Wedding Dress Shopping, Food Tasting, and November.

Some good things have happened since my last post. One of the best things is that I bought my wedding dress. Of course I can't show you a picture of the one I actually got, but this is a picture of me in my second choice dress, just to give you an idea:

Reminder: this is NOT the dress I bought!!

The whole dress shopping experience was surreal. It started on a Saturday morning at a place called Marra's Bridal Boutique in Oceanside. My mom and my sisters Gina and Suzanne came with me, and we were treated like royalty the entire time. I tried on - I don't know - 20 dresses? And we were never rushed at all. Some of the dresses were awful. Some of them were okay. Some of them were good. Then we found one that we thought was The One. But then I tried on another dress that everyone liked more. I also tried on veils. None of it seemed real.

Right after that appointment I had another one at David's Bridal. For that one, my mom, my sisters Gina and Melissa, Patrick's mom, and my future sister-in-law Jen were in attendance. I tried on a lot more dresses, most of which were good but the customer service there left something to be desired compared to my experience at Marra's. Ultimately, I ended up with one favorite dress at each store. And the entire experience was utterly exhausting. I think I took a three hour nap that afternoon. 

In the end I chose the dress from Marra's. Most of the people I showed the pictures to voted for that one, and part of me just felt better about giving my money to a family-owned bridal boutique than a major corporation that didn't even help me try on the 50 pound dresses - she just pulled the dresses for me. And at one point during my appointment, she started helping someone else! Anyway.

So the following Saturday I went back to Marra's, this time with Gina, Melissa, Jen, and my friends Michelle and Annemarie. Melissa and Jen, who had also seen the David's Bridal dress, both said they liked the Marra's dress better. Annemarie and Michelle gave the thumbs up too. I also bought a veil. 

Now I just have to get the dress fitted. Unfortunately I still have 10 months left to do that.

On Sunday Patrick and I went to a food tasting at Stewart Manor Country Club, where we're having our wedding reception. Stewart Manor is another example of a place that is perhaps a bit smaller but won my business with exceptional customer service. I got to view this lovely floral piece during the food tasting:

Which got me (even more) excited for our October wedding.

November sped by between Thanksgiving and a random trip to Williamsburg with Patrick and his brother. History gives me perspective. Writing my own history gives me perspective too. That's why this blog isn't pointless, even if no one reads it! :)