Dress Success - Pt. 2

Now I can post this because the day has passed and there is no fear of Jay sneaking a peek at THE Dress.

Truth be told, I had drafted this post back in January the week after I got my dress. I scheduled for it to post the day after our wedding.Let me start by saying, I loved this dress so much when I got it. I cried. Mom cried. Carol cried. Shiela cried. Alyssa cried. Cara laughed at all us crybabies. Elisabeth told us to all stop crying because I looked like a beautiful queen (love that girl!) and we should be happy.

The problem is, I've had buyers remorse since day 1. It was definitely the best dress I tried that day BUT (and this is my only complaint about David's Bridal) they did not have my top favorite dresses available in a size that would fit me to try on. Talk about a buzzkill, especially when you're self-conscious about your weight. If I'm being honest, and usually I am, I was really upset about this at the time, but now I think: the biggest have that in is a 6? that's like a 2 or 4 in real-life sizes... the average woman is a 14...David's Bridal is like a wedding machine... why the hell aren't they more accommodating to this? (sorry, train of thought is easily derailed)

Point is, I've been questioning the purchase since day 1. Not at all how you want to feel about your wedding dress. This dress fit perfectly when I bought it, didn't need a single alteration, until I lost 25 pounds and was at least 2 dress sizes smaller than I was when I got it. (FYI - DB seamstresses can only alter a dress up to 2 sizes smaller) Fortunately, they let me exchange the dress. When I made an appointment to swap this beauty out, my mom convinced me to try on some new dresses. She could tell I wasn't 100% sold on this one. I just needed the peace of mind that I got to at least try on a couple of my favorite dresses (even if they looked awful, then I could be sure this was THE ONE).

Turns out... this is not THE ONE. It was good while it lasted but I'm totally OBSESSED with my new dress!

It's funny how things work out. It's also funny that every bride I talk to tells me the same thing, the dress she picked was totally  different than what she was expecting to get.

This dress wasn't even on my radar so I was very excited when Kara brought it out for me to try on! After going through my preliminary list with me, she pulled this dress and said it had everything except a belt and straps/sleeves.

As it turns out, sleeves on dresses made me look linebacker-esque. After looking at pictures of me in the other dress with a belt, and comments from the peanut gallery, we decided that this was much more flattering.

1) fit-n-flare, trumpet, mermaid shape
2) lace or sparkly applicaes on tulle
3) scalloped hem
4) not strapless, lacy cap sleeves would be pretty
5) can rock a sparkly belt 
6) lots of sparkle (are you sensing a pattern)
7) open back? No, but has killer sparkle down either side of the corset, which was much better than having to worry about what kind of bra I'd have to wear!

It didn't hurt that I loved this one more than any other dress I tried. It almost lost to the belted dress in part 1, but after putting it on again, I felt more like a bride in this one. It was just perfect. It had everything I wanted, and things I didn't know I wanted. It made every single girl in our entourage tear up, including Kara, the bridal consultant! 

See more about my dress adventure in Dress Success - Part 1 and Dress Code