The Odyssey

Now this may come as a shock to some people, but I really did not want to start dress shopping. I was incredibly apprehensive about the process: afraid I wouldn't find something that I liked or looked good on me. I was also wary of pulling a "Thriller" and morphing into my own special version of bridezilla. It was odd. I have never been weirded out by shopping before, but something about the wedding dress gave me the heebie jeebies. Although this could also be related to the fact that Grick totally surprised me with the proposal and it took me a couple of months to recover ;) Anyways, it was Grick who finally pushed me out the door to at least start the process. He didn't want me stressed out about the dress later on down the road and thought it best to shove me into the deep end right away.

When I first began my hunt, I scoured the Internet for any reviews of local Vancouver stores to see which ones were worth my time. There wasn't a lot out there. I wished that I had found out some information before going; it might have saved me a few excursions! As a result, I thought I would document my experiences in order to help others - offering kudoes to some stores and constructive criticism to others :) I will slowly be posting my reviews over the next few weeks, but for now I thought I'd offer some general guidelines on dress shopping.

• Try on different types of dresses. We all think we know what looks good on us or what we want to look good on us - reality is often very different. You should experiment with different silhouettes, colours, embroideries and fabrics. I won't tell you the specifics of my dress since Grick will see this - but suffice it to say that I wound up with something very different from what I expected. It's kind of like a guy, what we think we want is not actually what fits us best or what we actually end up with :)
  
  
• Take your fashionistas with you! By this I mean your girls who know your style and have a style of their own that you admire - these are the girls who should come for serious dress shopping. There really is no point in going with people who have very different ideas of what constitutes good fashion since there's not much you will agree on. Your fashion homies will be able to be straight with you on what looks good and what doesn't - and most importantly, what suits you. I mean we've all seen those girls and wondered "who let her buy that!" Don't let that be you!
  
  
• On the other side, take a big fun group for one day of play! By this I mean your mom, your aunts, cousins, friends...anyone who wants to see you play dress up :) However, do not expect to get much accomplished during an outing like this. Too many voices and too many disparate opinions will likely make you very confused and not any closer to a decision. Instead, treat this like a fun girl's day, where you will be the doll that they get to dress up. It's just nice for everyone to be included in the process.
  
  
• I know that everyone wants their mom to love their dress. We are all forever little girls in front of our mothers, wanting to please them. However, this is not always going to happen. My mother and I have very different ideas when it comes to fashion and I fully expected us to disagree when it came to the choice of dress. However, she quickly softened towards it and now loves it! Mom's just want you to be happy - so take your mom with you, ask for her opinion, respect her opinion - but buy what suits you best. You're the one who has to look at those pictures 30 years from now and you don't want regrets. Don't worry....she'll come around.
  
  
• Most of us will not trust our guy's opinion when it comes to fashion. This is wise. However, the point of the wedding is to look good for your man. Think about what he'd want to see you in and factor that in. However, do not cheat and sneakily show him photos of your dress without telling him it's your dress. If he has a negative reaction, you will have not only ruined the surprise but filled your own head with doubts. Like I said, guys don't know much about fashion and they won't be able to tell what a dress looks like on you. So just don't go there and open that can of worms.

That is a comprehensive enough list for now. Anyone else have any tips of your own? It is odd. I am getting to be such an expert on wedding stuff.....but it's such useless knowledge since I will never need it again! :)