For my first wedding, I was able to find a white dress that I really loved, but it wasn’t what you would call a traditional wedding dress. My dress fit perfectly for that event and that day and I was very happy with it. I never actually did the full wedding dress experience, though. I think part of that was due to the fact that I just didn’t think that anyone would have my size to try on. Chances were, and still are, that that is true.
Another part of me could never fathom spending thousands and thousands of dollars on a dress that I’ve seen all to often stashed in the back of friends and relatives closets or stored out of sight somewhere. I guess there is the romantic notion that you could pass down your dress to someone special. My sister actually wore one of our best friend’s wedding dress for her own wedding and my mom and her two sisters all wore the same dress for each of their weddings with small alterations to add unique details and individualize the dress. How cute is that!
I think another part of my hesitation stemmed from that classic vision of what a bride should look like, i.e. the iconic cake topper that is thin and blonde. It’s anxiety inducing to put yourself in a position to compare yourself with what you think a bride should look like.
Brides frequently contact me in the DMs and ask where to go for a dress and the answer is that it is really hard to find a place that won’t try to strap you into a size 4 dresses and pin you in with those crazy clamps (just use your imagination on this $6000 dress?!?). When David’s Bridal contacted me to come in and try on some dresses my initial reaction was hesitation. “Am I even someone who wants a wedding dress? I’m not the typical bride. I don’t want a cookie cutter gown.” I realized, after some thought, that there was a bit of a defense mechanism kicking in, though, and decided to do what I would encourage all of my readers and friends to do, just go try it on.
When we arrived at David’s Bridal, a lovely staff greeted us and my bridal consultant, Patricia, was so attentive to all my needs. She had even taken the liberty of pulling some dresses that she thought I might like to try on. In the beginning, internally, I had the defensive attitude of a teenager, but I went in with an open mind. When asked which dress I wanted to try on first I replied that it didn’t matter to me, already guarding myself from a possible bad outcome, but when I slipped on the first dress and walked out of the fitting room with my 4-foot train, a Bridezilla was born. I couldn’t get over seeing myself in this traditional bridal look in all of its regal glory. I couldn’t help it, I felt like a princess and that wasn’t a bad thing at all.
After that thought, a lot of initial emotions came up for me that I was not expecting. I was so grateful to have the bridal consultant that I did because she was a seasoned pro at dealing with bridal emotions; she could tell when I was getting tired, too hot, or overwhelmed with decision fatigue. She picked up on my cues and made sure that we were doing things that suited me. I can now see why dress shopping is something you want to both invite everyone you know to and, simultaneously, no one you know to, because it is oddly highly emotional.
This was a really fun story for me to experience because I feel like I faced a dragon that I’ve been avoiding. I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed my experience and how pleasantly surprised I was with David’s Bridal selection.
As I have learned, there are a lot of emotions tied to wedding dress shopping, so let me help you find your dream dress. Meet me at David’s Bridal in Manhattan on Wednesday, May 1st from 6pm – 8pm and we can try on some things together.
In partnership with David’s Bridal
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