Bride-to-be Blogger Kristy: My Dress Is Here!
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“There’s something about trying on wedding dresses that makes me feel like I can take over the world.” This was my exact text message to my bridesmaid, Leanne, after my first dress appointment. I thought wedding-dress shopping was going to be addicting, but then again, what woman isn’t addicted to shopping?
My first dress excursion was on a whim. My mom and I started talking about dress shopping in the beginning of the summer, after several friends and daughters of my mom’s friends bragged about sample sale dresses. The stories that make your jaw drop: a $2000 dress for $600, craziness! With summer in full swing, we thought we could snag a sample dress waiting just for me.
Well, our sample sale visit, on a rainy Thursday evening was not successful, at all. The short rack of sample dresses were far from what I was looking for to sport on my wedding day. We were at Jay West in Haddonfield, though, and after I decided not to try on any of the sample gowns, they invited me to go downstairs and try some on from their regular collection.
In those dresses, I felt amazing; I was grinning from ear to ear and feeling like I could take on anything, especially my vows. At the end of the session, three out of the four dresses I loved were designed by Allure Bridals. So store had an Allure Bridals trunk show coming up, though, so we signed up to return again a few weeks later. (I didn’t know what trunk shows were, other than that I received emails weekly about them, until I was at the salon. For those of you who also don’t know, that’s when a designer brings in their new collection—more of a selection than what is normally at the store—and they are offered with an incentive discount.)
In the meantime, I avoided snooping online for dresses because I didn’t want to fall in love with a dress that was out of my price range or impossible to find. We returned for the sample sale (after visiting two other bridal shops in between), where I found the dress I will wear to say “I do.” I couldn’t be happier! It was a dress, too, that wasn’t typically in stock at the store; it was there because of the trunk show—which also made it 15 percent off, and in my price range. I smiled in it, danced in it, tried and failed to touch my toes in it, and thought about how I would attempt to go to the bathroom in it. I wanted to make sure I was comfortable in it, and that I could imagine wearing it my entire wedding day.
This past week, my dress arrived! Trying it on, in my size, and knowing I would stroll down the aisle in that dress was sobering and exciting. Even if I can’t take over the world in it, I think I can take my fiance’s breath away in it.
Were you a successful sample sale or trunk show wedding dress shopper? What was your favorite dress shopping moment?
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