Wedding Dress Woe

On Sunday I did something I had been looking forward to doing for weeks. I took my wedding dress out of my closest, removed it from it's bags, carefully stepped in to it and slowly zipped it up. And then I cried.

I tried my dress on when I picked it up from the bridal shop a couple of weeks ago, but there were quite a few other people in the shop and I didn't have the space to stare at myself in the mirror for 20 minutes, nor did I want to look THAT full of myself! So I took a few glimpses, made sure there were no stains or rips and packed it back up to take home. I finally got the chance to try it back on this weekend and I wasn't thrilled. To my horror, I hated it. Hated it. After about 10 minutes of breaking down, my 5-year old cousin hugging me while telling me I looked pretty and my mom talking me through it, I warmed back up to it. My problem was, I was looking at the dress as it was. I wasn't taking into consideration the alterations that still have to be done and the little changes that I want to make to it.

When I tried the dress on originally, the smallest they had was a size 10, so of course they had it clipped tightly on to me so that I could see what it would look like in my size. And of course it looked great-- It hugged me perfectly. But my dress does not. I have next to no shape and felt as though I looked like a bit of a marshmallow with all of the extra fabric that has yet to be taken off. After I calmed down a bit and started playing around with holding the fabric back here, and tucking a piece in there, it started looking like the dress that I remember loving in the shop.

So why am I sharing this? Definitely not so that I look like a crazy person who is overly emotional (although I felt a little like that on Sunday), but so that I can save maybe just a couple of brides from the "I hate my dress" breakdown! My message here-- When you try on your newly purchased dress at home, remember all of the things that still need to be done to it. Unless you have a model's body, chances are it's going to need some alterations and will look completely different on you afterwards. I for one cannot wait to get my dress altered, and I'm going to make sure that I have a darn good seamstress when I do because every bride deserves happy tears the moment they step into the most expensive dress that they will probably ever buy!

P.S. Just try to stay sad with this little darling telling you "You are so beautiful. Are you okay?"... you just can't do it.