Wedding Dress.......CHECK!!!!

Dear MIKE, a.k.a. Bowie Groom,
DO NOT READ THIS POST, MAN.
LIKE SERIOUSLY.
STOP.
READING.
NOW.

Love, B

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Oh. My. Nuts. I can't believe it. I found my dress!

I was not planning on buying anything at all. I mean, the wedding's a year away! But when I put it on, it just...oh my...it was like "WHOA." I gots-to-get. First, I'll give you the back story. So as mentioned previously, I went gown shopping for the first time with my mom and two sisters while they were in town visiting me. First, we went to a quaint little sample dress shop in my neighborhood called The Glamour Closet.

ATTN: ALL LADIES WHO WANT A DESIGNER GOWN - I'M TALKIN' REAL-DEAL VERA WANG and CAROLINA HERRERA STUFF HERE - FOR UNDER $2500, go to The Glamour Closet. They have locations in LA and the Bay Area. They had a beautiful selection of absolutely stunning gowns - ballroom, sheath, trumpet, mermaid, short, you name it! This is how it works: You go in, no appointment necessary. They let you try on 6 gowns at a time. You go through the store and pick them out yourself, then the consultant brings them to the dressing room for you to try on. I truly did like all the gowns I tried on, but none of them were really "the one," nor were they really in my price range... I'm going for under a $1000 here. They had a short dress that was 300 bucks - I'm pretty sure that was the cheapest. But the major price ranges were $1500 to $3000. But for the dresses you're getting, it's well worth it. And you get to take the gown home with you that day! The consultant also had an interesting idea. She suggested that a bride who wants a short dress could shorten a ball gown they have on the floor. I thought that was a cool idea. Overall, I'd say this shop was excellent. Very sweet, no-pressure kind of consultants who let you come back to their store as much as you want. They get new inventory every month. So it's like a new shop every time you go back! Here are a few beauties I tried on at the Glamour Closet (they let you take pictures too):

Dress by Rosa Clara
I dug this one. Not really something I would have seen myself wearing, but glad I tried it on. It was the first dress I tried on that I was like, "Ooh, I likey."

Dress by Vera Wang
So, so beautiful, but there was too much going on. And it was way too heavy and hot for a summer wedding in SoCal. I loved the unique dusty rose color of it, though.

NEXT, we went to Lili Bridals. Let's aptly title this bridal shop, "The One Where the Cast of 'Friends' Bought their Fake Wedding Gowns".

The ladies of 'Friends' got the gowns worn in this photo at Lili Bridals

Pretty rad, huh? I LOVED this place. The second we got there, my wonderful, no-pressure consultant instructed me to go start looking and pick out whatever I wanted to try on. I immediately showed her the dress I came there to try on. She was pretty sure they had it and went in the back to check.

Having fun at a bridal shop. Who knew!

I browsed the dresses - they were even having a sample sale going that day! I ended up trying on 3 gowns off the sale rack (one of which ended up being MY dress!) Lili Bridals is where I discovered my true love affair with gown designer "Watters." I'm a curvy gal with hips, boob and ass. So finding a dress that accentuates these traits rather than blows them up, is difficult.... UNTIL I DISCOVERED WATTERS! Curvy girls get your sweet curvy asses to a place that sells Watters gowns. They even have HOT gowns for under a thousand bones. Something for every budget. Here are some of the dresses I tried on at Lili Bridals:

Watters, Style: Cancun
I actually really loved this dress. Super fun, easy to dance in, boob enhancing, just plain cute dress. Ultimately, I didn't want to pay $800 for a dress with waaaay less fabric.

Watters, Style: Cordoba
This is similar to the one I bought, but not as detailed. I liked the bust of this dress very much. The bottom of it wasn't as cool as mine though and it didn't have the 'sass-factor' I was looking for.

I tried on a few other 'meh' dresses not worth posting. So I won't let you guys wait any longer to see my beauty. Without further ado.............Here is my dress:

Watters, Style 9052b
It hugs the curves and bust just right and it has SASS. The criss-cross detail on the bodice, the trumpet bottom, the sweetheart neckline - everything on this dress just WORKS. When I had it on, I felt amazing. But most of all, I felt like I could kick a little ass while in it. So I'm going with no veil, just flowers in the hair. Hot and simple. Fresh and fun. Rock and roll.

Here are the reasons I knew the dress had to be mine:

1. When Mike and I first started planning this wedding, I was very nervous about the dress situation. Everything I liked was WAY out of our budget. BUT, there was this one dress that I saw on the Watters website that I absolutely LOVED. And it was cheaper than everything else I saw (about $1500). Still a little too rich for the old wallet's blood, but it gave me hope that I could find a stunning, couture dress for less.
   
2. The only bridal shop in Southern California that had this Watters dress I've been lusting after was Lili Bridals in Tarzana, CA. So there was only one shot that this dress would be available to me.
3. I printed out the pic of the dress and gave it to my consultant. She had it in-store. Eeep!
   
4. When she brought the dress out, it was just as beautiful as I had imagined it to be. Then, I saw IT - attached to the bust of the gown - a shiny, red tag hung. Yes, you read right - there was a RED TAG! Meaning it was on SALE!!!!!!!!!!
5. Not only was it on sale, but it was HALF OFF. The dress that was originally $1500 was now $799. I immediately got nervous because I knew right there I was going to have to make a decision to buy that day. I couldn't order the dress, I had to buy the sample and there was only ONE. Pressssssss-ure
   
6. I put the dress on and WOW. Like, whoa-sauce-wow to the miz-ax bananas.
   
7. The dress was in my size range - a 10 that needs to be taken in to an 8 (so that means I'm like a size 6 'n stuff. ah yeaaah, son!)
8. The sale was ending that day.
9. My consultant cut me a deal on top of the sale. She sold me the dress for $699, with free cleaning, pressing, and only charged me $150 for all the alterations.
10. SO the grand total for my designer wedding dress + tax + alterations + cleaning + pressing came to $930!
11. AND I had the money to pay for it straight out, so it didn't actually come from our wedding budget. More for the honeymoon!
12. And last but not least, my mom and my sisters were there to see me try it on. It really was a special moment for me to have them there. I truly thought I was going to be out in LA wedding gown shopping all by my lonesome. What a treat it was.

At Lili with my lay-daaaays.

So for those glorious 12 reasons, I bought the dress. Good choice? I'm not panicking yet...so I'm gonna go with YES!!