Shopping for My Wedding Dress

AACK!!!

I forgot to show you my wedding dress shopping extravaganza! So in this week of wedding catch-up/wrap-up, I'm going to show you. I shopped for my dress just a few days after becoming engaged...because...you know...we didn't have a lot of time! I was so nervous about looking for the dress because if you could only just know how...annoying...time-consuming...and exhausting it is to shop for an Easter dress every year...you'd know how flat out scared I was about finding something...anything...that looked good and was affordable. Add to that the need to have something that needed minimal alteration{because there was no time for such things} and it just provided quite a task.

I made an appointment with David's Bridal in Fort Wayne and went in with a list of five dresses I'd seen online that I thought I might like. I was completely in love with one of them, but if I'd learned anything in Easter dress shopping, it was that anything that I adored online typically looked terrible on my person...so I went in with as open a mind as I could muster, willing to try on anything. Well. Almost anything. Nothing garish. 

I invited my mom, Ryan's mom, his sister Bre, his aunt Sandy, my bridesmaid Sara, and anyone from work that wanted to come {since they were all going to be missing the actual wedding, I tried to include them in the dress shopping}. We converged on that store in all our loud glory and I disappeared into the dressing room to shop for my dress.

Here was dress #1:

My first time to ever have on a strapless dress in my life. It went better than I thought it might, but it wasn't me. So I tried on dress #2...the dress I'd loved so dearly online.

There are no mirrors inside the dressing rooms, a detail I detested greatly, so these pictures show me walking out, trying to see the dress and gauge the reactions of my entourage simultaneously:

I knew it then. That was my dress. It was also my first time to ever be in a halter top...but it seemed okay. {Did not want to be one of those brides that caused onlookers to say oh....why didn't someone TELL HER not to wear that????}

I asked the crew what they thought...and they dutifully got on the texting chain, sending pictures to siblings and friends out of town:

Quick funny story on my mom...anytime I shop for a dress, her first question is always, "Does it need a dickie?" {Meaning...is it too low cut?} She was unable to find a dickie for our shopping extravaganza, but she did come prepared with some extra modesty for me:

I was a good sport and tried on some other dresses - all very similar to this one, but I knew in my heart, this was my dress. I asked to wear it again...this time with the veil:

 And it was settled in my heart. Hadn't even been in the store 45 minutes yet, and the dress I had on...was mine.

 It had everything I wanted...it was simple and elegant...didn't ooze with trendiness...it had a train...it was beachy...it made me feel pretty...and I could afford it.

And so it was...I said yes to my dress!

 And everyone clapped for me!

 This girl said yes to her dress!!

 Texting Ryan to tell him I found it. DYING inside because I couldn't show him.

So with one last photo...of the entire entourage together:

I packed up my stuff and said goodbye to my first big adventure of being engaged:

I went up to the front to pay for the dress and while there, I heard great clapping and cheering from the back. My entourage had turned their attention to another bride...and they were voting on her dress. Such team players, they were.

All bagged up and belonging to me!!! Time to eat my last non-salad dinner! {HA!}