Racing to the Alter: Say Yes to the Dress!

The bad thing about having cable again is getting sucked into watch back to back episodes of Say Yes to the Dress (not to mention the Housewives, Bethenny Getting Married? and the Kardashians). Anyway after watching way too many episodes of SYTTD I decided I wanted an experience like Kleinfelds. Dangerous territory for my wee budget. Mom offered to take care of my dress so I wanted to keep costs in the reasonable range, not the insane "I-could-have-made-a-down-payment-on-a-house" range.

After looking at dresses online and doing my research I made an appointment with the Gown Gallery in KC hoping to get a deal during the Maggie Sottero trunk show. Knowing more than likely I'd never be able to afford the dresses in KC I made an appointment at David's Bridal in Topeka to make sure I knew what my cheaper more realistic options were before getting overwhelmed in KC.

Armed with my mom and my niece Adela we took off for David's and had a blast!

Mom and Adela in front of my dressing room

I tried on a BUNCH of dresses. Some cute some not so cute.

Forgive the quality of these photos. They were taken with my iPhone so their not the best. Also forgive the goofy faces I'm making. Adela was my photographer for most of these. She didn't give me any warning she was taking a photo so there was no chance of putting on a more "bridal" smile :D

Adela and I in a dress I really liked

At the time I didn't care much for this one but looking back at the pictures I really kind of like it

Hahaha! This one you need to be a toothpick and 6' tall in order to pull off. Makes me look like a giant cupcake!

And then just in time for the winner my beautiful sisters Mary and Liz arrived to see what we thought was the winner.

With Liz (Matron of Honor) and Adela (bridesmaid)

I found the perfect dress at David's Bridal (or so we thought). I didn't want to be rude and cancel my appointment at the Gown Gallery last minute and I still really wanted that SYTTD experience. So the plan was to go on to KC the next day, play the part then go back to David's afterwards and order the perfect dress.

On to KC we went. This time armed with Mom, Adela and both sisters, Mary and Liz. Upon arriving I was a bit flustered. Everyone needed to hit the loo thanks to the large sodas we got in Topeka for the drive. The space itself was basically a loft stuffed with dresses. The ladies working there seemed a bit stuffy to me. Not at all like the consultant we had the night before at David's. My consultant, Gwen came over, introduced herself and started filling out my paperwork. My heart dropped a bit when meeting her. She definitely seemed a wee bit snooty causing me to be a bit uncomfortable with her. I tried to suck it up and push thru. I was determined to make this fun!

With Gwen

After showing Gwen what I had in mind she took me to the dressing room where I waited while she pulled dresses. Now ladies here's where I need to share some advice. My experience at David's (along with watching too many episodes of SYTTD) had prepared me for the crazy corset style bra thing and slip thing. So I was prepared to put one of those on...however dear Gwen didn't bring those. WHAT?! I was a bit shocked when she came back from pulling dresses, asked me to take off my dress leaving me in my undies and bra. WHAT?! So here I am standing in front a stranger half naked. This modest gal was freaking out! Not exactly the experience was looking for.

Anyway she has me put on the first dress and as soon as I got it on I was in love. Like OMG...THIS is the dress! We head out to show the posse and they loved it as much as I did! :)

So here's the funny part. My sister Mary is a photographer and brought her camera to help document the day. She busted it out at the Gallery and after snapping 5 photos was told photos were not allowed. RATS! We put the camera away and proceeded to try on another dozen or so dresses. None of them even coming close to the first dress (that we managed to snap photos of).

The first dress was THE dress! Hands down. It put the one at David's to shame. Now the best part....the perfect dress was half price making it cheaper than anything I would have gotten at the trunk show. YAY!!!! I managed to get the PERFECT dress and veil and only went over budget by $21. Seriously....$21!

Since Steve can't see the dress until our first look I'm not posting the picture of me in the dress. You'll have to enjoy these instead. :)