Dress Shopping

I took today off from work so that my mom and I could go on a dress shopping excursion. We had limited time as she had to be at an appointment at 3.

First stop, Tabula Rasa for invitations: I really just wanted to go and get an idea about pricing and time tables. Almost 2 books and an hour into this...just as I was giving up and trying to figure out a way to make the invitations on my own, my mom turns a page and both of us squeal at the same "oohhhh!!!". Yeah I think that we found what we want(number 42-45165 on the top right if you want to see)...now we just have to work on the wording. It was cute, she got all goopy when we were there.

Then we had a couple of other errands we needed to run, so we had a half hour or less by the time we got to David's Bridal. We walked in, and next thing I knew I had a bunch of catalogs, an appointment with a consultant...and was having trouble breathing. We walked around looking at the racks for awhile and then as it kept getting closer and closer to the time to go...and more and more pricetags looming in front of me...as we left I practically ran out crying. I am not sure why I have this anxiety but I do.

So...I go and wait for my mom at her meeting. Then we returned, me still with my nose red from the first breakdown. The first girl who was helping us was the assistant of the real consultant. I told her that I wanted a lighter dress, not a full bridal...yeah that didn't go well with her.

Here is the problem with wedding dresses....they are HUGE...and I am a big girl to begin with, I don't need more fabric to make it worse. They first squeeze you into a corset which makes everything spluge out the bottom and the top...plus after being in this thing for a couple hours I have bruises----yes BRUISES---on my ribs. After they vacuum suck the top of you into the corset then they have you put this slip that is extra boofy on the bottom. And of course it is scratchy and while you are in this slip, the dresses you are trying on, and of course someone else in this room to help zip you up there isn't room to move, let alone breathe....which I guess is sort of the reason why they make you wear the corset in the first place.

Dress Number 1: oh...the dream "if I was going to have a big wedding dress", which looked alright on me, but the dress was so big and bulky...I kept feeling like I was going to fall out of it and if I did, the dress would just continue to stand as I desperately try to get out of the folds on the bottom. I told the helper girl that I really didn't like it---no matter how much jewelry she kept trying to put on me---I had to ask her 3 times before she would unlace me...I'm sorry but keeping me hostage in a dress is not going to make me buy it.

Dress Number 2: was the random, "well I kind of like the flower dress" but when I came out in it, everyone did a swift intake of breath...this is it, and ultimately it is the one we got. By this time we had the real bridal consultant lady. She was very helpful and tried to get a bunch more dress options for us...but everything kept getting compared to the second dress. At the end of it all, when we had decided that we were going to buy it and had picked out a veil and a tiara (I got a tiara! I got a tiara!), my mom and I decided to try it on without the corset and the bulky underslip thingy....it looked even better. So when I get the alterations done, it needs to be a bit more snug around the neck line and well...I'm fricking short, I am going to make sure that they alter it so that it works better without the bulky stuff. Plus we would be able to futher alter it later so that it can be a dress worn for another occasion...which was very important for me. The dress was more than what I wanted to spend, but it was perfect! As were the invitations! Unfortuately this means that the $500 wedding I wanted is fastly approaching the $1000 mark. But oh well...I am happy with what we have found so far.