Wedding Dress Shopping

One year ago this month, I came home from Texas and jumped into a flurry of wedding-related activities with my sister and my mother. At the top of the list was shopping for a dress. One afternoon the three of us went out for lunch and headed to a bridal shop, me with my old Minolta in tow.  This is my first and only dress-shopping experience thus far and it was not at all like they picture it on the shows.  I half-expected to be there for hours while Eva tried on dress after dress, with harried shop assistants running around with armfuls of tulle and lace.  Perhaps there would be an endless back-and-forth, maybe a minor fit thrown and ultimately my mother and I wailing in each other’s arms: “SHE’S TRANSFORMED INTO A BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY WAAAH.” 

It’s not to say that the whole dress-shopping experience wasn’t fun and a little emotional, because it was both of those things. Eva looked beautiful in everything she tried on and the saleswoman was almost personally offended when she turned down the offer of buying a veil.

Like, calm down, woman. The sanctity of marriage is not ruined because my sister won't be wearing some extra tulle on her head.

Apparently, I temporarily forgot who my sister is. There were none of those shenanigans. There was no sassy banter and certainly no tears.  If my memory serves me right, she tried on two, maybe three dresses total before making her choice. She went into the shop with a dress already picked out from a catalog and I don’t remember if that’s the one she ended up choosing but if not, it was very similar. One of the many reasons I love my sister is that she managed to be both laid-back and no-nonsense about the whole wedding thing. She was cool with whatever when it came to the details but also didn’t swim in a sea of indecision over anything.  It was inspirational because through the whole thing her goal was to just be married to Bradly. Everything else was incidental. And isn’t that really the whole point of weddings?

That’s not to say that the other weddings I’ve been a part of have contained raging bridezillas, no way. Plus, anyone who follows me on Pinterest knows that I have an unhealthy love for wedding things for someone who is not even dating anyone. So many pretty things…I can’t…stop…pinning. (To which I immediately must clarify: I fully understand and agree that weddings are incidental to the main event of being married and none of the pretend weddings that I’ve planned on Pinterest involve me as the bride. )

But I digress.

Happy almost Anniversary, you two. (yes, I'm two months early, excuse me for partying.) Eva looked lovely, of course. Let's not lie, we all know Eva would have looked just as radiant and happy in white sweatpants. Ok maybe not, it was like 100 degrees that day but you know what I mean. If and when I should ever go wedding dress shopping, I hope the experience is as fun and painless as it was with Eva. If it's not, I'm wearing a snuggie and no one can stop me.