Do I Really Have to Say Yes?

When I was around 15 I became obsessed with a TV show, and that show was Say Yes to the Dress. Every Friday night you could find me plastered to the TV in our living room watching girl after girl try on oodles of gorgeous gowns until they finally said (now everyone say it with me now), "Yes to the Dress". I never grew tired of it. Even when girls on the show began trying on the same dress as an episode I had seen before, and even when the drama became tired and boring, I still remained devoted to Randy and the crew at Kleinfelds. Never daring to miss an episode or delete one from our DVR until I had viewed it at least twice. And when the show branched out to include a new dress store, Bridal by Lori in Atlanta my love for the franchise was renewed, especially since this store was located in my beloved Georgia. The southern twangs and crazy southern moms (and even crazier southern belles) had me entranced every week. And then Say Yes to the Bridesmaids came on and I just couldn't get enough. TLC may be lacking in their other shows, but I remain faithful to my bridal shows. 

When I started dating Matt the love for these shows intensified, well at least I became more devoted to watching it. My poor roommate Melissa was subjected to watching these shows every Friday whether she liked it or not. I even went as far to looking up and saving the directions to Kleinfelds just in case a certain someone got down on one knee and asked me a certain question. I even knew how I would convince my Mom to make the trek out to New York so I could fulfill my dream of trying on dresses in the famed store. My room was cluttered with magazines with tons of little yellow post its of every kind of dress I had a tiny bit of liking for. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted when it came time to the dress of my dreams. I was obsessed with wedding dresses. My cousin and I knew that when we had a girls night that that would include visiting different bridal salons to try on dresses. Now we're both on the road to marriage and it was time for me to pick out my wedding dress for real. If only I knew the tear filled, chaotic, stressful road that searching for the perfect gown would take me. 

About a month or two after I got engaged, I went to David's Bridal with my Mom, sister, and cousin. I was very excited and emotional about trying on wedding dresses for real, with an actual intent to buy. I brought in a list of dresses I wanted to try on, but I also had to no inclination to actually buy a dress from that store. I merely wanted to try on dresses to actually get an idea of how different styles looked on me. Well dress after dress, I became increasingly discouraged. I thought I looked terrible in all of them. My bad body image was on over drive and I was near tears when I tried on a dress I really loved and I looked awful in it. And then came the "Kate Dress". It was styled after the dress Kate Middleton wore for the royal wedding and I really just wanted to try it on for the heck of it. Well when I stepped out, my Mom cried, my sister cried, and my cousin cried. Then the consultant told me how amazing I looked in it, and everyone in the store came over and commented on how well I looked in it. I figured, well that must mean that this is the one. So I said yes to the fifth dress I tried on, in the first store I went to. Well it didn't take long for buyers remorse to set in. I tried to think of everything I could do to change it. And nothing felt right. So I did what I could considering the stores return policy and exchanged the dress for another one. And still I'm not 100% satisfied with my dress. It's definitely not my dream dress. But I am wearing it because I won't be that crazy person who goes in a third time to exchange a dress. It won't really matter what the dress is that I'm wearing since I'll still be marrying Matt and at the end of the day I'll be married to my best friend. 

Still, girls take my story as a cautionary tale. Shop around...a lot. Tell yourself in the first store that you go into that you are NOT going to buy a dress today. Even if you do fall in love with a dress, unless it's the last dress in the world and it's on clearance, step away from it. Sleep on it. Odds are that it'll be there still when you go in again and if you still feel the same way you did when you first put it on, by all means go for it. But I missed out on a HUGE opportunity that I had been looking forward to since I was a teenager, to go to as many stores as I could to try on as many dresses as I could bare before falling in love with my dress. Don't say yes to the dress too soon, think about it, sleep on it, and really make sure it's the dress of your dreams. Dress shopping is supposed to be a fun and exciting experience, make sure you get the most out of it! 

Who would say yes to this dress??