Saying yes to the dress.

Don't they look thrilled?

My biggest challenge throughout our three week planning palooza was finding a dress. As you've read in previous posts, I have given some thought to my dream dress, but nothing concrete. I had never been dress shopping and was planning to wait until sometime in 2011 to start the process. On the weekend prior to our wedding, my parents generously flew me down to North Carolina so I could not only find my dress, but fulfill my extremely important dream of going dress shopping with both of my parents and my brother.

Brides choose to shop for their dress with many different combinations of people. Some choose to go with only their mother, some choose to shop with their maid of honor and bridesmaids and some choose to shop with their entire social network, including grandmothers and co-workers. I think some brides even shop alone. I always wanted to shop with my mom, dad and brother. Our family is crazy close and this seemed like an event for only them. Plus, I knew they would provide the perfect trifecta of criticism. My mom always knows what looks good on me and makes me look best. My dad always knows what looks good on the rack (most of the time...see conch shell dress below.) And my brother, well, like me, his face never tells a lie. In theory, I planned to bring my matron of honor back for fittings, but given the circumstances, there were never any fittings.

See, that was the fun in it. Not only did I have to find a dress I loved, but it also had to fit like a glove because there would be no time for alterations or time to add a bustle. Let me just reiterate, I tried on dresses for the very first time exactly ONE WEEK prior to my wedding. You should have seen the looks on the faces of the bridal store employees. Plus, I originally wanted a dress with straps, but I found out quickly that like 1% of dresses have straps. Usually, a seamstress will just alter a dress to have straps. But I didn't have time for alterations! Talk about pressure!

Day one of dress shopping started terribly. We visited a bridal shop in Wilson (I think...) known for its great prices. Well, what it should be known for is its terrible customer service and extremely poor selection of smaller dresses. I quickly learned I needed a size 2, which would be difficult to find as most stores carry higher sizes so they can be altered down. This store had virtually no size 2 dresses. We left quickly. In fact, I don't even have any photos of dresses from that store. Such a travesty.

I won't bore you with the play-by-play, but day one was not a success. You can ask my family, I was somewhat of a dress bitch. I knew I needed to keep an open mind because of my circumstances, but there was no way in hell I was settling. I was going to feel freaking gorgeous and awesome at that haunted house and no one would stop me. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Note: Several of these dresses were truly gorgeous and I think I may have felt more positive about them had I had time on my side to alter them. But if it didn't fit like it was made for me, then it got tossed.

I loved the top of this dress. The sweetheart neckline turned out
to be the best top for me, as my main dress requirement was
one that made my boobs look awesome. The bottom of the dress felt
too big though. It seemed to swallow me. I really wanted something
more form fitting.

Dad bet a million dollars this would be "the one." As you can see by
my face, I hated it. The top was horrific. It reminded me of some sort of seashell. The dress was too big.
I did love the back of the dress (see mirror), but alas, it just wouldn't work.

I really, really liked this dress. It had the banging neckline and it had straps!
I felt like the bottom wasn't too big, either. I didn't love the material and I felt the
dress may have been a little to plain, but I thought I could add a sash
or belt to the waist to spice it up. The killer for this dress was that
the top didn't fit well enough. Wah, wah. Why didn't I fit a boob job into my 3 week timeline?

I went back to my parent's house that night feeling a little nervous. What if I couldn't find something? I decided to stay optimistic though, which actually means I didn't have any other choice but to be hopeful. I mean, what's a girl to do when she's literally getting married in a week!?! I will take this opportunity to thank my entourage for putting up with this process. I'm sure my 21-year-old brother would have rather been anywhere else and I know everyone was just as nervous as I that I'd be walking up those haunted steps in jeans and a t-shirt. They put up with me though, and it paid off in the end. Thank you!

I went to sleep that night wishing and hoping I would get lucky the next day. Because that's what this really came down to. Luck. Not dress dreams or great prices or availability. Just luck. But, you know, I figured, if I was lucky enough to win a Halloween wedding, then surely I'd be lucky enough to find a damn dress.

Next up: Day two of dress shopping, aka, April gets lucky.