Before I went to buy my dress I searched and was not able to find anyone with a similar experience.
Back in October, my MOH and I flew across the country to San Francisco to buy my wedding dress. I decided to do this after finding a salon on PreOwnedWeddingDresses dot com with a great designer selection heavily discounted. Being very budget conscious, I definitely was on board with spending money on a plane ticket if I could get a $3000 dress 80% off and a girls trip at the same time! Leading up to the appointment, I sent the salon a list of about 15 dresses I saw in their inventory that I was interested in. Most were all over lace fit & flare or mermaid dresses. But I put a few wildcard styles in there as well just to see if I might interested in something different. I made my appointment for a Thursday at 11am. And lucky me, we had the salon virtually to ourselves!! My consultant clearly enjoyed not having to be conscious of time or other brides in the salon. I think I must have tried on over 20 dresses. I got the feels for a certain dress. But we were worried it was too long (I’m 5ft tall...the struggle sometimes is way too real.) So we kept going. The consultant asked if she could pull a few dresses not on my list but she thought I would like. I agreed and I was quickly so glad I did. Tried on a few more dresses and then she showed me a gorgeous Martina Liana gown. I wouldn’t have picked it myself bc it had a lot of beading. But when I put it on...angels practically sang. The gown was a bride surrender so it had been ordered to a previous bride’s specifications. The length was absolutely perfect. It fit like a glove. It matched the overall vision of my wedding - soft, romantic and vintage. I walked in it. Sat in it. Cried in it. My MOH cried with me. So of course I bought the dress! At a steal! Traveling home with a wedding gown is quite an adventure in itself. The dress seemed to make lots of friends in the airport. Many people had questions and wanted to chat. When I boarded my Southwest flight back to ATL the flight attendants were amazing. The dress made more friends and got to ride with the captains coat in a closet on the plane. Having my dress in my possession really helped my anxiety. I didn’t have to worry about my dress coming in on time or being right when it came in. I did lose about 15 pounds after I purchased my dress. I took it at the end of January to be altered at one of the top dress alteration shops in town. I have my next fitting in two weeks and I can’t wait to put my dress on again.
If you have the opportunity to go on a dress shopping adventure like mine - do it. It was so worth it. I am thankful I only had my MOH with me and not a whole gaggle of friends. I didn’t have to deal with competing opinions or strong personalities trying to take over. That would have been a nightmare for me.
And now for the pictures!
Now for THE dress!
