Here Comes the Bride

These are four words that until the past couple years I've never thought would refer to me, but as of December 31st, 2012 it is true! I'm getting married and for the first time since I've been engaged it actually hit me this weekend. As I talked about in my last post, I spent my Imbolc surrounded by my three bridesmaids and my mom, trying on dresses. I went into the day thinking we'd try some on just to see what looked good since I honestly had no clue what really looked good on me. Boy was I wrong.

The first dress I put on (which I will not disclose what it looked like in public, message me if you want to see a pic of it) was actually the one I ended up getting. I had no clue what reaction I was going to have, or what I was going to get from my bridal party. I thought maybe it would be like that show "Say Yes to the Dress" and I would come out of the dressing room to a teary eyed mom and awed bridesmaids. What I came out to was a empty area. Turns out my mom, in true form, was off critiquing another bride's dress while my bridesmaids were off looking at other dresses for me to try on. I just laughed and told the consultant that this was typical.

After I wrangled my troops they oohed and ahed over the dress that I had chills in as I stood up on the pedestal. Still though I wasn't sold on it so I went to try on other dresses. Most were a simple no, while others had potential. One was almost as perfect at the other one, but had a much longer train than I wanted and also had a price of $1,750. I may be waning in my cynicism but still, that much for a dress I'm going to wear once is ridiculous.

I tried back on the other dress after all the others had been tried on and I fell in love with it all over again. The consultant clipped a veil into my hair to give the full effect. We took lots of picture with me and my bridesmaids and then in true bridal consultant form she asked me: Is this your dress? I looked in the mirror, looked at my mom, and then burst into tears. This of course in turn caused my entire bridal party to tear up as well.

After wiping all the tears, getting measured (I'm a factory size 10!!!!!), and mom writing the check (have I mentioned how much I LOVE my mother?!?!) we went over to try on the bridesmaids dresses. This was a much easier process as I HATE bridesmaids dresses. It was a lot of "No." We eventually found an incredibly elegant almost evening gown looking dress that is going to be holly green (which the other color of the wedding is lilac, to make the color of the thistle). From there we had an awesome lunch as Panera (shocking, I know) and headed to the Baltimore Bridal Show where I was flooded with information and cake.

It was a wonderful way to spend my Imbolc, though I have to say trying on dresses and walking around the Expo center really took it out of me and I was sore the next day. The memories from that day will stick with me for a long time, and I'm glad I spent it with some of my favorite woman: my mom, my cousin, my best friend, and Grant's best friend who has now become on of my best friends. The journey continues as the wedding is set for May of next year. It's going to be a long process as you all know I have SO much on my plate right now. This weekend I got no homework done so this week I will be buckling down. Only two more weeks of this Programming and Scripting class!

If anyone else has an wedding stories they would like to share, please do so in comments! I'd love to hear them.