How I Found My Dress, or, The Dress, Part I (even though Part II already got posted)

One of the things that I was most excited about about being engaged was finding my wedding dress. I've been dreaming of dresses, idly and voraciously, for as long as I can remember. I envied the soft fabrics, the pretty draping and beading, the light lace. The styles, the silhouettes, and the dramatic power of a few pieces of fabric and tulle to transform any woman into a bride.

I'd seen it happen with my own eyes. I'd watched with tearful pride as both my older sisters and one of my best friends emerged from the fitting room with an ethereal glow in their cheeks the day they found their dresses. The same glow carried them down the aisle on their wedding day.

To me, the dress is the hallowed silence, the secret place that only the bride gets to go. It is her sanctuary.

So naturally, I was a little overwhelmed by the magnitude of shopping for my own dress. Other people had weddings; other women tried on dress after dress before their friends and family. Other women glowed. It was odd to call the women in my life to arms to go shopping, but call I did, and they all agreed to come out on a Sunday afternoon a mere two weekends after we were engaged.

But my mom and I were talking the week prior to the dress-shopping trip, and she suggested we go to David's Bridal that Friday to do some "research" and see if we couldn't narrow down the styles I'd like to try on elsewhere.

I had had my heart set on the Alfred Angelo Dream In Color collection ever since I had first seen those dresses while shopping with my best friend and now-married bridesmaid K. two years prior. I thought that our one and only appointment would be at Alfred Angelo. And I thought that David's Bridal carried somewhat generic dresses. I agreed to go to DB because I thought yes, that would be a great place to do research, but nothing more. I wouldn't let myself get attached.

Well, as usual, I was wrong.

We tried on a handful of dresses that night, and had two top contenders-- let's call them Alice (because it somehow reminded me of Alice In Wonderland), and the Princess Dress. Then we went to one more store just down the street and tried on some Maggie Sotteros and Casablancas. There was a Casablanca contender, but it was quite a bit more expensive than any of the dresses at DB, so we decided we'd bring everyone back to both this store and DB after my appointment on Sunday at Alfred Angelo for final opinions.

Well, I couldn't stop thinking about the Alice dress, even on Sunday morning as I tried on dress after dress. The ladies with me fell in love with a dress at Alfred Angelo's, and that dress (let's call it the Queen Dress), remained a favorite through the other two (I opted at this point not to re-try the Princess Dress). But when I put on Alice-- I came alive. I felt giddy, and light as a feather, and . . . beautiful.

Leaving Alice to go get the Queen Dress felt like cheating on a lover. My mom put it best when she said that the Queen Dress was the dress for the bride I wanted to be-- fancy, LOTS of beading and lace, and a beautiful, elegant train. But Alice was the dress for the bride I was-- simple, still regal and beautiful, but not overpowering.

That did it. I made my decision, even though my sister and my friends still preferred the Queen Dress.

Alice will be my sanctuary on my wedding day, my hallowed silence among the chaos.

Aside from my new husband, that is.

How did you decide on your wedding dress? Did it take a couple of try-ons or did you know right away? Did you go along with what the people you brought thought, or against them?

It's here! It's here! It's here!

S.!!!! This is about the dress. Go AWAY!

(i love you!)

All right. Have at it. Call me old-fashioned. Call me superstitious. Call me silly.

You'd be right. (I liked Victorian stuff before it was cool to like Victorian stuff, okay?)

I'm . . . paranoid about posting pictures of myself in my dress before the wedding. I'm even paranoid about posting pictures of it, period.

I'm afraid this is one thing you'll have to wait until 10-11-2010 or later to see in regards to my wedding day. It's kind of my prerogative, though, ya know? It's the Big Surprise, and I want it to stay that way.

Mostly because S. doesn't care whether he sees it or not-- but I do. I don't think he'd stop himself from looking if I went and made it easy on him to find out. Which is why there's a warning on this post even though there's no pictures.

Funny story, that. See, the reason I'm writing this post is that I got an email from David's Bridal last week that my dress had arrived. Not a phone call, mind you. An email.

And in the email, it gave a very short, three-word description of the dress and the style number. Luckily, no picture. It's almost enough though. The email address DB has on file is S. and I's shared wedding email address, one that gets forwarded to his regular email.

That's right, DB sent an *email* to my *groom* about my *dress*. Not once during the sign-up process or dress-buying experience did anyone tell me they would do this. I gave this email address to DB specifically so they wouldn't spam my regular email, and they've performed admirably at spamming this one. I did not expect they'd send an email about *my* dress instead of calling me!

Huff. I'm a wee bit upset about that, even though it's technically my fault. I guess I just never thought they'd do something like that instead of, ya know, calling the bride. But whatevs. Moving on.

I made an appointment on Saturday at noon to try her on again with my mom. I stepped into the dressing room an ordinary girl, and stepped out a bride. *Sniff*! I knew instantly I had really made the right choice getting this dress. (I'm doing this backwards-- the story of how I found the dress is coming).

I couldn't stop watching myself in the dress. I tried on all my accessories and possible accessories with the dress, to help make some decisions (decisions were made, let me tell you!) and made sure to wear my boots and bring my veil. With the puffiest crinoline they sell and the height of my boots, the dress is the perfect length. I won't need to get it hemmed at all, unless I shrink an inch between now and the wedding. Let's cross our fingers that doesn't happen.

I didn't want to take it off. But I did, and watched it get folded safely into its garment bag, and then laid it carefully in the car and hung it up in a closet at my mom's house. Now it waits for October 10th-- for me, for our day. Well, and a steaming and probably an alterations appointment before that. But mostly October 10th.

There's only one small problem-- my veil is the wrong color! My dress is "soft white" and the veil is stark white, and it's apparently quite noticeable. Le sigh . . . now I have to figure out how and what color to dye my veil. More on that later, I suppose!

Have you been able to take your dress home yet? How did you feel when you got to try it on again?