Hellooo again! Welcome to part II of my crazy wedding dress hunt experience!
LOL.
Please enjoy the entertainment as I make some serious fun of myself.
Did I mention wedding dress shopping is time consuming? As in you better save up those vacation and sick days because you’re gonna need them! I totally juggled appointments, work and writing my blogs between 9837498 trips to the various dress shops I’m describing.
Wait a second. Not to scare you or anything. Wedding dress shopping is supposed to be fun! And it really was. I’m just a challenging, OCD basket case when it comes to finding the right dress.
And there are SOOO many options out there. It seems like nowadays just about every fashion designer is starting a bridal boutique. First, second and third marriages are really boosting the fashion economy or so it seems HA!
So where did we leave off? Ahh yes, Beverly Hills with my friend Heather.
I admit, the Pallas gown stuck in my mind but I never got that “this is the one” feeling you’re supposed to get. Or they say you’re supposed to get. And who are “they” anyways?
Has anyone actually had that moment when they try on their first or second dress and feel it, saying THIS IS THE ONE? I need look no further? Forget all the other gowns I was dying to try on?
If so, please please, please do leave a comment below so I know it’s possible!
Maybe it’s crazy me or my insane personality, but I seriously felt like I needed to try on EVERY designer I liked and EVERY type of dress to see what suited me best. For me it wasn’t so much about the actual dress, but how I felt I LOOKED in the dress. You know what I mean?
I’m always thinking ahead to pictures- I suppose it’s the performer in me. Because in the end, all we really have are memories and pictures of our wedding day, correct? I want to be able to look back and say I tried on all the dresses possible and found the one that I looked the most amazing in.
What a time consuming thought… so here it comes… round 5 or 10, I stopped counting.
I just could not think of buying a dress without first trying on some of Oscar De La Renta’s gorgeous creations.
I know I know, seriously expensive for a few hours of one’s life, but I just had to get them out of my system LOL.
Having fully exhausted my willing resources (LOL), I called upon my wonderful fiance’ to chauffeur me to Beverly Hills.
Anton is so sweet.
Of course, I am shopping for the dress he’s going to marry me in, clearly a little help is much appreciated? Oh men have it so easy, a fine suit or tuxedo paired with designer shoes and they’re set! Women really do have to work WAY harder I swear.
And NO he did not come into the stores with me ha ha. Instead, he took Vasco and Bushmill on a nice walk down Melrose Place. CM’s as he calls the yorkies aka, chic magnets. I’m sure he really wanted to drive me so he could test their chic magnet skills in Hollywood HA HA. They passed- all three with flying colors btw!
As you can see, I found some pretty fantastic dresses and the Oscar bridal specialists were amazing. I do have to say they did NOT offer me champagne. I don’t know why, it must be the movie scenes I’ve watched, because I was really feeling really really neglected in the champagne department while dress hunting!
I of course LOVE LOVED their dresses. What’s not to love? Btw which one is your favorite? I really could have been happy with any of them with one glitch: they were not quite on par with my personality. I mean, I’d like to think I have class and charm, but these dresses were a tad too, how do we say, CONSERVATIVE for me? Afterall, I’m marrying a Russian not a polictician! Something between conservative and sexy from my old dancing days is what I was thinking.
(Oh and thankfully so… I’d thought a simple custom gown was the way to go until I was quoted a whopping price of $60,000 and up! Sheesh- all I can think about is how many puppy mill pups I can save with that money!)
Yep, my decision was made. Moving onward and upward to different places…
Or, in this case, across and down the street to the Monique Lhuillier boutique.
Another designer I was dying to try!
And guess what? Most of her dresses were NOT my style. Very beautiful. Very well made. Very princess poofy. And VERY lacey. I did manage to take some silly photos however, which were kind of fun lol.
I have to say I came very, very close to choosing the last one. The simplicity of it is just quite stunning and very Caroline Bessette Kennedy.
But nah… I still wasn’t ready to give up the torch! Super stubborn aren’t I?
OH- and I almost forgot! My wedding shoes took literally 1 second to find! I saw them online, walked straight into Monique Lhuillier and spotted them. I tried the last pair in my size and immediately made the purchase!
SEE… I really can be easy, quick and efficient when I know what I want. I knew from first glance I just had to have those shoes! Now I’m trying SO hard to keep them hidden in my closet and not wear them out lol.
Ooops…
Sorry for the distraction, now back to dresses. Let’s talk about my second and final visit to The White Dress in Corona Del Mar. Remember this place from part I? Well, I returned to try on some of my favorites to see if I felt any differently about them.
This Galia Lahav is a real winner. What didn’t I like about it? The color. I had my heart set on a particular shade and color. Bummer too because they were selling this as a sample dress at a majorly reduced price! Some bride must be pretty happy with her purchase of this dress by now!
One thing I forgot to mention about The White Dress. They have a room full of dresses they sell as “samples.” Samples are dresses people have tried on and either ordered or not. Whether the store needs to make room for new dresses or the dress just wasn’t a big hit amongst clientele, the store will sell the actual sample to clients. This is a great way to save money and get the dress you want!
Another Pallas Couture gown I really liked. A higher price range, but totally worth checking out for the quality and beautiful design.
