Bride-to-be Blogger Alyse: Dress Shopping Day: Part Two


iStockphoto courtesy of ThinkStock.com.

As I started to tell you last week, the end goal of Dress Shopping Day—to find a dress in one day—was accomplished, just not exactly in the way that I imagined. I met my mom and my aunt as scheduled at 10:30 a.m. sharp, and we hopped in a cab for the first appointment at Kleinfeld’s at 11:00 a.m. We settled into the cream colored waiting room and peaked into the showroom to look at dresses. And that was the last thing I remember…

Just kidding, but that was definitely the calmest I felt for at least twenty-four hours. They were filming an episode of Say Yes to the Dress that day, so the salon was buzzing with people. We got whisked away to a small dressing room, and my consultant asked me what I was looking for. I described what I liked and also showed her some pictures of dresses I had printed. She brought about five dresses and I started trying them on. The first few dresses—which were actually some of the dresses that I had printed—were a little underwhelming. I had chosen “romantic” style dresses, mostly with straps and low backs. I was having fun, but started to think that I had no idea what I really wanted. Also, my one complaint would be that many of the dress samples were old and worn. It was hard to get that “this is my dress” feeling with holes and frays on the dresses.

When I sent back the second batch of dresses, the consultant came barreling in with one brand new beautiful, strapless, fit-to-flare dress with lace detail and said that I had to try this dress on. She said that I was the first person to try it on and it suited me better. The dress was gorgeous, and fit perfectly. I stepped out of the dressing room and my mom and aunt loved it. The consultant brought me to the large room, and as I stood in front of large mirrors—and an entire salon of people—she put a veil on me. My mom and aunt teared up. Then, the consultant brought over an impeccably well-dressed man who introduced himself as the designer of the dress! He brought over a sash for me to try and restyled the whole look with a broach and a different veil.

Although the sky was parting and birds were singing, I still wanted to try on a few more dresses. Plus, there were forty-five minutes left in the appointment. I tried on about three more, with no such reaction from anyone—including the two random ladies who had been commenting heavily on every dress that I tried on and apparently ignoring their own daughter/niece. I put the original dress back on and put on another veil. Randy—Say Yes to the Dress fans will appreciate this—even came over and told me that this was “the” dress. The two random ladies were also gushing. I actually asked them if they were paid actors sent around to convince people to buy dresses. We all had a good laugh, but I am not entirely convinced that they weren’t . . .

What happened next kind of is a blur. We were told that, because the dress was part of a trunk show, we had to buy it that day or the next day to get the discounted price. Pressure! Fully believing we had found the dress, we were going to cancel the rest of the appointments for the day. But I hesitated, because we had received a few recommendations to go to Mark Ingram, a smaller boutique uptown, and I still wanted to check it out. So I called the Mark Ingram salon and asked if we could move up the appointment. They said they were booked, but that I could come in right now. We dashed out of Kleinfeld’s, got into a cab and headed up town in the pouring rain. Our intention was to try on a few dresses there and then head back to Kleinfeld’s to buy the dress we loved.

Well, we never returned to Kleinfelds. Next week, I’ll tell you about my great experience at Mark Ingram and why being more relaxed, thinking clearly and having a private appointment with no reality stars in sight allowed me to really find “the” dress.

What was your dress shopping experience like? Did anything overwhelm you or cause you to stop thinking clearly?

 

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