Weddingbee Blog

After my surprisingly successful experience at home, I was really eager to get back into a bridal salon. The idea of finding “The Dress” was slowly taking over my bridal brain. I found inspiration everywhere. I would scour the pages of magazines and pick apart every red carpet event that happened to be on TV. When the Fall and Pre-fall collections hit the runway at NYC Fashion Week, I was glued to the computer every morning for the recaps and photos. It was during these few weeks of insanity, that I began to develop a syndrome that I like to call, “Fat Pockets Fantasy.”

This is what happens when I see, oh, a $12,000 Oscar de la Renta gown and don’t even question how I will afford such a thing. Oh, no. Money will literally start to grow in my wallet until I can take it home with me. I can totally afford it. I can feel my pockets getting fatter by the minute.

Oh, what up? Check out all these fantasy dollaz

Image via Slate.com

It was this syndrome that led me to a lovely little shop on Oak Street in Chicago.

I walked in there on a Friday afternoon, with a list of designer gowns whose combined worth could have nearly paid off my student loans. If I’m being totally honest, I knew that if I fell in love with one of those dresses I probably wouldn’t be able to afford it. I’m not THAT delusional. But I wanted to look. I know, I know. I can hear you screaming at me. It was a horrible idea.

I’ve just always been obsessed with “The Dress.” I never dreamed about my wedding as a little girl, but I always fantasized about my dress. I wanted something special, something couture, and something that I would save forever. I imagined it being passed down to my great-granddaughter. She would eagerly wear it and think, “Damn, great-grandma had some serious style. This dress is priceless!” But like I said, I just wanted to look. I owed it to the little fashionista in me. (You see where this is going, right?)

I’d rather NOT wear those pants, Mom. Okay? Thanks.

(personal photo of mini-Sparkler)

The consultants at the Oak Street salon were very friendly and accommodating, even though my friend and I were, ahem, 20 minutes late. Whoops. Yeah, we were those girls. :/ Anyway, I handed over my list and we got down to business. And when I saw those beautiful couture gowns come fluttering into the dressing room, I almost keeled over. I’m mean, really almost barfed. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures, but here’s a taste of what I tried on that day:

The $12,000 culprit

Image via MarthaStewartWeddings.com / Dress by Oscar de la Renta

Amsale Dahlia

Dress and image via Amsale.com

Miss Panther, are you listening? I. Am. Jealous. That’s with a capital “J”.

Vera… sigh

Image via MarthaStewartWeddings.com / Dress by Vera Wang

Then, of course, the obvious happened. The consultant helped me into another white dress, zipped me up, turned me around, and BAM. It was perfect. It was also completely unexpected. This was a dress I tried on for fun and actually expected to have a good laugh about.

To top it off, my friend immediately started crying when I walked out of the dressing room and said, “I think you found your dress.”

My thoughts were more like, “Yeah, I think I just crapped my pants. Because the TOP of this dress costs $3k.” (I know. You totally saw this coming, right?)

The Monique Lhuillier/Game Changer

Image via preownedweddingdresses.com / Dress by Monique Lhuillier

So I left the salon totally confused, yet determined to acquire the dream dress. Then a funny thing happened. As a few more days went by, I found myself not thinking about dream dress, but thinking about another one I had tried on. I loved the way I felt in the Vera gown. The stretchy fabric and the dreamy sash… it all felt right. I started looking at web sites like Once Wed and PreOwnedWeddingDresses, and was happy to see that it was selling for much less than a brand new gown would cost. But I was still hesitant. I wasn’t ready to give up on finding a new dress within my budget. The whole thing was starting to feel like a challenge. And I love me a challenge. So, with the Vera gown tucked in the back of my mind as a possibility, I kept searching.

What would you do, hive? Did you fall in love with a dress that was over your budget?