I'm embarrassingly fashionably late to the party, but Betty Beguiles invited everyone to share their wedding dresses, and I couldn't pass that chance up! I looove this type of thing!
Like a million other girls, I planned for my wedding and specifically my dress for years. And once I started dating my husband the scientist, it took only a few months for me to realize that he was the one, so I promptly subscribed to a bridal magazine. Yes, I did. If that doesn't scare a guy off, you know he's a keeper!
It was a good thing I did all that planning ahead in my head, because my husband didn't believe in long engagements. He said I would have a few weeks once he proposed; I thought I needed a year. We compromised with three months.
I had flown out to visit him when he proposed. When I came back my mom picked me up at the airport and we went straight to the bridal shops! After all, a wedding gown takes time and the clock was ticking!
I had originally wanted the works - a ball gown with a corset back and the longest train possible. However, as we tried dresses on, as pretty as they all were, none of them were quite right. One thing was perfectly right, though - I found the veil of my dreams. I had my heart set on a mantilla style veil, and there it was. Now I just had to find a gown to go with it!
After trying on several dresses, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we wouldn't be finding The Dress that day. And that's okay, because really, who finds it the first time they look? This would just give us more chances to shop around and try them on! We spent a few minutes browsing through the bridesmaid dresses, and as we were getting ready to walk out, I spied one of the manikins again.
"Did we try that one on?" I asked, a bit confused after stepping in and out of so many gowns.
"I don't think so," my mom replied. "Do you want to?"
I hesitated. I had already gotten dressed again and my stomach was growling - it was way past supper time. But this dress was all lace, and I loved lace. So for once fashion beat out my belly. I headed back to the dressing room.
Then I heard the disappointing words - they only had two of this dress, in sizes tiny and tinier. Groan. But since I'd already undressed again, we figured why not try on the size 6 anyway. I barely squeezed in and then turned to the mirror. It was gorgeous.
There was one problem, though. If I wanted this dress design, I had to take this specific dress. They couldn't order another one and guarantee it would arrive in time for my wedding. Darn short engagement!
We went to the Applebees across the road, where I fretted the whole meal. I needed at least a size bigger than what they had. The dress had a sweetheart neckline, and I had pictured a straight one. The back wasn't a corset, although it did dip fairly low, which I liked. The train wasn't quite as long as I'd wanted. And most importantly, it was technically off-white. And gosh darn it, I'd waited long enough to wear pure white, and I didn't want any chance of confusion - I'd earned white!
So yes, the dress was beautiful, but was it really The One?
I was working myself into a tizzy. We had less than an hour until the store closed. But if we went home, it would be another two hour drive back if I did decide I wanted it. Should I really be making such an important decision under these high-pressure conditions?!
We headed to a nearby office building that my mom had a key to and fired up a computer. As quickly as possible, we scanned pages and pages of wedding dresses. While a few were quite pretty, there weren't any that immediately grabbed me. So we took a deep breath and headed back to the dress store one more time. For the umpteenth time, I climbed out of my jeans and into a gown.
I looked at myself from every angle in the mirror, then finally turned to my mom.
"What do you think?" I asked her. This was the woman whose opinion I valued the most, who I knew would be honest, and who I trusted to make this decision more than myself.
"It's up to you, honey," she replied.
Drats! I hated it when she made me make my own decisions!
I took one final look in the mirror and then said with resolve, "Let's do it."
And never regretted it!
Go check out everyone else's dress story at Betty Beguiles! And if you didn't do a whole post about it, I'd love to hear in the comments - what did/will your wedding dress look like?