Wedding dress shopping!

When I mentioned that I had been wedding dress shopping, many of my friends seemed interested in the idea of having me post pictures of all the wedding dresses I decided not to choose. So here they are!

One note: these dresses were all dresses I either liked or loved; if I had known that I was going to write a blog post about them, I would have tried on some truly awful ones just for fun, but I didn't! Most of these dresses were finalists, but I ended up finding the perfect dress somewhere else and bought it on the spot. Also, you'll notice that I mention that Noah helped me pick out my wedding dress. It will soon become clear that not having the groom see your wedding dress (and, further, not having him see you before the wedding) is a tradition that does not have any significance for me--and not just because we're already married. I loved having Noah be part of this process, and even if we had chosen not to do the civil ceremony we would still have bought a dress together and taken our photos before the ceremony, just like we're planning to do in October!

Explanations of the dresses, in order:

1. This was the only dress that we discounted right away because it just didn't look right. I think it was something about the tiny sleeves that made me look a little out of proportion. I liked the general style of the dress, but it's one of those things where you like it on someone else.

2. I LOVED this dress--particularly all that intricate detailing. It was pretty much a work of art. It didn't end up being a finalist, and I can't remember why. I'm guessing that it was the price, since a dress that detailed and beautiful is equally expensive. Also, my dad hated it, but I didn't know that when I did the rankings because I sent my parents the pictures later.

3. This one had mixed reviews among my helpers in wedding dress shopping (Sarah came with me, fulfilling her maid of honor duties, and Noah gladly agreed to tag along for a second opinion). Noah loved it, and Sarah didn't like it (though she came around). After looking at it for awhile, though, it kind of seemed like it clashed a bit with my skin color. It made my finalist list, but if I hadn't already chosen a dress I would probably bump it off and replace it with the second dress.

4. and 5. I'm lumping these together because they were so similar. This was the kind of style I mostly was leaning toward--light, lacy, and simple. At least one of these was a finalist.

6. This dress was the only one that actually fit me without having to be pinned. I liked it when I tried it on, but now I don't like it anymore. This is why it pays to not throw down money for something right away! I'm not sure why I don't like it--maybe because they way it fits makes it seem a little less elegant and a little more "I'm sexy and I know it".

7. This was pretty much our #1 choice. It was the first dress we tried on, and we didn't take pictures of it at first because Sarah was held up getting here and we forgot to bring a camera. (Sarah, being a good maid of honor, remembered all the stuff I forgot.) So after we finished trying on all the dresses, we tried this one on again and loved it just as much. If I hadn't already bought a dress, I'd probably buy this one. My wedding dress muse was my friend Halley, who got married last year and wore the most beautiful dress I'd ever seen. This one reminded me the most of hers--so no wonder it was my top choice. ;-)

8. This dress was just an astoundingly gorgeous dress. It also weighed about 20 pounds and had a huge cathedral-length train. I fell in love with it, and if I were getting married at the National Cathedral it would be perfect. But for a casual outdoor wedding, it just didn't fit the occasion.


So, what is my real wedding dress like? I guess you'll have to wait until October to find out! :-)

THE DRESS.

Why the all caps, you say? Because it seems like, in the course of planning a wedding, everyone treats the acquisition of THE DRESS as if it were an extremely momentous process. And honestly, to me it felt like a pretty big adventure. Those of you who have only known me for a few years might have known me to wear skirts and be more feminine, but on the whole I am not very girly. Case in point: my favorite skirts to wear are long, flowy, floor-length skirts...because I can wear hiking boots with them. Needless to say, I was not the type of person who planned their wedding since they were in kindergarten, and I was definitely not the type of person who thought at all about what kind of dress they were going to wear. In my sophomore year of college, my roommate (who had more of an interest in things like wedding dresses) sat me down and had me look through the David's Bridal website for dresses I liked, but looking at wedding gowns was never a preferred activity for me.

When Noah and I got engaged, one thing we decided right from the top was that if I was going to spring for a formal wedding dress, I was only going to do it for one of the weddings--the big wedding in a couple years. There was no sense in buying a beautiful, formal gown if I was pretty much going to have to run over from work to get to the courthouse before it closed and not be able to do anything that would make me actually look good in a really nice dress. So we tabled the fancy wedding dress for later, when I can try on lots of poofy gowns and probably still end up with some sensible knee-length number because otherwise I'll trip on the dance floor. Since the civil ceremony is going to be very casual, we decided that Noah will wear a nice woven shirt he recently purchased at Renn Faire, and I would wear kind of a casual party dress or an everyday dress--something I could wear over and over again. And then, the painstaking search was on.

It just so happened that at the beginning of my search, I came upon what I thought was THE DRESS. It was cream-colored and long-sleeved and lacy and vintage-style and looked a little somethin' like this:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/kensie-lace-dress/3339125?origin=category&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=BIRCH&resultback=552

But when I tried to order it, I was saddened to find that it was out of stock in every size but a large. Alas, it was not to be. So I ordered a dress from Modcloth that I also liked that looked a little somethin' like this:

http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/fashionably-slate-dress

And it came, and I looked pretty good in it.

I know, it's an awkward photo. They're all going to be awkward, so bear with me.

That day, Noah convinced me to go out looking at dresses just to see what was out there. We browsed some department stores at the mall and found a dress that looked vaguely similar to THE DRESS I'd found originally, and was also extremely on sale. Unfortunately, they didn't have it in my size. Neither did any other store in the state, pretty much. Here's what that one looked like:

http://www.overstock.com/Clothing-Shoes/Rabbit-Rabbit-Rabbit-Designs-Womens-White-Stretch-Lace-Dress/5795503/product.html

So we started looking at dresses online again, and-cue up Etta James' "At Last"-we found THE DRESS:

http://www1.macys.com/shop/product/kensie-dress-three-quarter-scoop-neck-lace-a-line?ID=689096&CategoryID=5449&LinkType=&swatchColor=Birch#fn=COLOR%3DWhite%26PRICE%3D50.0%7C99.99000000000001%26sp%3D1%26spc%3D12%26ruleId%3D65%26slotId%3D5

If you just did a double take and said "wait, that's the exact same dress that you had originally that was out of stock at Nordstrom!", you'd be right. I spent several weeks agonizingly poring over dresses and trying to decide whether I'd look good in them, only to happen upon the dress I'd loved all along. Like relationships, sometimes you just know when it's meant to be.

Last time I announced that I'd found THE DRESS people demanded pictures, so have some awkward pictures of me wearing a wedding dress with awkwardly-drying hair and that tired, "I've been at work since 7am today" look in my eyes, against the sweepingly romantic backdrop of my bathroom that hasn't been cleaned in awhile.

Noah, by the way, will wear this: