I said yes...

I'm still kind of giddy with excitement from the experience that was Thursday night. After a month of snow and trying to work around schedules, Mom and I finally got a chance to go dress shopping two nights ago. Though I wasn't determined to come home with a dress or a dress order in hand, I'd looked at the David's Bridal pictures enough that I felt really confident in the choices I'd narrowed it down to in my head.

*record scratch*

What's that you say? Why yes... yes, I went to David's Bridal.

DB has been called the "Walmart of Weddings" in the weddings, and it's true that it's totally the big-name chain when it comes to wedding dresses. But I don't have a problem with that!

Knowing my "price point" as the consultants at Kleinfeld would say, David's was looking great. If I'd wanted a designer dress, I probably could have found one second-hand with a lot of research, but as soon as I started flipping through the DB catalog and looking online, I saw that they had a lot of dresses in styles I loved. If I like 'em and they fit my price range, it just seemed silly to get worked up in looking at more expensive and more exclusive options if this fit what I wanted as well as I thought. And boy, was I right.

I knew I wanted something:

• Simple - with a little sparkle and detail but not really that much.
• Flowy - almost every dress I liked had chiffon involved.
• Ivory
• That works with my figure. I've tried on enough formalwear (mostly through shopping for dresses as a bridesmaid) to know some of the things that work for me, like ruching at the waist, A-line silhouettes, and empire waistlines. I loved that our consultant remarked that I had a good eye for finding stuff that works well with my shape :)

My local DB had gotten one or two bad reviews online for service, but I'd been there before and they'd been nothing but nice, so I pretty much ditched the reviews from my mind and went in expecting things to go well. Not only did they go well -- from the moment we walked in, I felt like they treated us like gold. Maybe it was because we went later in the evening when they weren't as busy as they get on weekends, or maybe it was because we'd scheduled an appointment. Who knows. But we experienced nothing of the dissatisfaction that I'd heard about.

Our consultant (Heather) was working with a few other folks at the same time, but she had her timing down so well that we never felt ignored -- quite the opposite! She was extremely friendly and helpful and made the whole experience a breeze. I'd been wondering about buying a longline bra and slip to go with my dress -- what do you know, she found the perfect ones, and I got to wear them to try on the dresses! I knew I wanted to wear my hair down but didn't have a clue what to wear in it -- ta-da, she finds a veil and hairpiece that go with it! I'd already been searching to no avail to find some cheap ivory shoes with a small heel to keep in mind for once I found a dress (I'm not a shoe girl) -- she has a great pair on sale for $20!

I love the discounts that pile up if you use David's Bridal and Men's Wearhouse for your wedding stuff. With the current sale prices and some discounts, I got my entire ensemble for around $850, which was pretty dang awesome -- I even got to take it home that night! That frees up about $200 of wiggle room in my budget, which is beyond awesome. I might even be able to afford one of these beauties from Etsy to hang the dress on...



By rockabuy creations

I won't hesitate to share my story of how DB treated us specacularly with other brides who've heard the same negativity I'd heard about the chain. I'm sure that there have been brides who've had bad experiences with them, but my local store and the consultant I worked with really deserve recognition for giving great customer service and giving me one of the most memorable and wonderful experiences of my life.

So, what's the dress look like, you ask?
There will be more to come...