The Wedding Dress Saga, part 2

I am in better spirits from my last post. I received a great deal of commiseration from other engaged friends as well as many kind words and suggestions. I had decided, tentatively, to go the custom route. I started sketching away different styles of bodices and skirts, trying to pin down exactly what I was looking for. I scoured etsy.com, looking at the handmade dresses available on there (there are a lot to choose from on their site, and many have a simple, clean aesthetic that runs counter to the overly-beaded confections in the bridal salons).

Sketches!

More Sketches!

So I had started trying to figure out what I was looking for.

Then I went bridesmaid dress shopping. My friend Kristen is getting married on my birthday this year, and I am considered an extension of the bridal party (I am in the string quartet, so I can't walk down the aisle or anything, but I get to go to the bachelorette party and wear the dress and stuff).

This one is pretty awful. It's one of those where
you can tie it dozens of ways, but I think they're
just super unflattering.

Me doing the LeBron "witness" pose.

I actually liked this dress with the contrasting sash. 

Cute!

Me with the bride-to-be!

So we went to two dress shops in Rocky River. The first was good to try; the saleslady was really patient and walked us through each designer. She really took her time with us. It was awesome!

But the second shop, Leonardo's, had wedding dresses as well. After finding several bridesmaid dresses we really liked, Kristen told me to try on some wedding dresses for kicks. She had never gone dress shopping herself, having gone with an awesome, nontraditional red dress. So we both tried on some pretty insane dresses:

Ummmm...what?

 This dress was so heavy! When I took it off the hanger, it stood up by itself. I spent a few minutes staring, trying to figure out a plan of attack. "Do I step into it and hope my foot finds the floor through seven layers of skirt and crinoline, or do I burrow up from underneath?"

I ended up burrowing, and I don't think I will ever have so much fabric on my body ever again. For those of you who have never really thought about wedding dresses, picture yourself in this one. Now, picture yourself walking forward, trying to bring the skirt along with you gracefully. Not going to happen. The zillions of beads on the bodice don't help. If I wanted a skirt that big, I would want a really simple top part of the dress so the voluminous skirt could get all the attention.

I was lucky enough that this dress was captured at a very flattering angle.

This dress looked amazing on, and many friends on Facebook tried to convince me that I should wear this one. I don't disagree that it looked good, but it isn't the right dress for me.

1) It's strapless. I don't want strapless, no matter how tailored it is to my body. I would still be tugging it up all night, right? I don't want to deal with that!
2) It had a huge train on it. I am getting married outside, on a shuffleboard court. Also, shortening the train wasn't really an option because of how the lace is constructed.

I do like the picture though!

However, amidst the fun time trying on different dresses, I got to talking with one of the bridal consultants about what I was looking for in a dress. She brought several over to me and I tried them all on. Suddenly, one of them just felt right. I stepped out in it, everybody reacted to it and told me it looked like me. I looked in the mirror and said "I am getting married in this."

Case closed. I found my dress when I wasn't even looking for it! It was a sample and they were having a March madness sale at the salon, so I saved a boatload. Plus? The dress I tried on is MY dress. I don't have to worry about waiting several months for the dress to come in. I can go and visit it any time I want, and I plan on doing so to snap some better pictures to help me accessorize (the fun part!!!).

I will not, however, be posting the dress anywhere public. I don't want John to see it before the wedding day! So I will not spill too many details about the dress' design other than to say the lace was unlike anything I had ever seen, it was a beautiful ivory color over a champagne lining, and I just adored it.

So the awful, multi-week search is over. After going to far too many bridal salons, I finally found something simple that fits my style.