The Wedding Dress Shopping Extravaganza!

Wedding dresses are confections made out of cloth.  Some are so light and airy they appear to be made of spun sugar, while others are more solidly elegant like an excellent chunk of white chocolate.  This past weekend I saw enough concoctions to satisfy the most ravenous sweet tooth.  Yes, we went wedding dress shopping over Thanksgiving.  This particular shopping experience was much harder than I anticipated, and I was exhausted at the end of each try-on day.  My responsibility was to document each dress photographically, link the price to the dress, and via email with attachments keep Amy, Matron of Honor, in the dress buying loop.  I also created a slide show for the MOG* and MOH* to weigh in on their favorites among the final selections.  

Sarah, in her dainty, delicate size, looked fantastic in practically EVERY dress she tried on.  And she tried on, oh, let's say 100 DRESSES spread over six shops.  She really did look like a bridal model because she garnered unsolicited admiring comments from other MOBs* and brides to be. It was also surprising that Drake wasn't the only Dad in attendance.  Sarah and I were so giddy and excited after the first day's experience, we could tell he wanted to be included in the process, so we invited him to accompany us on the second try-on day.

The process itself is the best type of clothes try-on there is.  First, the perspective  bride has a giant dressing room and her own individual dress handler to facilitate getting gowns on and off.  The handler even may have an assistant.   Some of the dresses were feather light while others seemed as heavy as a suit of armor.  Every dress Sarah liked included a flowing piece of material dragging the floor behind the dress:  the train.  The dress handler is supported by an owner who holds the hands of the MOB*, bridesmaids, MOH*, FOB*, GOB* between dress viewings plying them with flattery, refreshments, information about the bridal gown order process, and in one shop, a huge flat screen TV playing the wedding movie "Father of the Bride", the Steve Martin version.

In a two day try on marathon, we hit every type of bridal shop:  the Haute Couture shop; the Boutique shop; the Wedding Dress Consignment Shop; the Off the Rack shop, and the All Inclusive.  While trying to find places for dresses, I quickly learned that one key component of WD shopping is the appointment.  In every shop, except Off the Rack, you need an appointment to try on dresses.  This insures you will get the personal attention noted above which assuages the exorbitant prices charged for wedding dresses.  Every shop, even the most lowly, had the bridal dress raised dais, spot lights, and a minimum of a tri-fold full length set of mirrors to showcase each tried on dress.  Some shops had many additional mirrors, so the bride could catch her reflection from every angle.

Some shops sold more than just wedding dresses.  The All Inclusive was located in the Azteca Wedding Plaza.  The Plaza was a series of connected multi-storied buildings in which you could book your venue, your photographer, your florist, your caterer, rent the tuxedos, rent/buy the wedding ties, cummerbunds, buy the wedding dress, the bridesmaid dresses, hair ornaments, veils, tiaras, (they had 300 to choose from), the flower girl basket, the ring bearer pillow, the guest book with decorative pen, the special b/g toasting glasses, the wedding favors for both guests and the wedding party, the bridal flip flops, the rice/birdseed/bubble going away favors and a jillion other must have items apparently necessary to get married.  This shop had the least lux try-on with only one dais serving four dressing rooms which were just curtained off areas in a large room.  MOBs were the real dress handlers here.  One attendant services at least two clients concurrently at Azteca.  Their utilitarian approach did hold down the cost of the dresses, somewhat.  Azteca's all inclusive approach was just cheerfully happy, and it was fun to see the place and the hundreds of accouterments.        

By contrast, the Off the Rack shop was just sad.  It was filled with long racks of dresses jammed together in plastic bags.  There were no 'helpers' for try-on.  The wedding dresses were constructed from the cheapest possible man made materials such as acetate, low grade polyester, and rayon.  Silk has never crossed the Off the Rack doorway.  Each dress was variously accented with machine made silver and/or gold polyester thread designs, or artificial flowers dotting the bodice, hemline or waistline or the entire dress.  ALL of these dresses were priced in three or even four figures.  You could buy the somewhat grubby samples for around $300.  Still, Sarah found a few dresses to try on.

The Haute Couture shop was the other end of the wedding dress shopping spectrum.  Racked were only about 20 dresses by a single designer arranged as a trunk show.  You picked the shop's other possibilities from an iPad, and your attendant fetched them from a concealed portion of the shop.  This store had 'areas' for the bridal hanger-ons waiting to see the next try-on.  In the areas were cool curved leather sectionals, lots of fresh plants and flowers, the flat screen playing the wedding movie, and several full length mirrors.  For the most part, the dresses in this store were curiously unappealing.  (This place was the site of the $10,000 dress try-on - blush pink with bias cut dropped waist and gathered netting ruffles to the floor).  This was our first stop, and it taught me that price isn't necessarily an indication of how lovely a wedding dress will be.

The Consignment Wedding Dress shop was the most interesting.  There were about 300 previously used wedding dresses all carefully hung according to type (A-line, mermaid, trumpet, ball gown)  and then sized in each category.  The furnishings, try-on areas as well as the handler were the same quality of experience as the boutiques.  Sarah even found a dress possibility here, and we were amused to realize there were several dresses in this second hand store priced outside our budget.  We also got a feel for wedding dress depreciation.  Insanely, a dress that is worn for perhaps six hours loses at least 20% of its value by the day after the wedding, and 50% of its value within six months after the wedding.  If you are really tiny or really big, there's an even bigger amount of depreciation.    

By far the best experience were the Boutique shops with individual owners displaying their vision of 'wedding'.  One of these had an amazing array of beautiful accessories to accent your waistline, bust line or head.  To one dress Sarah added a $700 sash which consisted of a two inch wide cream colored ribbon decorated with beads, rhinestones and pearls.  There were dazzling rhinestone hair decorations, or silk flower fascinators accented with beads. There were special high heeled shoes covered with rhinestones.  The dresses in these shops reflected the personal taste of the owners.  Of the four finalist dresses, three were from one boutique shop.

Hopefully, I've whetted your appetite to see the final pick.  THE DRESS will be revealed at the wedding.  Jay accompanied Sarah to Arizona and graciously cooled his heels while we three enjoyed a once in a lifetime experience with our princess.  Wedding bells will ring Memorial Day Weekend, 2013 for Sarah and Jay.  They are having a garden wedding with a brunch reception at a mansion venue in Austin, Texas.  If the wedding is as much fun as the wedding dress shopping extravaganza, then it will be a blast. 

*MOH = Matron of Honor      *MOB = Mother of the Bride    *MOG = Mother of the Groom   
*FOG = Father of the Bride   *GOB = Grandmother of the Bride