That Redheaded Sister

Yesterday my mom, gma, and best friend/maid of honor went dress shopping for the wedding.  I made an appointment with a company I saw at a bridal show earlier this month because they had a dress on display that I loved loved loved.  It was a simple sweetheart a-line dress with a beautiful lace overlay giving it the most beautiful cap sleeves.

Lets back up.  I had a dream.  A dress that I knew I would get.  A few years back I was going through a wedding magazine with a friend and found this amazing dress.  It had rouching in all the right places, off the shoulder sleeves and was almost a mermaid style, but not quite.  Since then, my style has changed but I still love the sleeves/straps and rouching.  If you have seen some of the dresses I have been pinning you will see they have one thing in common: straps and lace.  My obsession with straps? I hate my shoulders.  They are big and boxy.

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www.weddingdressbee.com

See you get the idea.  The dress I saw at the show was very similar to the last dress above.

When we got to the bridal shop, it wasnt what I had expected.  I have watched enough Say Yes to the Dress to at least have some clue and realized this was not going to be the same.  We were in a warehouse of dresses where they basically set us free.  Overwhelming to say the least.  The people were super nice and very helpful though.  When I gave them the name of the dress I saw, they pointed me over to it.  I walked over almost giddy with excitement, pulled the bag off the rack and saw it.  It wasnt the right dress.  I showed them the flyer I grabbed and they could not figure out which dress I was talking about.  I was bummed to say the least and more bummed to learn they had nothing similar.

After trying on a bunch of dresses (which is hard work and you work up a sweat), we left with three favorites.

Sorry about the formatting.  It wont let me rotate the images.

Do you see?  Strapless.  And it wasnt so bad.  Honestly, I couldnt believe I was trying strapless on, but I have heard time and time again to go into these fittings open minded and try what you wouldnt normally try.  (For the record, the second one had a slight lead over the other two.  Corset back, rouching in all the right places.  The first one was second place but neck and neck with the top contender.  That bottom of that dress was SO MUCH FUN!)

Feeling overwhelmed because of the greatness of this decision, we decided to stop by a small boutique near my mom’s house just to see.  It was a consignment shop, but also carried new gowns.  I didnt have much expectation for this place because you sort of get what you get.  I knew the pretty dresses would be in the teeny tiny sizes (they were) and was afraid of what I would find in my size.  We browsed through the gowns and found some pretty ones and some eh ones.

I tried on a VERY traditional dress with a LOOONNNNGGGG laser cut train.  It was magnificent, but a little TOO traditional for me?  It belonged in a cathedral type wedding.

What I loved about this place was it had that boutique feel to it.  They were always adding something to the dress to accessorize and give it a more final feeling.  Loved that.

Then I put the second to last dress on.  It was 4 sizes too big, but after clipping it, I could walk without showing the world what I had to offer.  When I walked out of the dressing room I could see it in everyone’s faces.  This was THE dress.  They gave me some jewelry and a veil to complete the look.  I stared for a while because while I LOVED this dress and wanted this dress, it was COMPLETELY different than what I had imagined.  After walking around and really looking at the dress, I fell in love.  It DID have everything I wanted plus some fun extras.  (I will tell you I only thought about it for as long as I did because it IS a big decision).  When I said yes to the dress, I wanted to tear up.  I had THAT feeling everyone talks about…I waited until I was in the car.  HAHA

Id LOVE to show you a picture, but you will just have to wait.  Womp Womp

After bringing it back to my mom’s, I tried it on for my stepdad and he got very emotional.  Yep, this is the dress.  I cannot wait to see what it looks like after its altered to actually fit!

I will give you TWO hints about the dress: its so fancy I have to rethink what the guys are going to wear and its STRAPLESS!!  WHAT!?!

Yep, I want to cry thinking about it.  LOVE THAT DRESS!