Wedding: I Bought a Dress

I’m an impulsive shopper – I always have been and always will be. Once I get an idea in my head, I go for it.

After the so-so experience at Jon’s Bridal, I was feeling pretty doubtful about finding a wedding dress that I loved in my price range ( I’m also a bit melodramatic at times). I spent the majority of the next day browsing the internet for used dresses, but didn’t have much luck finding anything. That Monday I was rehashing the whole shopping trip my with friend Jessica via gchat when she sent me this link for a dress she thought I would like at David’s Bridal.

(not the dress I bought)

Her friend had tried the dress on months ago in store, but it wasn’t the style she was going for. Jessica said the dress had looked great on her and thought it could work for me too. I loved the photos of the dress, but it was unfortunately no longer carried in stores, only online.

I had somewhat written David’s Bridal off before Jessica sent me that link. I had tried a few dresses on at David’s Bridal the week after I got engaged, but nothing really wowed me. I wasn’t sure they could wow me. I was wrong.

Seeing the dress that Jessica sent me, inspired me to browse the David’s Bridal site for anything else that caught my attention. To my surprise, I found a few that I liked and wouldn’t mind trying on. That’s when I made the very impulsive decision to drop everything I was doing and head to David’s Bridal to give it another chance. Once my mind is set on something, it’s hard to get it to think about anything else.

I texted my friend Courtney to see if she was available and she just happened to be free. Perfect. I had a friend, I had a list of dresses, and I was ready to try some things on. I had no intention of buying anything, but I guess that’s what everyone says going into situations like this, right?

If you want a great experience at David’s Bridal, go at 3:00pm on a random Monday afternoon. It was dead and we practically had the whole store to ourselves. Even better, we had a consultant all to ourselves. Last time I was at David’s Bridal it was a busy Sunday afternoon and the consultant I was paired with had at least two other brides she was working with. She was so distracted by the other brides, that she really wasn’t much help in selecting dresses. She basically brought them over, hung them in the room, and moved on. This consultant was different. This consultant was awesome.

She immediately got to business. Or maybe I was the one that got to business? I pulled out the good ole laptop and brought up all of the pages for the dresses I had admired online. It was obvious that I had a certain theme going with each dress and instead of doubting my choices, the consultant was excited for them. She immediately pulled all the dresses they had in stock of what I had selected online and even pulled a couple of others that she thought I would like. Her level of energy was a bit of contagious and it wasn’t long before Courtney and I were as excited as she was.

I tried on the first dress and immediately knew we were heading in the right direction. Finally, something that fit this vision I had created in my head. I knew I wasn’t crazy, I knew this look could work.

(still not my dress )

We moved from dress 1 to dress 2 and I had that same excited reaction. Suddenly dress shopping was fun and I could see why everyone gets so excited about it. We added a sash and a veil to dress #2 and I felt like a bride. I think I even teared up for a second.

I tried on dress after dress and found things I loved and things I didn’t love about every dress. There was one that stood out as a favorite, but I wasn’t able to commit to anything yet.

I had originally planned to go dress shopping by myself. My mom and sister were clear across the state and I knew I didn’t have the patience to wait until I saw them again to go. It was by luck that I was texting Courtney about meeting up in the near future and decided on a whim to ask her if she wanted to tag along. In the end, I was so thankful she was free and I didn’t go alone. Her opinion – and extra set of eyes! – were definitely needed (and very appreciated!). Going alone would not have been nearly as fun.

Even though my mom and sister both weren’t there, we were still able to include them in a huge part of the process. We texted photos of every dress to my mom and sister and pulled out the Verizon XYTablet* for a little Skype session with my mom when I finally tried on a dress that had everyone saying ‘wow.’

I loved skyping with my mom while dress shopping. It made the whole experience that much more special.

Yes, there was a ‘wow’ dress. It was one the consultant had pulled out on her own and one as soon as I pulled it on that I knew it was something special. It had everything I wanted and fit my body type to a T.

I stood in the dress for about 20 minutes. I practiced sitting in it, walking it, and even added a temporary bustle to it to just see an option of what it could do. I felt like a bride and I could SEE myself walking down the aisle in this dress. I knew this dress had the potential to be ‘the one.’

The pice wasn’t bad either. It was on sale for about $300 under my budget – which meant I had wiggle room for potential alterations (I’ll be wearing my mom’s veil, so no need to budget that – more on that in a later post).

I skyped with my mom, texted with my sister, and made sure to get everyone’s sign off before….

I rang the bell.

Yes, I bought the dress.

I could have spent more time looking around, but I honestly didn’t want to. I loved this dress and that’s all that mattered. So now I have one more thing crossed off of my to-do list and I have a pretty dress that will be here in June. Yippee!!!