may 22, 2004

yesterday was my 7th wedding anniversary! my husband and i have actually been together since college (me a sophomore, him a junior) and took our time getting married so we've been together for a total of 13 years! i always like to include the grand total because i'm pretty proud of the fact that we've been together for so long.

in honor of our anniversary, i had this whole post written in my head where i showed pictures of all the things i made for the reception including the seating cards, the table numbers, mirrored stands for the centerpieces, the guest book, and also show the invitations. then i went into storage to get the wedding photos to scan in and... ok, i guess i haven't been in there in a while and i somehow forgot about the infant swings, carseats, strollers, bouncy seats and everything else our daughter outgrew that had to be put away. so onto plan b - i'm going to talk about my DRESS! awwww, look how cute (and young) we are:

finding a wedding dress was a daunting task. the first place i looked was at a pretty well known bridal salon in boston (sorry, not giving the name), where they basically asked for my budget, didn't find out what i was looking for, showed me 2 dresses, didn't help me get into them and were just plain rude. then, i tried david's bridal and was almost wooed, after trying on dresses that actually FIT me (well, besides needing a hem) and the price tags weren't so bad either. i was this close to buying this ivory dress with a lace top and a belt and the bottom was tulle and HUGE. it was a cinderella dress and sooooo not me. after my maid of honor showed me that dancing in that big dress would be nearly impossible, i decided to keep looking...

next i tried vows. it's an outlet so they sell the actual dresses that were used in bridal salons for customers to try on, at a discounted price. so i had my entourage, i tried on a million pretty dresses but it was getting down to the wire and i was feeling the pressure to get a dress ASAP. i ended up getting a dress that day. i found one i really liked and since it's all samples, there is only one and it can't be ordered, you have to just buy it. i didn't have that feeling of "i just knew it was the one!" but it was really pretty and what if i couldn't find anything better...? the dress i happened to pick had what looked like a stain on the front of it. all of the dresses are cleaned and pressed once you buy them and they assured me it would come out and most of the dresses come back looking brand new. i wasn't worried, i left excited that i found a dress!

then i got the call...

the dress was back from the cleaners and there was still some sort of stain on the front of the dress that didn't come out. did i want to come to the store and look at it? then i could decide if it wasn't noticeable and i wanted to keep the dress or i could get my money back.

i stopped by the store after work to see the dress and was pretty much convinced that the dress would be fine, how could it not be? but then i saw it, that ugly mark on the front of dress was still there and totally noticeable! ugh... i wandered around the store, in denial about the fact that i would have to go dress shopping. again. i kept telling myself that no one would notice that ugly mark on the front of my dress on my wedding day. maybe my bouquet would cover it up...? i was casually looking at the dresses in the store when i just happened to see it... halter top (love!), silver embroidery with beading, an a-line with a slight flare at the knee and more embroidery and beading at the bottom, simple but elegant... did i want to try it on? no way! i'm totally not wearing the right undergarments (literally wore black underwear that day), not to mention the fact that i was there alone. i can't try on wedding dresses alone! i finally got over myself and tried it on anyway. as soon as i had it on, i knew... it was the one! of course, i was still feeling neurotic about making the decision myself, even after the sales people were loving it on me and even another bride in the store and all her girls loved it too. i was frantically making calls and got in touch with my future mother-in-law... 

i know this sounds weird but i'm at the bridal salon and the dress i got has a stain that won't come out and i found this other dress that i know is the one and so perfect for me but i'm by myself and i really need a second opinion so can you come here please?! 

the weird thing is, that dress with the stain led me to my dream dress, which wasn't in the store when i went shopping the first time. that dress was meant for me and it was going to find me somehow!