Say Yes to the Dress!!!

I think every little girl dreams of the day she can try on wedding gowns in hopes of finding the perfect one. For some strange reason, I am not one of those girls!  I have been more concerned with shoes than the dress.  Finding the perfect dress just seems too stressful.  Seriously, there are so many to choose from - there are an endless number of designers, styles, colors, necklines, etc.  It all seems a bit overwhelming to me! But I do know that it takes months to have a dress ordered in the correct size and then more time to have it altered correctly, so I had to get started on the hunt for the dress.

I decided to start with a store that would be really low-key.  A place where I could choose to try on dresses that I believed fit my style.  So my mom, dad, and I drove all the way to Jasper to Diane's Formal Affair.  Upon arriving and registering, my mom and I were given 8 tags to attach to dresses that I would like to try on.  The store has over 600 dresses to look through!  Did I mention overwhelming?! Anyway, my eyes landed immediately on one gown that I knew I had to try on.  One tag down, seven to go!  We found another that looked almost like the first, so we tagged it too.  Two down.  Then I saw another dress that looked cute and simple, so that received the third tag.  By that point in time, mom and I had browsed through ALL 600 dresses.  I couldn't believe that I had only chosen three.  In attempt to avoid being rude, mom and I desperately found another dress we could "tag" just so we could use at least half of what we were given!

We finally progressed to the point where I actually got to try on the gowns.  Exciting!  I have NEVER even tried on a wedding gown, so this was a first for me.  The bridal consultant brought the gown that I tagged first - the one that immediately caught my attention.  I put the dress on, walked out of the dressing room, stood on the little box in the room full of mirrors, and oh my word, a bride was looking right back at me! I LOVED it!  The next thing I know, the consultant is putting a veil in my hair, my mom is looking super excited, and I suddenly needed my daddy's approval! Again, did I mention overwhelming?!

Well, it seemed wrong to try on one dress and be done with the whole process. I tried on the other two, only to come back to the first.  I knew the dress was the one. Then I began fretting over the fact that the NONE of my bridesmaids were with me.  My heart sank. I really wanted my best friends to be a part of the search for the dress.  I had no intention of finding the dress that quickly! After helpful reassurance from my bridal consultant, the rest of the staff, my mom, and my dad; I felt certain that I had found the perfect dress and that all my maids could participate in the process by coming to the store with me for a fitting at the time my dress arrives.  Whew!  Deep breath! Relief! 

So, yesterday I said "yes to the dress"! 

Like mother, like daughter, my mommy's wedding dress was the very first gown she picked out and tried on too!!  We have great first instincts!  It must be genetic!