The Perfect Dress, Part Three

Part One
Part Two

I think my last post caused a little confusion. I have already bought my dress. In fact, she is in a garment bag hanging in my mom's closet. She is impatiently waiting to come out and get altered. I think you all will like her, even more than Dora :)

In addition to all the fun new dress shops, mom and I also went to several sample shops. These shops carried dresses that had served as samples in new dress shops, discontinued dresses from other shops or dresses from discontinued shops. These dresses are usually somewhere between 30-70% off. You should have a general idea of what you are looking for because there is a huge selection which changes constantly and you most likely won't find one specific dress from one specific designer.

Our first stop was at Wedding Belles is in Barrington. After trying on many "oooh, thats pretty... but, no" dresses, we found this Vera Wang sample.


Oooh! I really look like a bride in this photo. I loved the fabric and the detail. It reminded me of old Hollywood- and it was only $1,000! My mom had a major crush on these little bows down the back:

I thought about her all night and into the next day, but, it wasn't my dress. Next stop, a little sample shop in Naperville called A Joyful Occasion. It was actually less than a mile from my parent's home, so it was easy to stop by on a Sunday morning. The shop doubles as the owner's home. Freyda was so warm and wonderful and she had a surprisingly large collection of dresses. My mom and I had a great time nosing through her closets.

I had been under the impression that I might want a mermaid silhouette... this dress nixed that idea.

Holy hips batman! The fabric (I have a thing for soft, luxurious fabric, if you can't tell) was absolutely dreamy and the back was quite lovely, but I did not feel pretty. I felt wide and squished... like a Peep that someone sat on.

This Rivini was gorgeous, however. And yet, too wintry. I have decided that September is summer and I hate the winter. Moving on.

Mom and I made the trip to Filene's on State Street for the Running of the Brides craziness. Fortunately, we made the wise decision to show up at 10:00am rather than participate in the actual "running". I am claustrophobic in a bad way and messy, crowded stores scare the crap out of me. Even at 10, it was still a bit of a madhouse. I found one dress that I liked a lot, but looking back at the photos, I'm not sure why.

zzzzzz.... oops! Sorry, back the post.

The next dress was way too small and WAY too complicated. There was this sash. No matter how we twisted it, wrapped it, searched for loops, my mom and I could not figure out what to do with it. Obviously, it was meant to be a head wrap.


The final segment of this saga- finding my pretty dress- coming up!