Dressing The Part

i was over the moon excited for it. i counted down the days. i could barely contain myself

i was going dress shopping.

i had looked forward to this...well, i would say since the ring was on my finger, but in the spirit of internet honesty...i had been looking forward to this for YEARS! which doesn't sound like a very cool thing to admit. don't those girls that say, "oh i never thought about my wedding dress! i'm not a very bride-y, wedding obsessed girl" sound so cool? i hadn't thought about my wedding for years, but the dress, yes. oh, the dress.

i imagined fancy, sparkling, flatteringly-lit shops of beautiful silk and satin confections that would feel as light as air and make me tanner, leaner, funnier, wittier...better.

no one told me that dress shopping can be exhausting. truly. i doubt that this is everyone's experience, but i found my nerves fried by the end of a weekend looking for dresses.

because she lives a plane ride away, we did a marathon-shopping weekend. changing in and out of the dresses, talking about myself as a bride, walk out to the mirror walk back to the dressing room, no shame in bridal take off your bra for this dress style, diamond white ivory champagne gold, that makes your hips look big shoulders look body boobs look pointy skin washed out...

it can be a lot of pressure. it was for me, at times.

of course that is not to say that there were not a few really fun, exciting moments. dresses that istill think about and remember fondly, ones that made my mom and i cringe and laugh and oooh and ahh.

interestingly, the dress that i chose was not one that i tried on during the whole dress marathon. in fact, it wasn't even in any of the stores we went to.

but, before the story continues, i will leave you with a few contenders...