom and future Mother in Law. We would laugh and giggle at the overly puffy princess dresses and ooh and ahh over the ones that looked great.

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I had such high expectations for my dress shopping excursions that I didn’t stop to think of how impractical my ideal was. I blame the endless number of Friday evenings I spent watching TLC’s Say Yes To The Dress. In most episodes, brides came prepared with their entourages and spent hours trying on dress after dress after dress.

In reality, the bridal salons I went to had limits. I couldn’t try on every dress in the store and I could and would not spend hours on one appointment. Another downer was learning that the samples in most shops weren’t available in larger sizes.

My experience went a little something more like this…

Round 1

Here I am during my first dress search in July ’09 at David’s Bridal. I think I tried on 5 dresses total that day and only one was photo worthy (Style WG9821). On a side note, I didn’t have a great experience at David’s. I felt like I was being pushed out of there as soon as I came in. The associate was not helpful, she had no advice on shapes that would flatter my form or styles that would work for me. I was lucky to have my sister there to help find dresses because the associate just wasn’t cutting it.

Look at me with my hands on my hips, I can’t tell if it’s attitude or my attempt at hiding the arm fat.

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And here I actually have a smile on my face. I really liked this dress, but didn’t love it. It had a great fit, but there wasn’t enough going on, it was too simple for my wedding day.

And here’s a picture of the train (please ignore back fat, the dress was a bit snug)

Round 2

Here are a couple pictures from my second round in dress shopping at a local salon in my hometown around Thanksgiving. I was really excited about this trip because I had lost about 7lbs since my last dress shopping trip. I was really hoping to feel super confident and picture perfect in these gowns as opposed to my last trip. (Side note: During my last trip I had a mini-meltdown and got overwhelmed because I was not comfortable with my appearance or with how the dresses were fitting.)

This time around though, things didn’t get better right away. Because the shop was smaller, most of their samples were size 6-8 unless the dresses were 18+. I was very nervous about this at first because I thought I would have an emotional breakdown like I did in the last trip. Fortunately, I didn’t. The sales associate was very attentive and worked with me to pick dresses that would work for my figure. She assured me that even when the samples were small I would be able to get a good idea of what the dress would look like in my size. I only tried on 3 dresses that day!! The third one ended up being the one! I only have pictures of one of the gowns to show you (mom is still learning how to use a digital camera and didn’t realize she wasn’t taking pictures of the first dress).

Here I am with an uncomfortable look on my face because there is a woman behind me pulling the gown tight. (ummm did she just touch my butt?) This dress was actually too big!

Okay, feeling a little more comfortable. (Wow look at how much longer my hair is compared to the last trip….maybe it will grow enough!)

But, no dice… this dress wasn’t the one for me. I liked the overall fit, but wasn’t a fan of the color (it was way too white) or the neckline (too straight across). And, sure enough the associate was right… I put on the size 8 sample of my Maggie Gown and knew it was everything I had wanted. It had the sweetheart neckline, lace details, and a little bit of sparkle. (Sorry, I just started daydreaming a bit.)

I won’t post a full out picture just yet, but here is her train. Isn’t the train just lovely?

How did your dress shopping trips go? Did you have a short shopping experience like me? Also, does anyone else hate the lighting in bridal salons?