Wedding Dress Shopping

Done. Check one more thing off the to-do list before June 8.

I have to admit I was not overly looking forward to dress shopping. I hate wearing a dress 99% of the time and would much rather wear jeans and a sweatshirt than a dress any day. Either way, I am getting married and it does require a dress (yes I know there are pant suit options and all sorts of other ridiculous options but really I should probably wear a dress to my wedding). I realize that this is the day (or months in some women's lives) that they look forward to since they are young girls. I on the other hand dreaded the idea of going wedding dress shopping. I hate shopping particularly for dresses, particularly fancy dress shopping where I feel pressure of one sort of another.

This past Saturday after the Fargo Mini Marathon, my mother, and a good friend and I headed out on what I knew would be a daunting task. I knew I had to try on what felt like a bazillion dresses. I had two appointments, one at a small bridal store and one at a all too common bridal store. I tried on what felt like every dress the small bridal store had and had two dresses (totally and completely different from each other) that I liked at the end of our time there. At store number two I tried on what felt like another bazillion dresses, although the nice part at store two was I didn't have to try on several styles of dresses as I had tried on those styles at store one and knew I hated them. All throughout the appointment we kept comparing every dress back to the two dresses from store one. After store two we went back to store one again and I tried on those two dresses again (twice each) and ended up picking one of the dresses. I had a really hard time choosing a dress, both were nice for sure. I wasn't sure how to choose which dress, I knew I wouldn't have the over the top experience that some people have that leave them in tears the moment that they put on a dress, but I was hoping that I would at least have teh gut feeling that "this is the one" and as I went back and forth between the two dresses the one I chose just seemed right.

I sort of am annoyed at the wedding industry most days, I find it obnoxious that their sizing required me to buy a dress that is four sizes bigger than my pant size, seriously, why can't they make their sizing normal?! I am also annoyed at how big of an industry it has become and I really am trying to not make this wedding over the top and materialistic. I really am trying to focus on what is important and not spend a ton and a half. I really am trying to keep it relatively simple. But I keep hitting a wall with the wedding world, it is a crazy crazy crazy world!

At the end of the day as annoyed as I am with the wedding industry I am jazzed that I have a wedding dress and don't have to go shopping for a dress again. I am thankful for friends and family who will witness to our wedding, hold us in prayer, and will help us as we journey into life as a married couple despite what the wedding industry is or is not.