The Dress.....and Don't Always Say Yes

I recently went dress shopping with my mom, my future mother in law, and one of my bridesmaids. It was a BLAST and we all got to try on dresses. I went to David's Bridal, which I highly recommend, but didn't say yes to a dress quite yet. I know I have a ways to go but the more I get done now, in my mind, the less I have to think about in the months leading up to the big day.
So the dress. I tried on about 20 of them. And I'll tell you right now, I wanted to take about 5 of them home just so I could feel that pretty all the time. I didn't decide on a single one, and here's why:

1. You want to take pictures so you can see what you look like. We did, and the dress that I thought looked the best there, ended up being my 2nd favorite after the photos. Trust me on this one, take photos if they'll allow you.
2. Shop around. My mother has always told me the story of how she found this $2000 wedding dress and loved it but couldn't afford it. She found a virtually identical one at a store for $400 and pulled that trigger. If there's one piece of advice I can give you for everything, it's SHOP AROUND. And don't feel bad if you don't give someone your hard-earned money just because they were a great salesperson. If you're on a budget like I am, money talks the loudest, not sales pitches.
3. Don't say yes right away. If you dream about the dress, lose sleep over it, whatever, then by all means, yes, get it. But take some time and think about it. You never know what dress will come out in the spring/fall/winter season ahead and you might kick yourself for not waiting. 
4. Go to a place where they help you. I loved David's Bridal because the girl Pam, at the DB in Dartmouth Mall in Masssachusetts, was SUPER helpful, friendly, and personable. 

The girl at DB was AWESOME. She was like my fairy godmother I guess, because she really knew what I was looking for, and one of my favorite dresses wasn't even on my sheets I'd printed up. I went to another place, Chantilly's, in Hyannis, and we were about 30 mins late to our appointment (even though it was a walk-in place) and the lady wasn't very helpful. I have heard from married friends however, that they were surprised to hear that. I zipped up most of the dresses I tried on, and I had to wait for another bride's bridesmaids to look at themselves in the mirror before I could see what my dress looked like. Not to go all bridezilla, but seriously, it went on like that for about an hour when I realized I was over it and didn't like their pricing anyways. It was about 4x more expensive there than at David's. I really loved the selection and pricing at Sposabella in Hyannis as well. And the woman who helped me was super helpful, and very efficient. She picked out a few winners but at the end of the day I still couldn't walk out with a dress because I had to wait. It's all a personal preference thing. 

Anyways, that's my dress story. Till next time.