Weddingbee Blog

I have to admit, I was kind of dreading shopping for a dress. To be honest, I’m not really happy with the way that I look right now (though I am finally doing something to change that), and I was afraid that every store I walked into would only have size 8 sample gowns and I would look like a moron who couldn’t get them over my hips. Luckily, that was not the case at all—at least not at most of the places that I went to. (However, apparently I managed to go to the three stores that are super picky about photos, so I have no pictures of me trying on dresses, except for some randomly snapped iPhone pictures that my best friend took which I don’t have and which I’m telling her to delete!).

The first place I went was a tiny little place up in Seattle. And frankly, it wasn’t that great. It was small, I wasn’t super impressed with the selection of dresses, and the consultant who was helping me spent more time paying attention to her daughter than to me (though I think my best friend and bridesmaid extraordinaire had fun playing with the little girl while they were waiting for me to try on dresses. Which is hard when you’re by yourself and the consultant forgets to come in and help you). But, my mom got to be there for the first “trying on of the dress” experience, so I’m really glad for that. But needless to say, we did not find my dress at that store.

The second place I went was a bridal shop in Portland. And it was so much better! They were fantastic. It was a bit more crowded than I had expected, but my best friend and I just started looking through some of the dresses, talked with the consultant, pulled a few, and started trying them on. There was one Casablanca dress that I had loved and had totally been stalking on the internet (the Casablanca 1831). I was so sure that this was going to be my dress.

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It had straps, there was some rouching around the waist, there was minimal beading, and no lace. But after I tried it on, it just didn’t look as good on me as I thought it would. And especially when I compared it to some of the other dresses I tried on that day, it was pretty clear that this wasn’t my dress. Sad!

I tried a few others on, and of course I don’t remember the names or styles of them, but I do remember that there was a mermaid dress with one shoulder strap. And this, ladies, is where I get on my soap box. During the appointment, I was really trying to be open minded about dresses. I didn’t really have a particular dress in mind (except that I was pretty sure I wanted something with straps and fairly simple and probably an A-line - heh, maybe I did have an idea for what I wanted). But I kept telling myself to be open to whatever the consultant picked and just. try. it. on.

But when she walked back with this dress that was a mermaid shape, one shoulder strap, lots of bling at the shoulder, tiered layers on the dress, I just shook my head. Really? You want me to try that? Uh, hell no! But, my wonderful friend told me to just shut up and put it on. And I did. And I was amazed at how much I liked it. I thought I even looked damned good in the dress! Ultimately, however, I decided that it wasn’t the dress for me because it was SO unlike me. And while I want to look fantastic on our wedding day, I also want to look like me. I don’t want to feel like a stand in for myself.

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I don’t think this was the exact dress that I tried on, but it was pretty similar to this one.

After the one shoulder dress, I tried on a couple others and by the end of the trip, I thought I had found the one. It wasn’t what I had expected to like, but I ended up feeling so pretty in it!

But was it really my dress?

Did you try on dresses that you didn’t think you’d like? Did you end up surprised by how good they looked on you or were your instincts on what works for you correct?