If you watch TLC you know what that acronym stands for. Say Yes to The Dress! I wasn’t super excited about dress shopping, I wasn’t giddy or even happy about it. Nope. I was dreading it. Wedding dress shopping combines three of my least favorite things: Shopping. Spending Money. Sales People. Not to mention that I may have been scarred by the horrors of shopping for a Prom dress to fit my 5’12” fame. No fun.
I was also extremely nervous about the timeline. If you watch SYTTD you know that the Bridal Consultants have a heart attack anytime a bride says their wedding is less than 6 months away. Urban myth says it takes 6 months for the dress to arrive, then another several months of fittings and alterations. Blah. I don’t have 6 months. I have 80+ days.
I’ve also learned that anytime you put the word “wedding” infront of another word it triples the cost of said items. WEDDING flowers, WEDDING cake and WEDDING dress. So. Dumb.
I refused to spend a small fortune on my dress. It’s a special dress, but you wear it for one day. One very special day, but I can’t even spend $40 on a shirt – how am I going to drop $$$$ on a one time only wear item? No thank you. Not to mention I have plans for a “trash the dress” photo shoot someday ;)
I had started doing research online. Looking for styles and dresses I liked. I knew I wanted it to have sleeves, my waterpolomanshoulders don’t look super cute in a strapless and I’m not a fan of hooking my thumbs in my dress all night to keep tugging it up. I also really liked the classic and simple look of a lace dress.
Here are a few I was using for inspiration:
None of these dresses were “the one” but they all contributed something to my final pick. Momma-son and I did one day of dress shopping solo. We went to a Bridal Salon in Upland. They have a whole room full of retired sample size dresses that you can purchase for $500 and under. Now we’re talking!
None of the sample dresses were right, and they would have needed some serious alterations to work. We went back to the salon and I tried on some dresses the consultant pulled for me. I really liked one I tired on, it had everything I wanted…but it was $1,400. Yikes.
The next day we had plans to meet my MOH (DeeAnna) and Bridesmaid (Haleyface) along with DeeAnna’s Mom and Momma-son at David’s Bridal. At first I wasn’t too hip on the idea of a dress from DB. I’m not a fan of cookie cutter styles. But, I realized that DB was a mass-produced, chain store located around the country. Which means, the dresses are readily available and affordable. It was worth a shot.
The consultant was helpful and patient. The first dress I tried on became “the one.” I tried on several other dresses but they didn’t measure up to that first dress. It had everything I wanted. Did I cry when I realized it was the dress? Nope. You know me, clothes don’t make me weep. But, I was grinning ear to ear because I realized I didn’t have to try on any more dresses! Yay!
When we got down to business they had my size in the dress style in the store, which was a prefect fit. The lady from alterations even confirmed I wouldn’t need any alterations done for sizing. Boom! Saving $$!
We ordered the dress and it’ll arrive a month before the wedding (no extra charge for the rush, either!) and I’ll have plenty of time to get the dress pressed and the bustle added.
Was dress shopping a magical experience, where there rainbows and unicorns? Not in my dressing room. The best word to describe the whole event – relief. Outside of the weather on the wedding day, almost everything else is in my control. Where we get the food, the flowers, how my make-up looks, the music we play – but the dress, that was totally out of my hands.
I SYTTD and I’m happy to check that off my list!
The Merfett 