Wedding Wednesday: Boutique or Chain?

Two months. It's been two months since R popped the question. Two months of being engaged. I have to admit. I have accomplished a lot more than I had anticipated. We officially booked our venue this week AND I bought my dress. That last detail there still doesn't seem real. I. Bought. My. Dress. I keep saying it but it's not sticking yet. 

Six days after getting engaged me and R attended a bridal expo. There were two bridal dress shops set up. One was David's Bridal and one was a local off the rack boutique called Dressellas. I scheduled a consultation with David's Bridal and chatted with the ladies at Dressellas. They both seemed like perfectly good places to start when it came to looking at dresses. A few weeks later I stopped in at Dressellas and also scheduled an appointment with them the same day as David's Bridal. I was pumped.


The date finally arrived and my parents came up for the day. We left my dad and R to their own devices and made the hour trip to David's Bridal. The appointment was at 1 so we decided to stop for lunch. The restaurant was literally right next door to David's Bridal, but the food never came and we had to take it to go. Not off to the best start.

We walked into David's Bridal and I was taken care of immediately. This was great however I was not feeling any of the dresses. Each dress felt like it was the same dress over and over again. I am really short so all the dresses were super long and there was nothing for me to stand on to see the full effect. After the third dress I pretty much lost interest in trying on anymore dresses. They must have put me in 10 dresses and I started feeling sad. None of these dresses were for me.

We came to the end of the dresses they had for me to try. Everyone looked pretty frustrated. Me, at all the dresses that didn't work out. Them, at all the time they just spend with me just for me to tell them I wasn't interested in any of them. I felt really awful when I left. None of the dresses felt special to me and the mood in the place had me wanting to run away and never look back. I am not sure exactly what the problem was, but I didn't feel like it was the place for me.

After all of the disappointment, we hid in my car and ate our lunch before proceeding the hour back home. We were now headed to Dressellas. We arrived about 10 minutes early and I was really considering cancelling. I was in no mood to try on any more dresses. We were greeted immediately and were told we could go and pick out any dresses I was interested in trying. This was shocking to me as I didn't get the option at David's Bridal.

I selected 5 dresses to start. The first 2 were not worthy of even leaving the dressing room but the third was getting me interested. I came out of the dressing room and was told I could go stand on the pedestal in front of the 3 way mirror. This was AWESOME. I was able to see the dress in its entirety. It flowed down to the floor and for the first time I was able to picture myself as a bride.

I put aside a dress and decided I should pick out something big and crazy as I said when picking through the racks. I emerged with a dress I would have NEVER thought would be something I'd like. I put the dress on, stepped on the pedestal and that was it. I had found "the one". It flowed down so beautifully and I felt comfortable and confident in it. This was the dress for me.

I had a wonderful experience. I was smiling. I felt beautiful. My mom shed some tears. The boutique was really the best option for me. I was not happy at David's Bridal. They didn't do anything wrong, but I just didn't feel connected at all. I can't even explain it. I tried to explain what I wanted but it didn't seem to work. I mean no disrespect to the chain, but it wasn't for me.

Where did you get your dress? What do you think? Chain or boutique?







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