If I had a dollar for every time
I thought about blogging my day job wouldn’t be looking for a job, for my
hourly rate would be pretty significant.
Ok so that might be a little embellished – but I have felt the pangs of
guilt for being such an inconsistent blogger quite often. Nearly every aspect of my life has changed
since I last posted. I married my best
friend and love of my life David on April 20th and subsequently
moved to Ohio. There are so many times
when I thought “this experience would make a great entry in The Wheel Deal” but
time has really gotten away from me. I
hope to “catch you up” in the next few weeks.
How about for today I start from the very beginning – the wedding dress.
Little
girls dream of their wedding. It’s a
fact. If you’re a female and you’re
reading this you probably did. As much as I may try and deny it I did. I know I did because I have doodles of what
my dress would look like. (Side Note:
Long before Project Runway I must have had an interest in fashion because I
drew lots and lots of clothes. Judging
by my tendency to wear whatever is most comfortable I guess I grew out of my
fashion design aspiration). I have
watched enough “Say Yes to the Dress” and other wedding shows to know that the
dress is a big deal. A few months after
I got engaged I started to have the nagging feeling that I should start
figuring out some things like; what type of dress do I want, and what kind of
dress will work for me and my chair.
One of
my bridesmaids who lives out of state came for a visit so I needed to seize the
opportunity to pick bridesmaid dresses while she was in town. My maid of honor (my sister Beth) and my
bridesmaid Tracy and I went to the big box store of bridal wear. I was pretty decisive when it came to what I
liked and what I didn’t, so picking a bridesmaid dress was fairly easy. We picked the dress and I thought we were
done for that trip – mission accomplished.
However the consultant that was working with us insisted (to the point
where I wanted to deck her) that I try on bridal gowns. Realizing that she wasn’t going to give up I
told her some styles I liked. She
brought us to a dressing room the size of a shoebox and went to go “find the
dress of my dreams”. Yea right.
Let me
state something that anyone who has ever been clothes shopping with me knows: I
HATE to try on clothes. If I can avoid
it I will. If I can take off a
sweatshirt to try a dress on over my t-shirt and jeans I will… sometimes right
there by the rack. I have no shame when
it comes to my hatred of trying on clothes.
That being said I was not looking forward to trying on bridal gowns,
especially since I we didn’t have adequate space. The consultant brought a few dresses over,
none of them my size and none of them looked anything like something I would
wear. Insistent that I would see their
beauty once I tried them on, Beth and I started what could be described as half
wrestling match half choreographed tango in the dressing room as she helped me
in and out of the dresses. At one point
Beth had to scale the wall of the dressing room to get over to the other side
of my chair that was lodged in there. Now I can see the humor in it, but at that
moment it wasn’t funny at all.
I was miserable. This was not like those happy experiences on “Say
Yes to the Dress” where they have tons of room to get into their dress, where
the consultant takes time to listen to their needs and wants, where the bride’s
mom cries when she sees her little girl in a dress. This was a pressure filled experience when a
stranger is forcing you to get excited about trying on too small, too hideous,
too puffy dresses. I literately got lost
in these dresses – there was so much fabric!
I couldn’t breathe, let along wheel.
The consultant must have finally got the hint that she was not going to
make a sale and backed off. My steadfast
sister and super encouraging bridesmaid helped me laugh it off on the way
home.
Even
though I didn’t want to have another bridal gown trying experience I needed a
dress. I started to research other
bridal salons in the area, difficult to find one in my budget but I did. I started to look more on Pinterest at
wedding dresses I liked and printed several pictures. On a whim one evening my mom and I drove to
the decided on store to check and see what they had. Although the bridal section of the shop was
up a few stairs I was still encouraged by their kind staff. I milled around the bridesmaid section for
awhile and found several dresses that I actually liked – simple, light, not
poofy. I asked the consultant if any of
the dresses I liked came in ivory and she said several did. It was as if I had some sort of “AHA” moment –
why does a wedding dress have to be a “bridal gown”? The first dress I tried on fit like a
glove. It was night and day from my
first experience. I went back a few
weeks later to make a decision and picked a beautiful dress. It was the perfect dress for me and my
needs. The consultant I worked with was
thrilled to help me, even though it wasn’t as big of a sale as a full on bridal
gown. Actually it was a great choice for
my budget too… it allowed me to get a pair of customized sneakers to wear over
my braces : )
Any time
someone asked me about “the dress” I felt more empowered each time I told them
the story. I didn’t settle for something
that would “work” but didn’t actually like.
I didn’t allow one experience to completely crush my dress-pectations. I got a dress that I loved, one that fit me
perfectly, and I’ll say it – made me feel like a bride.
When I got engaged I didn’t think that being
in a wheelchair would have much of an impact on the wedding itself - oh how naive
I was. It became almost a game to figure
some aspects of the wedding out, I loved the challenge. I look forward to sharing some of the unique
solutions that we thought of with you.
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