This past Saturday, I went with two of my bridesmaids to check out the wedding dress scene. I was a bit apprehensive about it all because it had yet to feel like I needed a dress yet. Of course, I know I need a dress... it just didn't... feel like it...? Ridiculous, I know. Anyway, two of my girls and I went on the search for "the one". (I guess, it's really not "The One", seeing as that would be reserved for the fiancé, but I think it'll be fine if I just leave the capitals off.)
Back to the story - our first stop, after finding parking, was Booster Juice...we needed some breakfast and heck, a booster in our smoothies sure wouldn't hurt. After procuring our delicious, boosted fruity drinks, we headed off to Stella's Bridal Galleria. Alas, it was not open quite yet... so we waited. What else were we supposed to do. Doors opened, and we set our sights on the wedding dresses. It didn't take long for someone to approach us and sense our fear and confusion, we got our helper! I had ABSOLUTELY no clue what style, or shade of white (betcha didn't realize THAT was an option too), or cut, or how much lace or bling I wanted. After a few excellent questions from the staff, we had a rack with about 6 or 7 dresses on it. Hurrah, we were on our way, we were making progress. After trying on the first dress, it felt like I was waaay behind on the dress shopping. Second dress was brand-new to the shop. I was the FIRST to try it on. It felt so cool to be the first. The dress happened to be (if you're my fiance, avert your eyes... skip down to the next paragraph...or about 3 or 4 lines down) a knock-off of Kate Middleton's going away dress. Oh, it was gorgeous. I put it on, walked out and the general consensus was that it was AMAZING - and that it needed pockets. I agree... it needs pockets. It was simple, yet glamorous. The train - oh gosh, the train was amazing. There were buttons all the way down the back, to the bottom of the train (a plus - they were decorative, no one would have to button my WHOLE dress up). Gor-geous.
Next was a "Hollywood" style dress - as my friends dubbed it. It was strapless (all of them were), rouched diagonally to the right with a bit of bling on the side. The back laced up, with a bit of bling on each side of the laces. It was so pretty. Following that was one that's harder to describe... a bit of rouching on the bodice down to the hips, where it fell into layers of semi-rouched/pleated partial layers, creating a full-ish skirt. A bit of bling on that one too.
Moving on from Stella's - two styles marked down on my card, we went to Theresa's. It went SOO far down hill from Stella's. We walked in, and I wanted to walk right out. However, it's one of those places where you are descended upon as soon as they catch any sort of "I'm outta here" vibe from you. I had to describe the dress styles I had been trying on by pointing to them. I tried on two, because I felt like I HAD to...and they were both not good. The first one, laced up in the back, but made me feel like a cupcake. It was too poofy, and had to let the lady know. "It's too poofy for me, it's just too poofy" "Is too poopy for you?" Oh, I just about lost it completely. I shot a look at one of my bridesmaids who was also having the hardest time holding back her laughter as she was shaking her head and saying "no, no, I don't like it... it's too poofy". The second dress, is not memorable enough to be described. In the nicest way possible, we all but ran out of there.
The last store for the day was Labelle's. Oh boy, I was quite worried about the status of the dresses we would find in there, based upon my previous visit the year before. About this time last year, we went in to get a dress for my oldest sister, and we were - to put it nicely - quite put off. This time, the people, the dresses and the atmosphere were SO much better. I actually found two dresses I like there, as well as a possible bridesmaid dress that just might suit everyone! Shocking! I tried on probably about 10 dresses at this store, each one fairly different from the one before it. The theme that ran through all the ones I REALLY liked, was buttons down the back of the skirt, and a sweetheart neckline. Pockets, of course were always an added bonus. I would go into detail about these ones, but I can't really remember all the wonderful things about them, and getting at the pictures would take too much time.
I would post pictures - however, my fiance can get access to the blog, and that would take all the surprise out of the big day...and no one wants that. So, I have to go with the rest of my bridesmaids and my mom and sisters, but all in shifts because that is just FAAR too daunting, having 7 opinions, on top of my own and those of the staff. So, shifts of two and myself. We'll get this done eventually!
