I was engaged about a month when we decided on a wedding date. Then I felt like I needed to start looking for a dress, ceremony & reception site, caterer, photographer and everything else. I already knew who my bridesmaids were going to be - that was the easiest part! I started buying magazines to look at dresses and color schemes.
There was one dress that I kept seeing over and over again in the magazines and I fell in love with it. This is that dress...
This dress is the original Disney Belle Dress from Alfred Angelo. I say original, because there is a new one that came out a few months ago. I searched all over Iowa for a bridal shop that had these dresses, apparently just becasue the shop carries Alfred Angelo, doesn't mean they carry the Disney Princess Dresses. (click here to see all the dresses!!)
I finally found a bridal shop that was close to me - haha, it was actually in the town that I lived in. I never knew the shop was there, but I saw an advertisement saying they were having a trunk show. I scheduled my appointment for that weekend!
I went into the bridal shop, knowing that this is a great dress, but it was very unlikely to look great on me, as I'm not a size 4 model. The bridal shop girl, Melissa, was wonderful. I told her why I really came in, to look at this dress, try it on and just see. I only took my sister with me, because I didn't want a huge crowd and I knew that she would be the most honest and tell me how I really looked!
I recently went to a wedding where the bride's boobs were popping out of the dress - not just "popping out, they may come out", but popping out so much that my family was taking bets on when it would happen! So I made sure that I could get a HONEST opinion from the person I brought with. I would recommend to anyone shopping - start with one or two people who are going to tell you the TRUTH, then go back after you have narrowed your choices down with anyone else that you want to feel included in the decision making process.
Melissa gave me 5 purple rings to put on dresses that I liked. So my sis and I went looking. There were some REALLY awful, some REALLY beautiful and some REALLY expensive dresses. The max I wanted to spend was $1,000 - that was my live or die limit. I really wanted to spend about $500 - I mean come on, I will only wear this things once...but then again everyonkept saying - you are only going to get married once too! So I figured that between $500-1,000 was an o.k. range to spend.
I choose 5 dresses that were a little similar to the Disney Belle dress - mostly a ball gown type thing that is really frilly and femine. That is what I thought I would want for sure. Plus I thought a fit and flare or a-line dress would look horrible on me. (Look at me - talking wedding dress shapes and stuff! Whoo! Totally not something I have ever done before.) I tried on the Belle dress first. My sister and Melissa were wowed! I was shocked at how good I thought it looked. I was jumping for joy inside - the magazine dress looked good on me and it was a size 8!!! Rock star me, right??
Melissa told me that I needed to try on the other dresses - that she wanted me to "KNOW" that was my wedding dress. I tried on all the others, but none were as special as the Belle dress. I ended up trying on over 20 dresses that day with Melissa's help - she just kept bring them on - made me try on all types and styles. I was very happy with Melissa for that, because she helped me make sure the dress I picked was the right one.
As I'm sure you can tell from how this story is going, the Belle dress was the winner. There is one that I felt was a good second choice. I ended up rounding up my sister, mom, soon-to-be mother in law and 3 of the bridesmaids to show them the dress. His aunt was in town, so she joined in the fun too.
I tried on the "other" dress first. Everyone oooh'ed and awe'ed about it. Then I tried on the Belle dress. My mom caught sight of me before I came out of the dressing room and just gasped! Then I came out and everyone was sure this was the dress. There was no mistake about it. I decided to go ahead and order it. I got it 25% off, so it was about $800 - over my $500, but under the $1,000. I was pretty happy with the price of the dress. They told me that it would take up to 6 months for my dress. I ordered it the 3rd weekend in May. I had it just after the 4th of July! So it did not take long at all. After picking up my dress, I took it to my mother's and it has been living there ever since.
My wedding is 2 months away today. I have my first fitting with the dress on Thursday. I'm so excited!!
The other dress that I tried on looked a little like this Justin Alexander dress - it did have a little more bling on the corset top...
Happy day to everyone!!
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