Dress Shopping

On Saturday my bridesmaids, maid of honor and I went dress shopping and I was (foolishly) but idealistically hoping that by some miracle we’d not only find my dress but their dresses as well and…because I’m crazily optimistic, that it would all be under budget.

I’m going to wear a traditional Indian lengha for the ceremony and a white dress for the reception. I’ve been to a few Indian stores to find the lengha and one of my bridesmaids referred me to a the boutique where her sister-in-law got her dress. The owner is amazing, all of her stuff is custom made and you are able to choose everything from the color and fabric to the design of the beadwork.

Last Saturday, on our search for a wedding gown we had a great time and the weather was perfect and springy, we had a fantastic lunch on a patio in the sunshine and all the girls got to know each other a little better. It was just overall a good day of girlyness.  

We went to four bridal salons, I tried on what felt like a thousand dresses. Some were stunning and some were just beyond awful…one of them made me feel like the bride of Chucky and another made me feel like I was wearing a tablecloth. The very first dress I tried on all my friends absolutely loved, it was a strapless ivory silk with a small silver bead design under the bust and a full A line skirt with a chapel train. It’s a contender.

The last bridal salon we went to has the repuation of being snotty and overpriced, which it was, but they also carried the designer I wanted to wear most. Unfortunately, the consultant didn’t understand what I wanted even though I had pictures and dress styles to show her…I asked for simple, understated and minimal to no beading/sparkles/crap, no ballgown skirts and nothing more than a chapel train. One of the dresses she brought me was soooooo pouffy in the back it looked like my duvet was attached to the dress….the exact opposite of simple and understated. Another had a train long enough to be cut up and sewn into dresses for not only my bridal party but all of my guests as well.

I couldn’t find a wedding dress that made me weak in the knees with love and want so we moved on to bridesmaid dresses. I absolutely love the lime green, raw silk Aria dress so we’re looking for something similar as there isn’t an Aria showroom closer than Boston. We did find one dress everyone liked…until we realized it was $430 and then it suddenly wasn’t so appealing.

We didn’t find anything but it was so much fun!