A Woman's Fairytale Experience: Wedding Dress Shopping

When I got engaged I was over the moon. I had a gorgeous three month old little boy and I was living with the man of my dreams. When he took me out to the beach one December afternoon I thought to myself "How fun! Our first family trip to the beach!". Little did I know in just a few short minutes, I would be engaged.

Our Northern California beaches are freezing so we all bundled up and headed down toward the water to watch the waves roll in. I sat down on a large piece of driftwood while holding Baby A and watching the waves. It was a beautiful view and I felt calm and happy. In my contentment I failed to notice that Mr. Hunky was a nervous wreck. Next thing I knew he was down on one knee, smiling and shaking as he asked me to marry him. Amazed and a little shocked, I accepted the ring as he slid it onto my finger and said YES!

Within an hour we had told all of our friends and family and we out at a nice restaurant to celebrate. I couldn't stop staring at the beautiful princess cut diamond on my finger. I was on cloud 9.

Once the excitement of getting engaged had settled a bit, I started looking at dresses. I knew what I wanted and that was BIG and PRINCESS. My dream dress needed to scream "ALEX" and I needed to have that butterfly-giddy feeling in my stomach when I wore the dress. I couldn't wait to try some gowns on!!!


I did a lot of online shopping so that I could figure out exactly what style I wanted. I knew I wanted a big princess dress but there were also a lot of gorgeous lace dresses that caught my eye. I bookmarked a lot of dresses from Maggie Sottero's website and couldn't wait for my appointment at our local bridal boutique.

On the day of my appointment I went into my local bridal boutique with an iPad FULL of bookmarked dresses that I loved and was praying they would have for me to try on. To my dismay, there were several dresses that I had loved online that they didn't carry, but they were very kind and explained to me in detail as to why they decided not to carry that dress. I was devastated when I showed my bridal consultant the dress that I had been so in love with from it's photos and she told me that they also did not have that dress. The consultant promised that she would pull dresses that they did have that were similar and she was confident that I would find a wedding dress that I would call my own. I can't remember the exact number of dresses that my consultant and myself picked out for me to try on, but it was probably close to 8 dresses or so. I had thought every single one of them was beautiful except for one, which I recognized from Maggie Sottero's website. Not saying that it was hideous but I personally hated it. It just was so blah to me and I really didn't want to try it on, but my consultant promised me that I would like it on, convincing me by saying it was the closest one she had to the dress I had come in dying to try on. Reluctantly I agreed to trying it on, although I saved it for last, still unsure.

I tried on each dress one by one, coming out of my fitting room each time to stand on the pedestal in front of the huge mirror. I liked several of the dresses but none of them gave me feeling of "MY DRESS". When we got to the last dress, the dress I still wasn't interested in trying on, my consultant helped me into it, clipped the back, and sent me out to my family. I huffed and puffed my way to the pedestal not bothering to look at the reactions of my family and friend who were with me. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I was stunned. I looked like a bride. I looked like myself as a bride. I was in love. The butterflies came and never left, and when my consultant placed a veil in my hair I was sold. I was shocked that the dress that I hated online, the dress that I so desperately didn't want to try on, was the dress that I fell in love with and knew would be the one that I walked down the aisle in. It was the dress I was going to marry the love of my life in. I was ready to put a deposit on the dress right then and there.

My mom convinced me that we should continue looking at other boutiques to see if there was another dress that I loved more. I knew there wouldn't be but being the good daughter that I am, I agreed, and off we went to the next store. Walking into the next dress shop I was breath taken by gown on display that literally looked like Cinderella. It was gorgeous, huge, and glitzy, and I couldn't wait to try it on. I still loved the dress at the other shop, but this dress was certainly giving it a run for it's money.

As I slipped into the Cinderella dress I couldn't wait to see it on. I had a good feeling about this dress and I was excited to have found another contender. My excitement quickly faded when I took a look at myself in the mirror and was horrid by the reflection. It looked absolutely awful on me, not flattering in the least bit, and all of the feelings of the old dress came flooding back. I suddenly became grumpy and wanted to go home. I was the whole dress shopping thing and was ready to relax.

A week later I was constantly thinking my dress and knew that I needed to go and put a deposit down. My mom and I made an appointment for a few days later so that I could try it on again to be sure. From the moment I had the dress on again I felt amazing, beautiful, and like a woman who was getting married. There was no doubt in my mind that that was indeed my dress and that we needed to order it.

The dress now hangs in the guest bedroom of my moms house, waiting for my special day. The dress fits as though it was made for me and won't need any alterations (so long as I don't lose or gain weight!). It is simply stunning and feel so lucky to have had such a great experience finding my dream dress. It truly was a dream come true, I was the princess and it was just the beginning of my fairytale!