{THE Dress}

Last Saturday was my first appointment, and I had no expectations of making a decision that day. I just wanted to see how things went – after all, it was my first time ever trying on wedding dresses…well, except for that time I modeled in a bridal show (crazy that I almost forgot this…high school seems so long ago!). On Saturday, my mom accompanied me to Maya Couture, where I immediately felt so comfortable and welcomed by all of the bridal consultants and Maya herself! Did I mention that Maya once worked for Vera Wang, and her experience inspired her to come back home and have her own bridal salon? She clearly learned from the best! You can read more about her and Maya Couture here. 

I showed my consultant (hi Patsy!) photos of dresses I liked so that she’d know what I was looking for…and she did a fabulous job of finding the perfect dresses for me to try on! Some of her picks were the actual dresses that were in the pictures I showed her, and the rest were so similar. I also picked out a few that caught my eye on the rack…including a dress that weighed about fifty pounds (in case you’re wondering, that one was a huge NO…a girl’s gotta be able to dance at her own wedding!). The very first dress I tried on – I loved. However, I thought “Oh, its just because it’s the first wedding dress I’ve tried on.” So, I moved on to the others…I will say that about 80% of the dresses I tried on were lace. I tried one or two that were not, and they just weren’t ME, if you know what I mean. I had my heart set on lace, so lace it was. After trying on (and LIKING) every dress that I had in my fitting room, it was time to narrow down my choices. There were a few that I immediately did away with (including the 50 pound dress – thank goodness), and I had decreased it to about 3 dresses, so I tried all 3 on again. Surprisingly (or not), I found myself falling for the very first dress that I tried on. There was just something about that one…the way it fit so perfectly and highlighted my waist, the style, the gorgeous lace, the color (Ivory…I did NOT want a white dress!), and how I just felt so naturally comfortable in it. Also, the cathedral-length lace veil that I tried on with it made me even more certain that this was THE ONE. Patsy asked me if this meant I was going to “Say Yes To The Dress”…and I said absolutely! There was no doubt in my mind that this was the one…and I think that’s how it should be! I am usually the most indecisive person, ever, so for me to make a decision that quickly, I knew that it was right. Never did I expect to order my wedding dress on the first day I went to try on dresses…but I’m so glad that I went to Maya Couture and I’m SO pleased with the service that they provided! My dress is by Casablanca…but I obviously can’t post pictures of it because someone reads my blog. 😉 

I had such a great experience at Maya Couture that I booked an appointment for my bridesmaids for the very next day.You see, I had invited my bridesmaids to go dress shopping with me one of the two days, and they all made plans to meet up with me on Sunday. So when I purchased my dress on Saturday…well, I didn’t want to mess up plans, since they had already planned to drive down for the day! That’s when I decided to make an appointment with Maya for my bridesmaids to try on dresses. With the quality of service I had received, I knew that my bridesmaids would get the best attention as well. I have to add that Miss Patsy sent me a sweet note today, letting me know that it was her pleasure to work with me and she looks forward to working with me at future visits for my dress fittings and bridesmaid dresses. For some reason, I don’t think all bridal salons take the time or effort to connect to the brides on such a personal level. I feel so grateful that I’ve been able to work with Patsy and Maya!

On Sunday, we all met at a large bridal chain (whose name I shall not say…you can guess.) that I consider to be the Walmart of bridal shops. After spending 5 minutes inside the store, I knew that it was not going to work out. We managed to pick out a few dresses for my girls to try on, but the quality of the dresses was just poor and many were ill-fitting. We stayed there for a whole 30 minutes before taking a lunch break and then heading to our appointment at Maya Couture. Patsy was our consultant again, which was so nice, since she knew what my wedding inspiration/background was and was able to help us find the perfect dresses to try on. I knew that I wanted long dresses, because our ceremony is taking place in a rather fancy church in late afternoon. Since my colors are navy and green, I wanted the dresses to be navy. There’s no way I could put my girls in a hideous green dress (not that all green dresses are hideous…but I just wanted to go for more  of a fancy/classic look). One of my lovely bridesmaids requested that I try on my wedding dress again for all the girls to see, and to see how the bridesmaids dresses looked next to my dress. I got to get all dressed up again with my veil, two days in a row…I can’t complain. 🙂 We had a great time trying on dresses, drinking wine that Maya so generously offers to her clients, and talking about wedding plans. We even found the perfect dresses (made by Belsoie by Jasmine Bridal)! All of my bridesmaids, including my MOH, will be wearing the same dress. It’s a one-shoulder Navy chiffon, flowy evening gown. Its gorgeous, and it will look good on all of my girls! I think we all really loved this one, so I’m really excited 🙂 

I can’t believe we accomplished all of this in ONE weekend…the very first weekend we went shopping. But I can’t complain, and it just leaves more time to work on other wedding plans!