Finding the Dress

Okay, so I finally found my wedding dress!!!
This was no small feat, I have to tell you.

I've been engaged now for over 7 months, and almost every other girl I know who is engaged or married found their dress way sooner than I did. It's one of the first things girls seem to do after they get a ring on their finger.
At first, I wasn't worried, I knew I had plenty of time to find my dress.
I also had absolutely no idea what kind of dress I wanted. It seems like so many girls know exactly what kind of dress they want, because they've been planning their wedding for years even though they didn't have a boyfriend. I figured I'd narrow it down as I tried on a bunch of different dresses and pick the one I liked best.
I did a lot of online searching and looked through dozens of magazines to find dresses I liked and styles I might want to try on.

My first bridal salon experience was not a good one. I went to Kleinfeld's thinking it would be a good place to start because they are supposed to have one of the largest selections in NYC. I did not enjoy myself there at all. I felt pressured to pick a dress and felt my options of dresses to try on were limited because they weren't with my "budget". I left the salon feeling very disappointed and nervous about what I had to look forward to in my search for my dress.

The next day I went to RK Bridal during my lunch break. They do not require appointments and you're able to browse the racks of dresses on your own. I figured that might be a better experience. I picked out a few dresses that I thought I might like and was given a consultant to help me. Her name was Gilda. She was a super nice, old lady and made my experience very enjoyable. After I tried a couple of things on she took in what I liked and didn't like and brought a few more dresses for me that she thought would be nice for me. It was overall a much better experience than my frst one at Klenifeld's and I left RK Bridal feeling much better.

Since then I have been to a few more different salons, some designer salons, a consignment shop and a charity salon. Every experience has been better than my experience at Kleinfeld's.
I went to three salons this past weekend looking for my wedding dress. I had set a goal for myself to pick my dress before the end of January. I felt this was a good time frame and I didn't need to feel pressured about it. I tried on gorgeous dresses and had a couple that I was seriously considering buying. My last salon was on Sunday. I went back to RK Bridal, made an appointment with Gilda again, so I could have more time in the salon than just my lunch hour. I had also really narrowed down the style of dress that I was looking for. My best friend and my sister came with me and we all searched through the racks and grabbed some dresses that we thought would be good for me to try.
Finally it was my turn to try on dresses. I went through the ones we had chosen. I didn't like most of them. Then finally I tried one on that was really great and very similar to one I had found on Friday that I loved. That one went into the "seriously considering" pile. I had a couple dresses left from our original picks, and I showed Gilda some pictures of dresses I really liked. She ran out of the dressing room and brought a dress back that she said I would look amazing in. We left that one for last. I tried on the remaining dresses, not impressed. Finally I put the dress Gilda brought in. It was amazing. It was exactly what I had been looking for.
She brought me a veil to put on with it. As soon as I put the veil I knew that was it. I finally found my dress. Even better were all the other brides and their friends and family in the salon waiting to try on dresses were looking at me like I looked amazing. It was a great feeling.
Then it happened. I had that stupid moment everyone talks about. I was really hoping to avoid having that moment. It's so cliche. I didn't think I was even capable of having that kind of moment. Most people who know me, know I'm really not an emotional person. I had to run into the dressing room so no one would the tears in my eyes. It was only a couple of tears, I wasn't bawling or anything. I think it was relief and happiness rolled into one. After all the searching I found exactly what I was looking for. It was great. I couldn't stop thanking Gilda. She really made the experience more enjoyable for being such a nice person.

Now I can move on to the thousand other details I need to plan for the wedding.
Less than eight months to go.