Record Time!

I chose a wedding dress in FIVE DAYS. Can you believe it? I am so proud of myself. Last Friday I went to Amy Kuschel (the Kate Moss dress shop). On Saturday Elise, Toby and I went first to Paris Connection and then to La Boutique Des Brides - both in the Gift Center on Brannan Street. I was expecting to love "Hilda" at La Boutique. Everyone who reviewed her on the Web loved her. Indeed she is probably a lovely lady. But she is not the one who helped me try on dresses. An assistant with a heavy asian accent that I couldn't deicpher helped me. She was nice enough. But the dresses were all POLYESTER. What's wrong with polyester you ask? Well... go try on a wedding dress... in polyester. Then try on one in silk dupione. And you will have your answer.

Marie at Paris Connection ended up having "my dress." But like a good little anxious bride... I didn't buy it on the spot. I fretted over it. I wondered if it really was "right" for me. I looked at photos of it online and temporarily decided that the design actually looked "wacky." Oh, yes, did I mention that the sample I tried on was red? It exists in "natural" (read: off-white). But Marie didn't have it. Alas, as a result of my nervous nature, I managed to figure out that Papers and Petals in Burlingame had a sample of the dress in "Natural." So on Tuesday morning I hussled down there and tried it on. I loved it. But then I had to revisit the idea that maybe I shouldn't be completely strapless all night (and this dress is definately strapless)... does strapless really look that good on me? Well, the very inexperienced but nice sales girl at Papers and Petals made the much needed observation that I actually look best in strapless because I have the boobs for it(!) I think her exact words were, "So many girls would pay the BIG BUCKS to have your breasts." That's when I was finally sold. But I didn't buy the dress from her. I had made the astutue observation that Papers and Petals retailed the dress for $210 less than Paris Connection. But I was concerned that the inexperienced sales girl there wouldn't measure me correclty or order the right size. So I made some noises about needing to get the right credit card and calling back later. Then I promptly called Marie at Paris Connection, the minute I got home. Marie agreed to order the dress for me at $250 less than her price tag. Who knew that you could bargain on wedding dresses!!! What a find.

I should also mention that Elise and I visited Marina Morrison on Saturday afternoon. Everything in the shop was $5,000 to $6,000. Oh yes, and there was ONE dress that we both liked. And because of the beading... it had to be ordred yesterday. I think the sales girl said that if I ordered it "within a day or two", it would be okay. Who buys a $5,800 dress after thinking about the purchase for "a day or two." That was too much pressure for me. I didn't know that the minimum ordering time on a wedding dress was 6 months. John proposed on December 20, 2006. And we're getting married on June 17, 2007. That's already less than 6 months from the day he proposed. So we are late late late with everything. I thought I had a couple weeks to decide on a dress, at least. But no. I had about 5 days from the day I started looking. The good news is that I am in love with my dress. It's not the cheapest dress (read: not polyester) but it's not $6,000 from Mariana Morrison either.

So I hussled back down to Marie's boutique in the Gift Center last night to get measured. And voila! It was done! I have a dress. And it is a dress that a costume designer would be proud of!