Say Yes to the Dress

After 27 years of being me, I'm aware that I'm not your typical girl. I'm a die-hard Lord of the Rings fan, I have a penchant for RPG video games and my Kindle collection consists of mostly Fantasy and Young Adult Fiction. I organize my closet by color and sleeve length, drink my Red Bulls and hot Starbucks through a straw and can't help but put a theme (and a costume) to every event. It was really no surprise to me then, when I realized that I am also not your typical bride. I want my bridesmaids to look hot (okay, by hot I mean a little slutty...no knee length baby shower dresses!), my groom has chosen our themed, very masculine wedding cake (which I happen to love) and I could care less about flowers. But, the most surprising thing to me was having absolutely no desire to try on wedding dresses.

It's been my experience that most girls (both real and the ones in romantic comedies) have barely uttered the word, "yes", before they're off to the bridal boutique to try on wedding dresses. After months of watching "Say Yes to the Dress", I was fully prepared to be one of them, but when we got engaged in June we decided to relax and enjoy each other and with all of the post-engagement celebrations going on, dresses never crossed my mind. In July we decided on a month and general location and around that time a good friend of mine asked me if I had looked at wedding dresses yet. Although I had flipped through a couple of bridal magazines and bookmarked a couple of dresses on my computer, I really hadn't given my dress much thought. I decided that we needed to pick a venue before I could start looking at dresses, so I threw myself head-first into venue research. In August we set off for Tahoe, and after a wonderful weekend with my dad and his fiance, we booked our venue. The night we got home, I sat down in my favorite chair with my bridal magazines and my laptop and waited for the wedding dress inspiration to appear...an hour later I gave up and started looking at bakeries.

August came and with it, more inquiries from friends and family about my dress (and the strange looks they gave me when I told them I hadn't looked yet). In September, I grudgingly made an appointment at the bridal boutique (mostly because my bridal check list had "try on wedding dresses" highlighted in red, aka DO IT NOW). I've always thought that spending money on a dress that i would wear once was ridiculous and was not looking forward to picking one, but as a last ditch effort to get myself into the wedding dress state of mind, my future Mother-in-Law and one of my bridesmaids accompanied me to a bridal fair. Finally, while watching the bridal fashion show and sharing a pitcher of sangria with the girls, my inner (slightly buzzed) bride started thinking about wedding dresses. When I got home that night, I sat down in my favorite chair (again) with my bridal magazines and my laptop and the inspiration appeared.

The day of the appointment arrived in mid-October and I headed to the bridal boutique with my mom, sisters, MOH and future MIL in tow. I had spent the week before preparing myself for the wedding dress experience. I had tanned and made sure I had cute underwear and the right strapless bra. I knew what I wanted and didn't want and in order to take any pressure off of myself, I had mentally decided that I didn't expect myself to have a "Say Yes to the Dress" moment. After all, I'm not your typical bride. I felt cool, calm, collected and a little buzzed from the mimosa I had earlier that morning (this whole buzzed thing seems to be a pattern! ;)) Then I stepped through the doors...

All at once, the panic set in. The room started moving in waves of  white and Swarovski sparkle. The lights dotting the ceiling were too bright and too hot. The overly-sweet smell of the cupcakes sitting by the entrance made me sick to my stomach (seriously, what bride wants to eat cupcakes before they try on dresses!) and the "oohing" and "aahing" coming from the back room made my ears hurt. But it was the line of consultants with their name tags and their shiny hair and perfect smiles, beckoning me towards them that gave me the sudden urge to flee. Overwhelmed, I turned around and looked at my mom with what I can only imagine were wild eyes and said, "I don't want to do this". Instead of responding, she did as all good moms would. She ignored my panicked plea, put her hand on the small of my back and gently pushed me forward.

My consultant lead us back to our area. There were chairs and end tables with fake bridal bouquets and boxes of tissues (which, of course, I wouldn't need because I'm not your typical bride). There were mirrors everywhere and a pedestal in the middle of it all (no wonder brides turn into Bridezillas...they start their tenure as brides by literally putting themselves on a pedestal. Heehee!) After giving my consultant an idea of what I wanted and didn't want, she whisked me away to the dressing room to undress and wait for the dresses. (As I stood there half naked, I thought, "thank goodness for the tanning and careful underwear selection!")

She brought in an armful of dresses, all along the lines of what I wanted. I slipped into the first one (which, believe it or not is NOT an easy OR graceful task). It was beautiful and everything I wanted, but I didn't know how to feel about it. I had never tried on a wedding dress and had nothing to compare it to, so it was back to the dressing room for more dresses. The parade continued (A-Lines do nothing for me and the mermaid silhouette looked awful!) until it was down to two dresses - dress #1 and dress #6. They were both beautiful and they were both what I was looking for, but not even adding a veil and a fake bouquet could help me decide between the two.

Exhausted and overwhelmed I headed back to the dressing room and asked my consultant, "How do I choose? I love them both!" She told me that most brides are so focused on finding a dress that they use their eyes and their bodies and their onlooking entourage to make a decision, but they rarely use their hearts. Her advice to me was to go back out on my pedestal and instead of gazing into the mirrors and seeing myself in a bridal boutique, I should gaze into the mirrors and imagine myself at the top of the aisle on my wedding day. I silently giggled inside at the corniness of her advice, but headed back out to the pedestal in dress #6, anyway.

I gazed. I gazed harder. Nothing. All I saw were chairs and end tables with fake bridal bouquets and boxes of tissues (that I would not need, because I'm not your typical bride). Just as I was about to give up, my consultant brought out dress #1 and held it up next to me. All of the sudden, the bridal boutique melted away and I was at Sunnyside on September 15th, 2012. I could smell the clean air and hear the lake lapping against the dock, but most clearly I could see myself and I was wearing dress #1. Before I knew it, I felt a lump in my throat and my eyes started to burn. I looked down to try to compose myself, but it was too late. By the time I looked back up, everyone (including myself) was crying and the boxes of tissues that I would never need were being passed around. They say when you know, you know and I knew! I changed back into dress #1 (and yes, the consultant asked me if I was saying yes to the dress!)

I won't go into detail, because I'm sure my groom is reading this post, but my dress is perfect. When I'm wearing it, I feel like it was made to be worn by only me and I feel magical. Although my wedding dress experience ended up being more typical than I originally thought (I picked the first dress I tried on, I cried and I actually said "yes to the dress" out loud) I still found a way for my a-typical, Lord of the Rings-loving, straw-drinking, YA fiction-reading self to come through (I mean, really, who actually cries while they're wearing the WRONG dress!)

Until my next happily ever after...
<3 Nicole