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Thanks to all of you who listened to me yesterday and emailed Carla. Your messages made her smile. And they proved once again that the Diaryland folks rock really hard!
So�The dress�I�m obsessed. I keep opening the file and sneaking peeks at it. Any time someone sits in my cube for more than a couple seconds, I need to show them, �cause it gives me an excuse to look at it again. I love it. I dreamed about it last night. I am truly dress-obsessed. I can�t help it.
I had no intention of buying one, not at all. We went to New York Lace mostly because they were so nice to my cousin when she was shopping. She�s a�larger bride, and several of the salons we went to were so unaccommodating. The women were downright rude to her. But the New York Lace women were wonderful and helpful to her, so we wanted to give them some return business.
I�d pulled apart one of the many bridal magazines in my apartment and brought along several ads featuring dresses I liked the style of as a starting point. Clara, my personal bridal consultant at NYL, looked at the photos and asked me a few questions about what I liked specifically about the dresses. They all fell into two categories�the Cinderella type poufy skirt dress, like the one I bought, and the a-line no waist dress. Clara told me she�d have me try on one of each and we�d go from there. She told me not to try on TOO many, because that would just confuse me, but to stick with what I liked and build on that. She suggested no more than three salons, no more than four dresses per salon.
The first dress was a white strapless poufy skirt number. I liked it, but didn�t love it. The second was a cream colored a-line silk gown. I also liked it, but it felt less bridey than the poufy dress. The a-line style was out.
The third dress she brought in to me was actually one of the dresses in the ads I�d saved. Still not quite right, although I liked it much more than the first one.
When Clara pulled the fourth dress out, I almost told her not to bother, but I figured I�d never have another chance to try on such a glamorous dress. It was a peachy champagne color, floor length, with several layers of peachy champagne tulle in the skirt. The bodice was strapless and boned, with a silver rhinestone band across the top and waist, and muted red, blue, green and orange flowers embroidered all around. I know the description sounds terrible. Off, I was sure I would hate it. On, it was a totally different story. Carla, my mom and I were all totally surprised. It was really cool!
It had two things going against it, though.
One, I didn�t think I wanted everyone�s first thought when they saw me at the wedding to be, �Wow, look at Jennifer�s dress. It�s so�different.� I didn�t want to be upstaged by my dress.
Two, it was twenty six hundred dollars.
Yikes!
So, we moved on to dress number five. Didn�t love it. Thought it did prompt Clara to tell me that they could add straps to any strapless dress, which was good news for me, since the strapless thing makes me uneasy. You small-chested women out there know what I mean. I just felt like it would slip off if left unattended.
As we�d been trying different things, Clara asked me a few questions about the wedding itself�location, style, groom, things like that. After dress number five, she appeared out of the dress room with MY dress.
Before she even had it out of the bag, I was in love.
The skirt shimmers. The flowers sparkle. I feel like a total princess when I put it on.
I was convinced it would be totally out of my price range. As I walked out to the mirrors, a constant �don�t want it too much you probably can�t have it you can�t spend more than a thousand dollars on a dress don�t want it too much you probably can�t have it you can�t spend more than a thousand dollars on a dress� ran through my head.
I looked at my mom and Carla. They could both tell I was in love with it. It was just too late. Mom said to Carla, �Okay, whatever happens, we don�t tell David how much it cost.�
Clara came out of the back with a veil in her hands and stuck it on my head. Then she pulled out a matching shawl, made out of the same shimmery tulle as the skirt, embroidered with the same flowers. She tied it over my shoulders.
The don�t-want-it-too-much chant started again.
I went back in to the dressing room to put on my �real� clothes. I hated taking it off.
When I came out, Clara was sitting with Mom and Carla, giving Mom the skinny on purchases in the store. Hesitantly, we asked how much it was. We were all floored to discover it was under a thousand dollars. Really floored.
We talked for a few minutes, but there was no question. I was hopeless. It was The Dress.
The store requires a deposit of half the cost of the dress to order it. As she signed the Visa slip, Mom said, �You realize you have to marry him now, don�t you?�
I laughed. �No question, Mom. I�m going to marry him.�
So now I have a dress. Or, rather, I have a piece of paper representing a dress. I won�t actually have the dress for another six months or so. I won�t physically have it until the week of the wedding. But�
It�s still mine.
And I can�t stop looking at it.
Man, it�s going to be a looooong year!
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