Weddingbee Blog

*WARNING* This post contains pictures of me in wedding dresses…if you don’t want to see any pictures of me in a wedding dress then look no further! Yes, Mr. Gazelle, that means you. Thanks, honey!

I mentioned in my previous post that the second store we visited, Embrace Bridal & Formal Fashions, was a bit more casual than the first. The girl working in the shop really let us explore the store on our own.

BM-D got in on the fun, trying on some crazy bridesmaids’ dresses, including this bright yellow tulle and disco-ball-stickered number.

As we were leaving, the salesgirl asked us if we had been to their other location. What?? We didn’t know they had another location!

So we made our way to the second Embrace store in Airdrie. It was a completely unassuming store inside a strip mall, advertising dry cleaning and alterations.

They also had tuxes, along with discontinued gowns sold off the rack. Dresses in the store could no longer be ordered, so it was a case of if you find it, it fits you, and you like it, then you kind of have to go for it.

We looked through the gowns, and most of them were size 8 or 10. I knew a bridal size 8 wouldn’t fit, and the 10 was a maybe. Then BM-D found something and started getting excited.

“Look at this one!”

I loved the look of it. Where is the tag? What size is it? Where is the tag? Why can’t I find the tag??

Size 12. A beautiful Justin Alexander dress.

We put it in the dressing room at the front of all the other dresses so I could try it on first. Once again, the girls had to help me in and do it up. It zipped perfectly.

As soon as I exited the dressing room, I could tell. I had the biggest grin on my face. I LOVED it!!! This was also the first dress I tried on where other girls in the store looked at me and told me that I looked amazing.

MOH-T said she could tell as soon as I stepped out of the dressing room. BM-D figured this would be the dress as soon as she saw it on the rack. I didn’t want to take the dress off.

It had a lot of the elements I was looking for in a dress but hadn’t been able to find in the previous two stores. And seriously, this dress fit perfectly. But what to do? I hadn’t had a chance to shop with my mom yet, and she wasn’t planning on coming out to Calgary for another three weeks. We took a bunch of pictures so I could send them to my mom later, and I put the dress on hold. Check out my girls: they both wore purple—the wedding colour! And check out the grin on my face!

Sorry about the big pink blob hiding the dress I was wearing! I’m trying to keep my eventual dress a secret until the big day!

Did you find the dress you wanted but couldn’t buy it right away?