Searching For My Wedding Dress #FredNMimiSayIDo

This past weekend I headed out with the boys to stay with my parents. Mom really wanted to be part of helping me look for a wedding dress. I just loved that, and I was excited for it, too. She and I had spent some time looking online at dresses.

Now let me set the scene for the ceremony. We’re planning on something extremely simple. We’ve rented a room above the Federal House restaurant in old downtown Annapolis. That’s where it’s all going to happen. The “ceremony” and our meal. There will definitely be less than 40 people. So, for real…simple.

Simple is how I was hoping my dress would be. I thought something I could wear more than once. A dress that’s more like a cocktail dress in a champagne color. I was also looking for inexpensive.

The dress hunt was about to begin! Mom and I were pretty excited. That is until we started for looking for boutiques by her. She lives by a pretty populace city. We could only find 3 shops online. We headed to the first one by mid afternoon.

In we walk to the boutique and I immediately know this place is going to be spendy. She had maybe 40 gowns in her shop. Mom and I perused the dresses, but there wasn’t anything we were expecting in my price range. I did find a beautiful lace covered A-line gown that I decided to try on for fun. I mean, first of all, it wasn’t at ALL what I was looking for, it was too formal, and it was beyond my price range at $1500! I was mostly doing it to humor my mom. I wasn’t sure how many dresses I’d get to try on with her, and I wasn’t really interested in the dress.

Weeeell, let’s just say as soon as I zipped myself into that dress, I was smitten. It fit me like it was literally made for my body. It was more gorgeous than I expected, and I fell in love with it! Not what I was expecting. In fact, before I went into the dressing room, every time the owner would turn her back to me, I’d mouth to my mom, “No way I’m getting this,” to reassure her that I was trying it on for purely amusement purposes.

For me, as soon as I felt it on me, it became the dress I knew I would’ve always wanted for a large, church wedding. It was so interesting because you would look at it and think there was a doily on the dress, but on, it was absolutely soft and delicate.

Then I took it off.

That was a sad moment for me. I knew I would never be able to afford the dress, and it was exactly the dress for such a simple ceremony, but man I loved it.

From there mom and I headed to a non-existent bridal shop. We forgot there was another one by the first boutique, but when I looked on my phone, it turned out that it had closed at 2. TWO? On a Saturday? It was so weird. If you were one of only 2 boutiques in a 30 mile radius, wouldn’t you want to be open longer on a Saturday? Oh well.

Sunday mom called another bridal shop…an hour away. Mom was determined to look at more dresses. Thankfully it was in the direction for us to come home! She convinced dad to go with us, too! lol He was thrilled. Ok, not so much.

We ended up with an appt at 2pm, and the guys headed to Dick’s to kill some time. Once again, the dresses were pretty expensive, and the first ones we saw as we walked in were twice as expensive as the first one I tried on. Turned out those were the couture gowns!

The nice lady showed us where the off the rack dresses were. We found a few that we liked, but nothing that was comparing to the first one. I did try on one that wasn’t like the first dress at all. It was very ‘goddess’ like. There was just something light and flowy about it. The top was big and would’ve need to have been taken in.

It turns out when you add a sash/belt to the middle it makes me look like I have a figure instead of just being wide and straight. Mom and I actually liked this one, too and it was close to my price range. Well, add in adjustments and the almost $300 sash, and it was over $1000!! Back to square one. =(

Square one led me to David’s Bridal. I knew they had an array of bridesmaids dresses that would be affordable and I could get in a color I liked. I also figured they’d have something off the rack that would be a bit fancier, but closer to something I could afford. At least that was my hope!

  

I pulled out 3 bridesmaids dresses and found one that was ok. From there I went to the sales rack. I found two gowns that were…G-O-W-N-S! lol But, by looking at the price tags, I knew I could afford at least one of them.

I thought they both looked ok. The first one not as much as the second, but the second one was so intricate and so ball gowny, I just didn’t think it would work right for the ceremony we’re having. Sakes alive, who knew a dress would make me want to do our ceremony in a church? lol

 

I didn’t leave with a dress, but I know that there are a bunch out there to choose from! I called mom on my way home telling her I was going to email her the pictures I took. She wasn’t thrilled with them. Oy! So there are lots to choose from, but will I find one? Gah

As soon as I got home I started searching for more dresses. Dresses, dresses, and more dresses! Someone suggested searching for consignment wedding dresses, but I have no idea if there’s anything like that around here. I just want a dress. I had fun trying on those gowns because I never did before. Sad, isn’t it? I never got to wear anything as grand as a gown.

I had it settled in my mind to wear a cocktail dress and then I tried on a wedding gown. I’ve ruined myself towards a cocktail dress, that’s for sure. I’ve got a little bit of time, but not much since my wedding it under three months away. I will have to get off the rack and hope that nothing needs to be taken in or hemmed!

How hard was it for you to find your wedding dress? Was it the dress of your dreams?