MY DRESS

For those of you who feel a little blindsided by the fact that I have a dress...you know me well. Obviously, if I had looked for a dress, tried on dresses, or bought a dress...I would have blogged every second, every pro/con, the entire process. You would have known more than you ever had wished to know about dresses. Why? Because, even if we were having a big wedding, the dress is probably the only thing I would really care about wedding-wise. Well...and the cake.

In case I haven't announced it on the blog yet, Mike and I are having a small family-centered wedding ceremony in December that breaks tradition with what most weddings look like. Back when we first started talking about getting married, the idea of a traditional big wedding overwhelmed both of us and didn't feel true to ourselves so we briefly thought about elopement. However, remembering the fact that weddings really are just getting married and celebrating that fact, we decided to try to craft our own experience based on exactly how we would like celebrate our marriage:) We want our families there and we want our good friend Josh to marry us. We want great food and cake, but no "reception". We want to celebrate the occasion with our friends, but not limit that celebration to just one day where we don't really get to spend quality time with anyone. After all, it will be the holiday season and the anniversary of when we first met on NYE:) It's been easier than I thought explaining to people that we are having a small non-traditional wedding that is going to happen by the end of this calendar year. Families and friends have been very supportive and my friend Kelly and Mike have been really helpful with the few things we had to plan.

A few weekends ago Mike's mom introduced me to BHLDN which is Anthropologie's wedding line. I hadn't been planning on buying a 'traditional' wedding dress, but I did like a lot of the dresses on the website. One in particular really got my attention so much that I made a bridal appointment at the store in Georgetown with the intention of trying it on. Well, my appointment ended up being a month later in mid-September and, when I noticed the dress was actually sold out online, I called their customer service on the whim to inquiry about what sizes they had left in stores. It wasn't a very traditional dress so I assumed it would be available. Turns out stores only carry sample sizes and it was sold out in everything except for a size 0. :( I was told by customer service there might be one size 10 left and to call a specific store in the morning. When I called, they had just sold it, but told me other stores may have had dresses returned to them that were not updated in inventory.

At this point, I was a little obsessed about finding a dress in a wearable size for me. Mike knows that I do NOT like being told that I can't do something. I become stubbornly motivated to prove people and myself wrong so I ended up calling every single BHLDN store and asking them to check their back rooms and see if they might happen to magically have a dress there. A few times I was told they had one and then they found out that had just sold it. At this point, I said I'd take anything from size 6-10 (I guessed I might be an 8?). Anyway, at the very last story I called in Boston, someone checked the back room and told me they had a sample size 4 left that needed some bead repair done and they could mark it down for that. I DIDN'T CARE. I WAS ECSTATIC AND FELT LIKE IT WAS FATE! The ONLY snag was that it was a final sale item and they couldn't even transfer it to Georgetown so I could try it on. I was so afraid of them selling it that I took a gamble and bought the size 4. (Some people had said the dress ran big in reviews, right?) I figured that, worst-case-scenario, I could always re-sell it online if it didn't work out.

The dress came shortly after and was even MORE GORGEOUS in person that it was online. Because it was a size lower than I had wanted and it was incredibly beautiful and fragile looking, I wanted to wait until my in-store appointment to try it on there. To be honest, I was also kind of nervous it wouldn't fit and then I would feel silly for taking such a risk and getting my hopes up. I spent a good two weeks trying to wait until my dress appointment and then one day...I couldn't wait anymore. I made sure Mike was playing a video game, then snuck into the room and pulled the glittery gown out of it's safe spot. I gently took it off the hanger and pulled it over my head in order to shimmy my way into it. It fell around my hips and I zipped it up. It fit. All of my planning, then impulsivity, then trying to manage my expectations and this dress fit like it was made for me......just as I am....right now.

Now that the sheer joy of having the exact dress I wanted work out has been processed, I'm trying to glean a lesson from the experience. I think that it's okay to take risks. It's okay to go after the things that you want even when you think it may seem silly to others. Make YOUR wedding, YOUR dress, YOUR life work for you.....not the other way around. Don't be afraid to go after what you want even if there's a chance you won't get it. I love being cautious and practical, but sometimes the best things in life don't come after careful calculations.

Feel free to stalk the website and reviews, but can't wait for you all to see it in the wedding pictures!