A True Oh My Word Moment...

Guess what happened to me on Friday? Oh yes...I found and bought my wedding dress! Not only is it The Dress...it was at an unbelievable price, acquired via Filene's Running of the Brides sale! Now, let me preface this with my preconceived notions on the sale. To begin, I thought it was madness to consider going to wait in line at 4 o'clock in the morning. Nothing, short of a plane to catch or a house fire, would get me up at some unearthly hour, let alone a dress. After all, I had really liked 3 dresses at other stores and had an appointment at Wendy's Bridal to try on more. This was a no-pressure sort of situation. More than anything, I really wanted to experience some wedding antics, some silly memory making moments to treasure forever and nothing beats stripping down to a strapless bra in the middle of a shoe aisle at DSW/Filene's for making memories!

My troopers joined me around 1 p.m. (that would be my mom, FMIL, and sister/MoH, by the way.) We grabbed a nice spot, bench and all, very near the dozens of racks donning dresses, just over into the shoe department. Given that I have forethought and zero shame, I wore a strapless bra and the tightest yoga pants I own, stripped down to said outfit, put on my favorite aubergine suede peep-toe pumps and tried on dresses. A. Lot. Of. Dresses. Something in the range of, oh, about 24. We each took turns scouring the racks, zipping, unzipping, pulling, tugging and dragging dresses on to me, off of me and back and forth and so on for four hours' time. Yes. Four. Hours. The moms were exhausted. My sister's finger was bleeding from where it split from pulling zippers. But somewhere in the middle of all of the wedding dress shenanigans, a gem appeared and was put into the 'maybe' pile...which consisted of all of 2 other dresses. There were so many lovely dresses, but most of them just didn't fit the 'girls', ifyouknowwhatImean...

So. There it sat, cocooned in a plastic garment bag, thrown on top of a shopping cart. I announced to everyone that I wanted to try it on again..for posterity (read: I couldn't remember which dress I was or if I even liked it.) And then I looked at myself in the mirror. Really looked. I watched the faces of passers-by and my amazing ladies. People smiled. I smiled. I checked myself out at every angle and it just felt right. Not birds tweeting, burst into tears sort of hysteria, but I honestly felt like a super fabulous version of myself, and thus, the Maybe Dress became The Dress. Mom and I walked over to a 3-way mirror just to check things out (and honestly, I didn't want to take The Dress off) and we had a mother-daughter moment complete with tears. My whole experience was perfect. Perhaps not perfect for everyone, but perfect for me. I mean, come on! I found my wedding dress in the heels aisle at DSW. How more 'me' does it get?!

My FMIL and I drove home together and decided my dress needs a name. We're both digging 'Lucy', but right now, given that it's laid out on a guest bed with a sheet over it, it's being referred to as The Lodger. I don't believe anything can beat that :)

Chances are, I'm not going to let you see it (unless you're a complete stranger..then I think it's safe!) It sounds terribly selfish of me, but I want it to be a surprise for everyone. And it needs alterations like the dickens. My apologies in advance if this bends you completely out of shape. I just can't do it. But I promise to make up for it with lots of great accessories pics to keep you afloat until November.

Ah...it feels great to check this off The List...Now I really feel like a bride-to-be!