Saying Yes to the Dress!

     I had ordered what I thought was my dream dress in May.  It was very elegant and I fell in love with it the moment I saw it.  I placed an order with the designer and things began falling in place.  There were a few speed bumps, but nothing out of the ordinary.  Before I knew it, there was a (very heavy) box on my front porch when I came home. 

     After calling everyone I knew, I raced over to my Mamaw's house to try it on.  We carefully got the dress out of the box and admired it for a while.  I was so excited!  I finally stepped into the dress and the anticipation was building.  In the next moments, I heard the most horrifying sentence a bride can hear: "It doesn't fit...."  WHAT?!  *Insert ugly crying here* All I could think was "how in the world does this dress NOT fit?!"  I had ordered the dress one size bigger than what I normally wear and I sent in my measurements.  


     I'm sure it was on a website somewhere, but nobody told me that wedding dresses can run 4-6 sizes smaller than a normal dress size.  Ladies, save yourselves the heartache, try on the dress in person.  You will thank yourself later.  You can never be too careful.


     I contacted the designer of the dress and told them about my current predicament.  He couldn't make the dress in a larger size, but he did let me send it back considering I had sent in my measurements and was under the impression that they could work with that.  I sincerely loved that dress, but it obviously wasn't the one for me.  I began searching for new options.  I looked at stores in Charlotte and Atlanta and fell in love with the designers at New Natalie's Bridal in Norcross, GA.  I booked my appointment and prepared myself to try new styles and find the dress of my dreams.  When the day arrived, my parents, Mamaw, my MOH and one of my bridesmaids loaded up into my mom's truck and made the two and half hour journey to wedding dress heaven.  The people in that car must have loved me a lot.  Four people in the backseat proved to be a tight fit.  I think I'm the only one that complained, as I rode on the seat belt buckle the trip down.  Everyone else took it like a champ.


      When I arrived, I received what I affectionately refer to as "The Princess Treatment".  Everyone wanted to know about me.  They asked about the wedding, my fiancé and what I was looking for.  There were SO many gowns.  At first I felt overwhelmed, then I realized that I was living every bride’s dream.  My family selected a few gowns and my consultant, Hope, pulled a few as well.  Hope was ON point.  She listened to me and grabbed dresses that fit my description perfectly.  

     The first dress I tried on was in my normal dress size.  It didn't fit, of course.  Hope explained to me that the dresses are just made that way and that the size on the dress is nothing more than a number.  (It's a really silly number if you ask me- why can't all these designers just get with the program??)  I felt so much better about my previous dress mishap.  The next one was beautiful.  She laced up the corset back and made me go out and show my family.  There were no mirrors in the dressing room, so my family actually got to see the dress before I did. They immediately all started crying.  I think a lot of it was seeing me in a wedding dress for the first time.  I was in shock when I finally looked at it in the mirror.  You picture yourself in a wedding dress all of your life, but until you actually see it, you can't even imagine the joy.  

     I continued and tried on many other ones.  I knew the moment I saw myself in "the dress" and it was really one of the happiest feelings in the world.  I thought the first dress I had ordered was the dress of my dreams, but I was very wrong.  All of that stress and sadness I felt over the first dress just melted away.  Some times we don't know exactly what we want, but we know it when we see it.  I think that's how this shopping experience was for me.  I had an idea of what I thought would look good on me, but I didn't have a specific image in mind.  

     Once I fell in love with the dress, my consultant picked a few veils that would match.  I tried them on with the dress and immediately knew which one I wanted.  Hope placed it in my hair and fluffed it up for me.  It was beautiful and it was mine.  It was my own kind of perfect.

     The most important lesson I learned from my experience is that brides need to allow room for error.  I ordered a dress that I thought would be the one and it didn't fit.  I gave it another shot and somehow found the most perfect dress I could ever imagine.  I wasn't calm at first, but when I finally got a grip, I realized that 1) I had time and 2) it was going to be okay.  Often times we expect things to go smoothly, but life is quick to remind us that we don't have it all figured out.  Lesson learned!  

XO,

Jordan