An Insider’s Look at Finding the Perfect Dress

Like most brides, after the initial excitement of being engaged and calling everyone I knew, I was ready to get down to business. There were photographers to interview, reception locations to scout, and, most importantly, the perfect dress to find.

Of course, like every other newly engaged girl, I bought every bridal magazine on the stand. Add to that the enormous stack of magazines already in my office, and I was well on my way to planning heaven. I poured through the endless magazines looking for my dream gown, but I came away disappointed. I frantically searched online and looked at hundreds of dresses, again to no avail. I figured I was doomed to wear a burlap sack since I had just about seen every dress there was.

After arriving at Low’s in Brinkley for my first round of dress searching, I quickly realized the magnitude of the wedding dress business. Although I had spent hours upon hours searching magazines and Web sites, there were still dresses I had never seen before. Seriously, how many wedding gowns can there be that I would possibly have an interest in wearing? I found the answer that day: Enough to fill a very large dressing room, leaving just enough room to move an inch or so.

One sage piece of advice that quickly comes to mind is to really listen to the sales consultants. These women have helped hundreds of brides pick out their gown, and they really do know what styles look best on what figures.

I went into the dress-searching experience knowing that I would look terrible in strapless. I was ready to try on halter and bateau necklines, but my sales consultant took one look at me and said, “I really think you should try strapless.” Privately I thought, “Sure, I’ll try one on for her, she’ll see how it makes me look like I’m going to fall out of my dress and then we can move on.”

I’m sure you can guess what dress I ended up getting — strapless, of course! In fact, the halter and bateau necklines made me look like a frumpy old maid. They were hideous on me, and my mother, sister and best friend had no problem telling me that!

The sales consultants are actually quite honest when it comes to telling you what looks best, but your mother, sisters and close friends are great for dragging out the down-and-dirty truth.

Not that you have to take everyone in your family and your 10 closest friends, but do take at least one other person with you when trying on dresses — if just for the fun of seeing you try on dozens of wedding gowns. You’ll definitely appreciate the third-party point of view.

If the salon you’re visiting has bridesmaids’ dresses too, leave some time to take a peek, especially if one or a couple of your bridesmaids are with you. After looking at countless wedding gowns, it was a nice break for us to check out dresses for the bridesmaids. In fact, in a span of a few hours, I found my gown and beautiful dresses for all of my attendants.

Many wedding advisers will tell you to shop around for gowns, but if a dress speaks to you on your first time out, don’t hesitate to make it your own. You’ll know when you’re wearing the right dress — your mother may start crying or your sister may finally agree that that’s the one.

I had three favorites and narrowed it down to two. Both were beautiful and fit my personality, but one just felt more comfortable — I felt like me in it. Although Low’s was my first stop, I knew there was no reason to prolong the search. When it’s right, you know it.

For most of us we’ll only be buying a wedding dress once, so, most importantly, have fun doing it. Savor the moment when you’re standing on that foot stool surrounded by mirrors, holding that plastic bouquet of flowers. It really is a special moment.

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