Dress Shopping - Finding "the one"

I don't have an enchanting story about finding "the dress." Maybe it would be a more emotional story if my mother had been there or if my aunt and cousin started balling (I made sure that they didn't), or maybe if the dress was the most important thing on my check-off list. Even when I had a larger budget, the dress wasn't the most important thing to me––if you recall from an earlier post, I was all ready to rent my dress but FH was totally opposed. So now that my budget became even smaller, it became all about finding the one that fits everything––my budget and me.

I decided to start out with David's Bridal since they are very reasonable with their prices and I saw quite a few styles that I liked in their catalog. We were a little early for our appointment so we spent a few minutes looking at bridesmaids dresses. Then Erin greeted us, and seemed friendly enough. We sat down and I showed her the dresses that my aunt and I marked off from DB's catalog and she whisked dresses in and I began to try them on.

The first time I looked at myself in a gown I was baffled. I guess that while I daydreamed about getting married, looking stunning, the whole nine yards, I never actually saw myself in a dress or really any dress. I wear so few dresses, particularly formal ones, that I never really thought about how I would look. So when I saw myself it was a little weird, and to make it even stranger, I was wearing a strapless dress which did nothing for my figure (I looked fat! The worse!). Erin saw that I totally wasn't feeling the strapless and opted for sleeves from then on.

I also wasn't feeling the "poofy" skirt––I wanted to steer clear of too much fabric, particularly when it came to the train. I also was a HUGE fan of cap sleeves until I saw them in action (POUT!).

I loved the simplicity of this dress (see below) but it just didn't do it for me. My cousin came up with the perfect rating for the dresses, stolen from Coldstone's sizes: "Like it," "Love it," or "Gotta Have It." This was barely on the like it scale.

We did figure out that I really like the v-neck (which I always enjoy because it accentuates the right places. Then we tried mixed the cap sleeves with the regular sleeves. This was probably one of the worse ones I tried on (see below). This was definitely a hot mess.

Next up was opting for a halter top, which I was initially a HUGE fan of. But it was a bit much (too sexy) for my wedding day. Plus I didn't like the large jewels.

The next dress was the definitely almost the icing on the cake. And it was the first time I considered a longer veil (I was originally just going to do a birdcage veil). It was gorgeous!

The next dress was also a close call too, I just didn't like how the halter part of it sat so high. You can see how I added the brooch as an accent to the dress, which I really liked.

Hmmm...this off the shoulder dress looked almost identical to the dress in one of my collages. I toyed around the the prospect of this one.

My face lit up when they laced it up in the back so that it fit more snugly. Surprisingly enough I wasn't into laced backing (or whatever it's called) but it worked for me because it really gave the dress shape.

So this is the dress. I opted for the other veil so that I could incorporate color into my dress. In the pic it's red, but I ordered it in lilac.

The greatest part about it is that I met my budget of $300. The original price was $350, so I received $50 off. I did break the bank on the veil––a whopping $179. I know that it competes with the price of the dress, but it is a splurge that i didn't mind taking because it was one of the veils that I probably wouldn't be able to DIY, so I decided that it was a good investment. I did end up getting the undergarments and shoes from them as well. So my total ended up being $626.

Another pleasant surprise was that my aunt strong armed my dad to pay for everything. YAY! I will still have to pay for the alterations (mostly in the sleeves) and cleaning, so I will have to research my options (I hear DB is a bit pricey when it comes to that stuff).

What I LOVED about dress shopping was the undergarments. They felt so comfy and snug that I almost felt comfortable enough to wear them as outer wear!

The unfortunate thing about the whole day was coming home to find out that FH hit a deer :-(. I am glad he is okay. His car wasn't destroyed (thank God for older vehicles that are still made of steel). I was really sad that I didn't get him to tell him that I found the dress (is that selfish?). I was also sad because it is another expense out of his already small budget that may come out of our photog budget.

Despite the bad news, I am still relatively happy to get a major item checked off my list. Tomorrow I get to check off the venue, and hopefully the photography in a couple of weeks. YAY!