A Foray Into Dress Shopping
Today, I went with my mom, best friend, and her daughter to the Alfred Angelo store in Indianapolis. Last night, Jacquie and Rosie came over to spend the night given that we'd be leaving so early. I met DF at the grocery store near our house to pick up a couple of last minute things (we'd intended to just get parmesan cheese, but there were some really good sales on a few things, so we got those, too - I'm not about to pass up 99 cent eggs). We put on Frozen for Rosie and I got dinner going. I made spaghetti and meatballs, with the meatballs from scratch because I know Jacquie loves them. Long story short, one weekend in college, I took the train home and then came back with a giant tupperware full of my mom's meatballs. Jacquie fell in love with them and we've been making them for her periodically ever since. So I figured that since she was driving, I'd make them
We also watched Hercules (two year olds pretty much rule out anything else right now), but by the time that was over, it was pretty late, so we headed to bed.
I'd wanted to be out of the house by 7am today and we actually made it out on time! Even with my mom telling us that it would likely take us at least four hours to get to Indianapolis, it only took us just over three, and that was with a stop at McDonald's and a brief stop at a rest area. We had enough time once we got there to head into the mall that the store is a part of and hit the bathroom, considering that Rosie had spilled her juice on herself and the store wasn't open yet. My mom met us there a few minutes later. She's in Indiana for work right now, so we didn't see the point in her coming all the way home just to turn around and go back.
Since we had one of the first appointments of the day, we had a dressing room pretty quickly. Our consultant was very nice and pulled everything she could that she thought I'd like, based on the dresses I requested, and that they had in my size. They didn't have the Belle dress in my size, but that's okay. We did hold that one up to me and take a picture of it so that DF could see it (he really liked how that one looked), but it was a definite no. Too much poof.
So... Pictures!
I don't remember in what order I tried them on except for one.
The Cinderella dress. I liked it, it was very pretty, but it wasn't me. I felt like I was wearing a costume.
I actually really liked this one, but would have had the color be black or dark purple. But it wasn't it.
The back.
My mom really liked this one, but I didn't. I thought it made me look pregnant.
This one just bugged me for some reason. I'm not sure why.
My mom found this one on the discontinued rack for 50% off, so I tried it on. It was pretty, but not my style, did not fit right at all, and also felt like a raincoat. The material just had an odd texture to it.
The Belle dress. They didn't have it in my size, so they had me hold it up for a pic for DF.
DF, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, STOP RIGHT NOW.
I MEAN IT.
Sorry, he knows where to find this and didn't want to see the dress.
This next one was the first dress I tried on. I knew almost immediately that it was the dress, but we still had to go through the others (I mean, we'd driven all that way
).
This was when I first tried it on. I don't like crying in front of people, but I wanted to because it just felt right. My mom
did cry, but I didn't know until later.
DF, YOU CAN READ AGAIN.
I tried it on again after the other dresses and my mom asked about veils, so the consultant stuck one on my head. I wasn't really fond of the idea of a veil, but... I may have changed my mind. We just don't want to pay that much for one. My mom can sew, so she said she'd make my veil for me.
My mom asked the consultant what the chances are of the dress getting discontinued, since they've had it for a few years now. She said she didn't know and would have no idea until the store received a message from corporate to pull the dress from the floor. So my mom got some numbers from the consultant and called my dad, who she'd been sending pictures to, and talked to him for a minute. I'd been going along with the plan of just looking, but my mom wanted to make sure that the dress wouldn't disappear, especially given that we're not getting married for almost another two years.
So... The dress has been ordered. They said it should be in sometime in February or March.
I found my dress
After the order was taken care of, we went to a restaurant in the mall for lunch and then took Rosie to the little play area to burn off some energy, since she'd been stuck in the car and then stuck in the bridal salon and then stuck at the restaurant. We decided to head home after that and Jacquie dropped me off at DF's work, since he was there until just a short while ago. He should be on his way home by now. Theoretically.
Anyway, I'd texted him after I picked the dress. He'd told me that it hadn't quite hit him yet that we're getting married. It had hit me when we got engaged (since it was practically a given that it would happen eventually), but it hadn't quite hit him yet. It did today. He told me that he was grinning like an idiot, so much so that his eyes were watering. So he's not going to see THE dress, but he will see the other pics
But yeah, I had a whole mess of "omg I'm really getting married" moments today. I kept asking Jacquie if it was normal to be nervous. I'm quite obviously plus size, so it's normally pretty difficult to find things that not only fit me, but look good and make me feel good. This dress does all of that.
So yeah. The dress I'd had in my head for a few years now turned out to be THE dress. And even though I didn't want one at first, I'll likely be having a veil. Today has been a very interesting day.
I'm honestly VERY surprised my dad was okay with it. My mom fudged the truth a bit, so he thinks it was actually being discontinued, which was the only reason he agreed to go ahead and order it today. I offered to pay my mom back for half of it, but I don't think she'll take me up on it. I'm not sure, but we'll see. The one with the blue does come with black (or pink or purple or whatever other color you want, as long as it's in the 62 they offer). I just really liked the sparkly one better 
And honestly, neither my mom nor I can really justify spending $100-300 on a piece of tulle that we can buy from Joann Fabric for maybe $30 at most and some beading. And that's even estimating for the more expensive tulle.
