Dress Shopping Trip #1

I know, I know you are thinking what the heck this girl just got engaged. But yes, I already went dress shopping just one week and one day after we got engaged.

I went with the premis that dress shopping should be fun. Ha...I was overwhelmed, stressed and just out of touch with reality!

Saturday morning I went to Alfred Angelo and was joined by my mom, my sister, my sister-in-law to be and my best friend. I took along a print out of three dresses I wanted to try on. I also was prepared by calling ahead and making an appointment. Clearly I wasn't the only one, the shoved four or five of us into this small area at once. Too many people for my liking.

Anyway, dress number one was great! I mean honestly truly great. I really like it, with the exception that the drop waist hit me right in the who-ha area. Felt funny. So when I came out I wasn't sure what to expect, how to react, etc. So I played it off like I wasn't in love with the dress, but I secretly was. (My thinking was you can't LOVE the first dress you try on - right, wrong - both my mom and sister ended up going back and buying the first one they tried on when they got married). Anyway I made up all kinds of excuses about it and didn't show any emotion when on the inside I was thinking, this could be the one.

Dress number 2, the one that everyone liked best from the pictures I showed them. Not a fan at all. I was shocked.

I quickly got dressed and we left. I think we were there a total of 45 minutes. I'm sure I irritated the consultant, but hey, I went with two pictures and that's what I wanted to try on.

Needless to say I was feeling a little discouraged about the outting, kind of like I wasted everyone's time, including the consultant. We all chatted outside for a few minutes then everyone went on their way. I snuck across the street to the my least favorite mall, Ontario Mills, because I knew they had the store Group USA in there. They sell wedding dress (my sister actually bought her's there and they still have it on display almost 6 years later) and I though I could go alone on my own terms, without an audiance and without a consultant breathing down my neck. As I looked asisle after asile, I still didn't see anthing, not even a "style" that I thought I would like.

So after all this I cheered myself up with a little retail therapy. :-)

A few things I learned after coming home and chatting with my wonderful fiance.

Lesson #1 - don't get discouraged, dress shopping should be a fun experience and you aren't going to LOVE everything.

Lesson #2 - don't think you're wasting anyones time. I realized that they were all there because they wanted to be there.

Lesson #3 - don't think that because he's not a fan of strapless dresses that you can't get one. His words "you'll look beautiful in whatever dress you pick".

Lesson #4 - don't think $1000 for a dress is outrageous, in fact it's probably normal.

More dress appointments are scheduled in the future already, this time I'm already armed with more answers than questions and won't feel bad about making the consultants work for my business!