Tuesday, June 10, 2008

What I learned dress shopping

1. Just because a shop "carries that designer" doesn't mean they have the gown you liked.
Alas, even though the store I visited carried Alfred Angelo and Mon Cheri, they didn't have any of the gowns I posted in my last entry!

2. It is hard to pin a non-strapless gown so it fits on someone smaller than the sample.
My favorite dress was this one, Mon Cheri's Nadia:


But the sample was several sizes too big for me and it was hard to get a sense of how the bodice would look once fitted for someone my size. As it was, I looked like a little kid playing dress-up:



3. It is also hard to take a picture of yourself in the mirror.
Witness how the flash messed up that last photo. Also, I loved this pretty strapless lace gown (designer unknown, and out of my price range anyway) but the picture I took was horrible -- my arms kept getting in the way!


Conclusion: I really need a dress shopping buddy. Without someone to discuss the pros and cons of each gown with, I was stuck with awkwardly saying "this is pretty" to the bridal salon owner. Only with a couple of gowns did I feel OK saying "yeah, not for me" (like the ultra-fitted satin mermaid gown that made my hips look huge). Time to bribe my East Coast-based bridesmaids into visiting a salon with me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

the first one is pretty. I love the peachy sheen--it's so much prettier than straightforward white.

Bride in Exile said...

I love the peach color too! It's not super-flattering on me though because it's basically the same color as my skin. I would love to find a very pale pink gown, I think that would look really nice.