My ooh-aah experience

I had my David's Bridal appointment this afternoon - immediately prior to it, however, I met a friend at an Indian restaurant for their lunch buffet. I would like to suggest to all other brides that perhaps they not follow my lead. Trying on corseted dresses while I'm *full* was not the smartest thing I've done in my life.

Anyhow, I thought this time, I would learn from my previous experience and be prepared!
Shower? check.
Friends to help me get into/out of the dresses? check.
Strapless bra? check.
Decent undies? check.
High heels? crap. Can't win 'em all, I guess.

So I met my 2 really good friends there (since my mom lives out of state) and I knew it was a bad sign when the parking lot was full. I walked in to find dress mayhem. You would not know that there's a recession going on by the inside of the David's Bridal this afternoon. There was a serious satin and tulle overload happening.

I checked in, and picked out a dress from the catalog so they could see what my size was (don't forget, the wedding industrial complex is an evil, evil machine and sizes the dresses small). Unfortunately, they didn't have it in my size, but I was welcome to try it on two sizes too small. Well! Haha. That certainly gives me a GREAT idea of what it'd really look like on me! Not.

Previous to my appointment, I'd gone online and selected a few dresses that I thought were pretty and reasonably-priced. I gave my list to the consultant and she came back with two dresses. Oh, and by the way - the dressing rooms at DB are TINY. Like, put a couple of poofy ballgowns in there and there wouldn't even be room for the bride! I put on the first dress in my list and waited while my friend helped me put it on. I walked out, and my friends were all "Oh, I LIKE this one." The consultant said she liked it on me, and she hadn't liked this particular dress on any other girl previously. (Or so she said - I mean, I don't know if those consultants work on commission or anything, but she probably would have said anything to get the sale. She was awfully quick to go get veils and headpieces to complete the look of my dresses - I guess when girls see themselves in the veil they get all mushy or something?) We took the requisite pictures, and I moved on to the next dress. And the next dress. And the next dress. I must have tried on six more dresses, and none of them were really picture-worthy.

Oh - and here's a little detour: I declared that I was going to have my hair down on my wedding day, because I wanted to look like *me* when I got married. 20 minutes at David's Bridal quickly disabused me of that notion - I couldn't find a hairclippie fast enough to get my hair off of my neck. No wonder the updo is so popular for weddings!

Getting back - so I tried on the first dress again, and put on a veil and headpiece, and walked out again. Women were telling me left and right that I looked really good in that dress. Oh! What to do! This dress was so much more me than the one I already have! And it was more expensive, but not by much, really. I finally decided, screw the $200 difference, I want this dress.

Hello, I am now a two-dress bride. Pleased ta meetcha. You need a bridal gown? I got one, cheap.