Weddingbee Blog

On Valentine’s Day my two nieces accompanied me to select my wedding dress. It was four months in the making—I had been to about half a dozen appointments. I was ecstatic to take my two helpers with me for this occasion.

It was monumental to me!

When we entered RK Bridal I explained the store’s concept: I’ll put our name on the list, then you can pull dresses off the rack that you like. When they call our name, a clerk will help us try them on. “It’s more of a self-service bridal salon,” I said. Their eyes widened as they eyed the thousands of white dresses hanging on racks! It was like going through Barbie’s closet with the 10 and 13 year old girls. It was just too much fun for us all.

My Mini BFFs *Personal Photo

We searched but couldn’t find the Sottero Destination gown we initially came to the store to try on (RD1044). One of the first we pulled was a Maggie Sottero gown with a champagne sash and middle beaded accent.

Image from Maggie Sottero Destinations - RD1044

Then we asked the clerk about RD1044 and added it to the pile. The last dress we added was an Allure with a heavy sweetheart neckline and a low dipping back. When my named was called, my little assistants and I were escorted to the room. My shop attendant quickly fell in love with the two girls as did the entire store. Little did they know that these two girls have a fashionista as a mama and talk the terms “empire” and “gossamer” as if it was their native tongue.

The two final selections were exactly the first and the last that we chose: the Sottero’s “Vanessa” and Allure’s Far & Away 922. Both were chiffon, empire waisted, babydoll dresses. The Vanessa was more polished while the Allure a bit more “destination wedding.” I really liked both! But it was 1:30 PMand we were due at Saja at 2! So, we hailed a cab and went speeding off to the appointment.

Vanessa - image from Maggie Sottero

I tried on the three gowns that were my original final contenders and they quickly fell flat. They were gorgeous but they didn’t feel special enough. And the girls were way underwhelmed. It never felt so right to leave Saja and drive straight back to RK Bridal.

I could have picked either one but then with the nieces’ seal of approval, we decided the Vanessa was the one. And with that we got our pictures taken so we would always remember the day and my new dress!

When we got back later that night the girls wanted to show their uncle pictures of their day in NYC, and then this is when my groom saw me in the dress! This may not be a big deal to some girls but my man is superstitious! He quickly looked up from the iPhone he was staring at and said with shock, “I think I just saw something I wasn’t supposed to!” Later that night he asked me, “Isn’t it bad luck to see you in your dress?” I said, “Yes. I’m going to have to get another!” with a bit of a teasing humor. And with these words I was doomed: “Maybe that is better. We don’t want to start off with bad luck!”

For two days I couldn’t decide what to do. I even posted a poll on Weddingbee. 95% of people said I should just keep the original dress. “Pretend that it was a different one, he will never know.” “Don’t pay attention to the crazy superstition, it is modern times now!” All these thing made me feel better about the situation but in the end I felt I would be lying to my man. If it was important to him…and he is a superstitious guy (driving on your birthday is bad luck, don’t bring a pillow outside or someone will die, don’t go to sleep with your hair wet or you’ll go blind, etc.) then it had to be my superstition, too!! So with that dress I became superstitious.

Image from Tom’s Bridal - Allure 922

With a few frantic phone calls and an in-person visit to RK I changed my dress to my other favorite—the Allure 922!

Do you believe in the superstition? What would you have done?