Wedding Dress Hunting

Hello there, my lovelies!

There is so much that goes into planning a wedding and one of those things is finding the dress.

I understand that not every girl feels the need to find that perfect dress, but I was the gal that needed to... and I did... on Pinterest.

I have known the dress that I wanted for years, or what seemed like years. However, it was not to be. My perfect dress was not even sold near me nor was it still being made. My dream dress was in an old catalogue from 2019.

The designer: Nora Naviano. Dress collection: Voyage. Dress name: Viola.

This was my dream dress...

Let's have a dramatic long pause. Picture me staring down at my keyboard with a forlorn expression upon my face. (hahaha!)

ANYWAY! I did find a dress that I love a lot. So, allow me to finally tell you the tale of how I found my dress during covid.

Back in the beginning of December 2020, I felt that I was losing time with my mom. She was going back to Kansas along with my sister and grandma come January 2. The second week of December I was quickly made appointments to go dress hunting.

I'm not sure what it is like to normally go dress hunting without the covid mandates and restrictions, so if it is quite similar to normal, then great! The appointments I made were done online at the boutiques' websites. To me, it was intimidating. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, you know?

The places I went to did not consist of David's Bridal. I have been in one of those when my cousin was looking for her wedding dress back in 2019 and I can tell you that I didn't really care for it. I understand they are a big company and a lot of people get their dresses there, however, it's just not my preference.

SO! The first place that I went to, I was allowed to bring 5 people (myself included). We were the only party in the store during my appointment and it made the experience that much more enjoyable. It felt more personal and therefore caused me to relax a lot. There wasn't any blaring music which allowed me to hear the opinions of my entourage. The space was nice an open so it didn't feel cramped.

The woman working allowed for us to not have our masks on during the appointment since we were the only ones there. It brought a sense of normalcy to the appointment. She, on the other hand, did leave hers on.

When we were settled, she took me walking around the boutique to find out what I liked the most. I forgot to ask if I could touch the dresses as we walked, so I didn't. I didn't want to put any germs I had on the dresses that other girls would try on. (Let the record show that I do use hand sanitizer. I put some on when we got in the shop.) After she got an idea, she grabbed some dresses for me to put on. Let me tell you that she nailed it on the first dress. We weren't expecting such a lovely gown for the first one. She had me try on the Snow White dress from the Disney collection. Oh, boy was it beautiful. I felt like a true princess!

Every dress after that was Eh in comparison. Even my grandma agreed that the first dress was the best one.

I didn't get the dress.

My mom thought it would be best to sit on it and wait to see if I found something better. Thus the journey doesn't end there! I had another appointment with another place later that week.

At the second place, only 3 people were allowed during the appointment (bride and two others). In this boutique, we had to leave our masks on because they had many other appointments going on at the same time. They had some music playing quite loudly so it was hard to hear my family say anything.

The same routine happened where I walked around with the young lady looking at dresses and seeing what I liked. The girl allowed for me to feel the dresses to see what I liked the feel of and to point out which ones caught my eye. I didn't touch that many though, I kept my hands mainly to myself unless there was something that really piqued my interest. Once we finished there, she led us to a dressing room location that we'd be using. There was a little couch facing the room that I would be using and we all sat there waiting for her to return with some dresses.

She soon came with a rack of 8 dresses for me to try on. The very first dress I tried on, she nails it. A gorgeous gown that made me look like a winter princess. A sweetheart neckline, lace, sequence making it look sparkly, and a nice long train. ...I'm a sucker for sparkle, lace, and long trains... I can't give you too many details because I don't want Josh reading this and guessing what it looks like. SORRY!! (after the wedding I'll do a story about it and display a picture of my dress)

Once again, every other dress I tried on after that was Eh in comparison. Don't get me wrong, though. All the others were still very nice! They just didn't have that wow factor for me. The same goes for the previous boutique; all the dresses were nice after that first one, just not as wow as the first.

That dress I tried on was stunning. It was a tie with the Snow White dress from the other location.

So, I did what any other sane person would do and turned to my mom, sister, and two bridesmaids that were on the phone joining us via video chat.

My mom and sister had seen the Snow White dress, whereas my other bridesmaids had not. However, it was unanimous. Everyone loved the dress that made me feel like a winter princess.

I said yes to the dress then and felt overjoyed! I truly am happy with the choice. I love the dress a lot. I can't wait to pick it up and try it on for the first time in June!

Speaking of which, I ordered it the size below the recommended because I am a fool.

Just kidding! My bust and hips were the size below, however, my waist was only a half inch above that size. I'm on the Keto diet for health reasons so I'm dropping inches kind of fast which is why I wasn't worried about the size I ordered the dress in.

All will work out in the end!

I hope you have/will make some wonderful memories of Wedding Dress Hunting.

Thanks for reading!

All my love,

Victoria