I can only hope to have more such perfect blog fodder

I bought my wedding dress yesterday. I found THE dress two days after Brandon and I got engaged one evening when I'd had a shitty day at work and wanted to cheer myself up so I went to look at wedding dresses. It was that kind of night.

I went to David's Bridal, home of the off-the-rack gown, and tried on four dresses on a Friday night a couple hours before Brandon and I were to go somewhere. I don't know where we were going, but I was meeting him later on. The day before, Thursday, I had stopped into another bridal boutique in Lewisville and tried on four gowns, settling on a particular style I knew looked nice on me. On Friday, when I tried on the eighth dress, I already knew the style would work. It was just a matter of finding the right dress.

And find it I did. I took several trips to look at it and try it on. The second look included my mother and best friend JenA. For the third visit, I brought my future mother-in-law and future sister-in-law. FSIL Amanda told me to look at more dresses just to make sure I had the one I wanted. I thought about looking at other dresses, and decided not to since I already had the one I wanted. I didn't want to try on another dress. I felt ownership toward the one I chose.

My fourth visit was yesterday. I brought my dad with me and made for the petite section of the store. And the dress wasn't there. This concerned me, of course. The dress is so simple that I couldn't imagine another woman choosing it for herself. It is so me that it couldn't be anyone else's dress. I found a salesgirl and asked where the dress was. Poor girl was new and timid. I asked if she could look in the back and see if there was another dress. So, she went and came back with this report: "There's another bride wearing it right now."

Of course, I knew that David's Bridal could have ordered me another gown, but what if the next one wasn't such a great fit? What if something about THAT ONE DRESS made it so perfect for me? I saw the other bride in MY dress, and I kind of wanted to hit her. I actually asked the saleswoman if she could go tell the other girl who didn't look good in the dress. My dad had $2 in his pocket and offered it to the salesgirl saying, "Hey, here's $2. Go tell that other girl she looks like crap." I think it was a "Friends" moment. I could totally see something like this happening to Monica (though I'm pretty sure Monica wouldn't buy off the rack).

Finally, the sales girl talked to another sales woman and learned that the other bride was only trying the gown on for size and wanted it in another color. But I still felt like I was in the danger zone until she finally took off the dress and gave it up. There's just nothing like seeing someone wearing YOUR wedding dress. And she really didn't look that great in it. I'm just sayin'.