An Israeli designer made this elegant gown. I forget who it was, there are so many great designers out of Israel now. As you can see, the zipper is problematic and I wasn’t sure if it was the sizing or the actual zipper that was the problem. Too risky to buy I decided.
Another Monique dress I became fond of. The back’s lace and sleek feel was fabulous. But the front of the dress looked too much like a night gown so I passed on it.
Seriously I know, I have SO many reasons NOT to like any of these beautiful gowns. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? Being OCD has it’s moments and then it has other moments, like these. Ugh… I even challenge myself at times hahaha!
So… after all of the 1234987 store visits, 8907324 dress try on’s and 908373 no’s, what did I actually learn from all of this?
A LOT.
And now I’m going to share with you some tips on keeping it simple and staying SANE while hunting for your perfect dress!
- Start way earlier than I did so you don’t feel pressured. Try 9 or 10 months out. By 6 months the designers will want your order. You don’t want to go the expensive “rush” or “custom” route, believe me, I’ve heard those quotes!
- Go local first. It’s way less time consuming. Make a list of potential bridal salons you want to check out. Ask friends and colleagues if they have had any first hand experience with them.
- Go online and look at these store’s dress selections. If it doesn’t look or feel right, it probably isn’t the best store for you. My fave stores were the ones I loved at first sight online!
- Make a list of the designers you really want to check out. Then call the store or check online to make sure they carry those designers. A lot of stores didn’t carry the designers I was dying to try! So I had to spend more time afterwards, finding the stores that carried them. I probably wasted 2-3 trips arriving only to find they didn’t have a contract to carry that particular designer. 🙁
- Have an idea of what you want but don’t limit yourself. I said NO NO NO to a certain style but in the end, guess what? The style I kept saying NO to I chose. LOL that’s how it happens just wait for it I promise.
- Take a day off and hit 2 or 3 shops in the same day but not more. It’s best to compare your top choices in the same day I think, while it’s fresh in your mind. I compared weekend to weekend and month to month which did NOT work. I couldn’t remember how I felt in each dress so then I had to go try them all on AGAIN. Trying dresses on in a closer time frame will save you TIME.
- Try dresses with your hair down and hair up! BELIEVE ME. I wore my hair up in a messy bun nearly every time I tried on dresses. I’m telling you, wearing my hair down made the difference. I never would have chosen the dress I chose if my hair had been up. It’s this thing about my shoulders… another OCD thing obviously LOL. But in all seriousness, the way you wear your hair with a particular neckline is VERY important. And ultimately, it will help you decide how you want your hair on your wedding day.
- Wear some makeup. I was so rushed trying on dresses between clients that I never had the chance to shower and get myself together! I was always arriving in my sweaty workout clothes with messy hair. Had I put myself together a bit more glamorously, I may have found a dress a lot sooner!
- Wear heels and step off the store’s “platform.” On your wedding day you’re certainly not going to be walking down the aisle on a platform. I liked to see how I actually looked in the dress minus the “height which is just another sales tactic to make us all look amazing in every dress.” Hey, I’m realistic. I look better in some styles than others. And I don’t want a high step lying to me in the store so that I am disappointed the day of my wedding. Make sense?
- Visit witih one or two friends or family members maximum. Too many opinions is WAY too confusing. I only had my mom or one friend or cousin at a time with me. In fact, I only had 3 people see me in my dresses the entire time! All the bridal specialists told me it’s WAY BETTER that way so you don’t get confused. The dress should be about YOU not what other people want.
- Get those top “dream” dresses out of your head and off your list right away. Maybe I would have found my dress sooner if I’d gone directly to Oscar first. But instead I waited, tried other places, kept dreaming about Oscar and then tried them. I could have saved a lot of time and effort just “getting the inevitable” out of the way first, right?!
- HAVE FUN. Don’t expect. If you want champagne, ask for it or bring your own!
- Set a budget and stick to it. I am SO proud of myself for this. Usually I always always always go over budget. Well, this time I stuck to my guns and did not let that happen. And I found the most perfect dress for me ever!
- Set pinterest and people’s opinions aside! Listen to the positive, happy people in your life who love you. They won’t steer you wrong and they’ll offer suggestions that will make your decision easier! Then stand back, take a moment, day, week or month to reflect and decide.
Who cares what the latest trend and style is! It’s all about YOU and what YOU are feeling. I never look at trends when I buy clothes. I just go with what I want, I like and what feels very good on me. Be selfish, because this is ALL ABOUT YOU!
SO how did I finally choose my dress? Well… not to give anything away… I’ll definitely add another dress post after the wedding… but it just felt like it worked! It wasn’t that lightning bolt “this is the dress I have to have this very moment feeling” but it was a calm, kinda submissive this looks like me moment.
Maybe it was intuition. Maybe I just loved the dress. Or maybe I was just SO sick and tired of dress shopping that I just caved and wanted it over and done with HAHAHA!
NAHhh- my dress is the one for me and come this May, I will only be too happy to share it with you all.
Meanwhile… happy hunting and please do not hesitate to ask any questions and comment below! I’m wishing you bride-to-be’s a very productive, efficient, dreamy wedding dress hunt filled with laughter, love and a bit of the bubbly!
xx Shanna