And Drink the Wild Air: Before the Big Day: In Which I Find a Dress

Mr. L and I are currently getting settled in Hawaii, and since we may or may not have access to internet, here are some pre-written scheduled posts to keep you guys entertained!

By the way, I'm going a little out of chronological order for the next couple of wedding recap posts -- bear with me!

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Since Mr. L had (finally!) officially proposed to me, it became time to start the search for the perfect wedding dress. There are pretty much a handful of choices in our area to shop for a dress, and since David's Bridal is the biggest bridal store around, we opted to start there first.

There's a little backstory that should be told here as well. Back in February of my junior year of high school, my mother and I headed to David's Bridal so I could get the prom dress I'd chosen altered. It was at that moment, after I'd stepped out of the dressing room on to the circular pedestal in front of the mirror, that I decided to break the news to my mother about Mr. L, since I'd just met him (for the second time!) only a couple of days before.

The conversation went a little something like this:

Me: "Hey, Mom? I have a question for you."

Mom: "Yes?"

Me: "What do you think about sailors?"

Mom: "Saywhaaaaaaaat?"

Okay, so she didn't exactly say that, but I'm pretty sure that is what she was thinking! Later on she told me she was trying to figure out where me, a junior in high school, had met a sailor. Was I out clubbing late at night when she didn't know it?! She didn't think about my friends having older brothers with military friends =)

So my mother and I decided, in order to better find the perfect dress, we needed to "book" the same exact dressing room we were using when I first told her about Mr. L. When she called to request the room, the saleslady was a little taken aback, but nonetheless, we were able to secure it!

Together my entourage, which included my mother, father, SIL, nephew, grandmother, MIL and my friend Bonnie, and I arrived at David's Bridal for our appointment. My SIL and I started pulling dresses after we showed our saleslady some of the picks I'd liked online, and we proceeded to try them on.

(My mom, grandmother (avoiding the camera, as usual!), and MIL)

(Nephew and Pap!)

The dress above is the very first dress I tried on. The lace was pretty and I loved the back, but it just wasn't for me.

This is the second dress - pretty much a no (and now looking back on it, it looks like a pageant dress to me!).

Dress #3 - the infamous "nightgown" dress. Definitely a no.

Dress #4 - another no (I tried on a lot of dresses!).

Dress #5 - this one was a contender for awhile, but I never really loved it.

Dress #6 - I don't remember why I didn't like this one, to be honest. Maybe because it was strapless; I remember wanting a dress with straps a lot. It's pretty, though!

Dress #7 - THE dress. You guys have already seen wedding pictures, so I know there's no surprise here =)

Dress #8 - Another no.

Dress #9 - A look-alike of dress #7. Why was I looking at a look-alike when I could have just chosen #7? Dress #7 was actually completely brand-new for the spring season - I'm pretty sure I was the first person to have tried it on. So when my SIL and I looked at the tag, we saw that it only came in ivory, and I was pretty much heartbroken. Mr. L would be in his dress whites, so if I wore an ivory dress, the dress could potentially look dirty. So the saleslady attempted to find something similar that I would hopefully like just as much.

I didn't. The dress felt cheaply made, and I did not like the boning that went down the front of the dress. So it looked like I was going to have to go with #5, pictured again below.

But wait! My SIL decided to ask the saleslady about #7, just to make 100% sure. That's when we found out the tag was wrong! #7 DID come in both white and ivory! Needless to say I was thrilled, which led to me trying #7 back on...

After just a little more deliberation (mainly pressing the point that I preferred #7 over #5, which happened to be my mom's favorite), I made my decision, and we purchased dress #7! Looking back, I'm absolutely 100% positive it was the right dress for me, mainly because Mr. L loved it and I felt so beautiful when I was wearing it. I feel lucky that we found it on our first dress shopping experience in the first store we tried! It's almost like it was meant to be =)

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Missed something? Catch up here!

Before the Big Day

And it Comes Back to Us