The Perfect Dress

This last weekend, my mom was able to come out to Utah to visit and do a lot of wedding prep stuff. It was a lot of fun to have her around, especially when we got to go shopping for a wedding dress!

My mom and I went to David's Bridal here in Provo and found some really gorgeous (but strapless) dresses (and spent nearly two hours there!) but didn't find "the" dress. Oh well. Off to lunch, class for Michelle, and then more dress shopping. We went next to Alysse's Bridal in the University Mall, where they have modest dresses (not low-cut and with sleeves!) which was nice. I had felt uncomfortable at David's because all of their dresses (ALL of them) are strapless, and it was just weird. Also, if I found a dress I loved at David's, we would have had to pay over $250 just to add sleeves to it! Ridiculous! So anyway. Back to Alysse's. They had a few dresses that I really loved, but still nothing that quite felt like "the one." We had them record a few different style numbers for us, and we planned to come back again if we didn't find something else.

The next day we went up to Centerville and met up with Darren's family. The women (me, my mom, Darren's mom, and Darren's brother's girlfriend, Emma, who was in town) went dress shopping at the Gateway in Salt Lake, while the men went to a sports grill. We went to Gateway Bridal, where they have a "Latter Day Bride" collection of modest dresses. I'm really glad we braved the nearly-hurricane-level winds to go to this store, because the first dress I tried on there, I loved. So I tried on a few more, and then a few more, but none of them quite compared to the first one. There was one that came close, so I switched between the two for a while, trying to decide which one I liked better, and if either of them was "the one." I was leaning towards the first one I tried on, and when the sales lady added a veil to the dress, I turned around and all three of them - my mom, Jolene, and Emma - were all tearing up! I looked back in the mirror and knew that I had found "the" dress. So I got my measurements taken and ordered the dress! Exciting!! I can't wait for it to come in (just a few weeks away!), even though I know I won't really be wearing it until April, except for fittings.

I'd post pictures, but Darren's not allowed to see me in the dress yet, so you guys will just have to wait to see it until later.