This is kind of amazing to me. I started looking comparatively late (ie. last week) and didn't really realise until I saw the shop-girls' looks of consternation that I should have started at least 3 months earlier. Because they have to order dresses and things. Who knew?
Yes, yes. I know I should have realised this. But I have been putting off looking forever for no good reason and thankfully my mother, suddenly calculating that we only have 11 weeks to go, gave me a hard push and took me shopping.
There are about 5 bridal boutiques in my home town. We went to 4 of them. Here's how it went.
Day 1 - we dropped into a small boutique in the main street. The shop was empty, but we were told we had to make an appointment. (This was where I learnt that you should always ring ahead). So we made one for 45mins from that point and left. We went across the road to the biggest bridal boutique, the one that was always hassling me at wedding expos to go visit them. The girl was about 16, skinny beyond belief and wearing nude gladiator heels. I liked her anyway. She was happy to let me try dresses without an appointment so I managed to squeeze into 2 before we had to go back for our other appointment.
The 2nd one I tried was pretty amazing - ivory with lots of diagonal pleats, it was so 1920s and yet not. I was not allowed to take a photo of it as gladiator girl advised they had an agreement with the designer not to allow photography. I was allowed to take a pic of the first one though, apparently the designer of that one was cool. (I'm not going to share it with you though, sorry. It was unflattering, but fulfilled my desire to see what a princess ballgown would look like on me. It was hot, heavy and extremely hard to move about in. HOW DO THOSE GYPSY BRIDES DO IT?)
We exited and went back to the first shop. There, the shop-girl was lovely but their range was not huge. She managed to squeeze me into about 4 dresses (one would not fit over my bust, or hips. That's what happens when you try to squeeze a size 20+ girl into a size 10 dress!), none of which I liked. There was one though, that was full-on gold satin with pleats and the hugest train imaginable... it was like something Christina Aguilera would wear. This shop had a strict no photography rule for all dresses, and even a sign saying 'Please do not be offended if we ask you to delete any photos you take'. Whoa.
Day 2
We booked an appointment at the oldest bridal boutique in town. I rang the lady at about 9am, she said she was there on here own and had been doing fittings since 6.30am that morning. Poor thing. When I showed up for my appointment I found a fussy old lady who talked a lot, took one look at me and announced she didn't have much on the rack for me. When she heard about my 11 week time-frame, she said it was too late to order a dress at all and I would have to buy off the rack if I wanted anything from there. She was an incredibly slow fitter, but managed to squeeze me into two dresses, neither of which were very nice. The first one cut my shoulders something horrible with its beaded sleeves. I really couldn't get over her negativity, and vowed unless I saw something amazing we wouldn't be buying there. I didn't, and we left.
As we were walking out, I suggested to mum we head back up the arcade as earlier I had walked past a small boutique that hadn't come up on Google Maps or in my Yellow Pages search. It was a tiny place but packed with dresses. The sign said it did couture dresses. OMG. Couture. I have wanted a couture dress ever since seeing a magazine in the newsagent. I looked at mum, raised an eyebrow. She shrugged and walked in.
The lady (I couldn't call her a shop-girl, she was middle-aged and perfectly turned out. I learned later she is a DESIGNER) was lovely. I explained our short time-frame, our budget and asked if they would have anything to suit. She did, pulled two dresses off their rack and said I didn't need an appointment to try anything on.
The first dress was exactly what I didn't want. I had told her I want a skirt of tulle, organza or other light material and that I wasn't a fan of satin. This dress was a strapless full satin number in a champagne shade and extremely shiny. It had a bit of bling but did have the pleats I had heard were so flattering to the larger bride. The second was a white empire-line fantasy in tulle, it was positively Grecian. Oh, it was lovely. I grudgingly said I would try the first dress first, as something someone had told me was niggling the back of my mind: NEVER JUDGE A DRESS ON THE HANGER.
Well. As the lady did up the zip she remarked it could have been made for me. I rotated 90 degrees to glimpse myself in the mirror and had one of those moments. You know, the ones where you go "LIGHTBULB!". It was definitely made for me. And you know what? Suddenly it didn't matter that it was satin-y and shiny. It was utterly gorgeous on and gives me a waist like you would not believe. I can only describe it as a 1940s feel, with drapes and pleats and all sorts of things going on. It has a small train which we can bustle, and diamante spaghetti straps which we can add if I don't want to go totally strapless. It's not exactly couture, but it is the shop's own design so I know I won't see many other brides wearing it. Plus, it was priced in our budget.
I love it. Mum does too and we bought it. Yay!
Now comes the next step - accessories. Shoes, veil, earrings, necklace...
