I am aware that today is Thurs., but I just didn’t get around to posting yesterday. Sorry! You understand, though, right? I knew you would. You’re the best. 
But, I did promise you a weekly wedding planning update and I don’t like to disappoint. So, this week, I have a big confession to make: I have been engaged for three years and have not tried on a single wedding dress. I don’t know what it is, but I am petrified to put one on!! And this is totally unlike me! I LOVE, scratch that, LIVE to shop! Trying on clothes is like a port to me. My fiance is amazed at how quickly I move in and out of the dressing room. I walk in with a pile of clothes bigger than I am, assess each item instantly and emerge from the dressing room in mere moments with one or two items that I’ll be taking to the register, if anything at all.
So, why I am not able to try on this particular item of clothing? I remember going dress shopping with my my best friend when she was about to be married and even then I was afraid of the gowns. One of the attendants asked if I’d like to try one particular dress on and I think my reply was, “God, no!”
I speculate the reasons I dread trying on wedding dresses are threefold:
- Permanence. We’ve all made missteps in our fashion judgment over the years. I know each of you had a picture of yourself with a bad perm, pants, etc. What if this is one of those times? You don’t want to see the pictures of you in your M.C. Hammer pants every time you visit your in-laws.
- Significance. Few dresses are as monumental in your life and your wedding dress. Can it possibly live up to my fantasies (and come in under budget)? What if I pick the wrong dress? I knew a girl once who made her parents buy her a new dress six months after she had bought the first one. I am paying for my own dress, people! I can’t afford mistakes.
- Pressure. I’ll admit it, the pressure is mostly self-inflicted. I’m well aware it’s heavily linked to our societal body image issues, but I am absolutely never 100% satisfied with the way I look. And if there’s one day you want to be completely happy with the way you look, it’s gonna be your wedding day. Crazy? Yes. Unusual? I’m thinking, no.
Am I wrong? Did you approach your wedding dress trials with far-less trepidation than this obsessive fashionista? Maybe it’s a wedding thing? Was there anything about your nuptials that scared the bejeezus out of you? Share my pain and at the same time, ease my suffering! What matrimonial minutia messed with your mind? And, more importantly, how did you get past it?!?!
Befuddled,
SPF
Too funny. I never went dress shopping at all. At the time, I was working a zillion hours a week at Philadelphia Style. I ordered a $150 wedding dress in a size I hoped would fit me. When it was delivered to the office, I tried it on over my jeans and our lovely fashion editor zipped it up for me and declared it perfect. I didn’t even look in the mirror before getting back to work. It looks great in the pictures anyway.
SPF: Wow, I really admire your confidence. Please tell me something about planning your wedding struck fear in your heart!
I actually had to buy my dress before I could even think of planning the rest of the wedding. If I didn’t know what I was going to be wearing, how on earth could I visualize the event?
Kidding – sort of. I bought my dress before doing other things, simply bc I viewed it as one of the “fun” planning things to do.
I ended up buying the first dress I tried on. (I tried on others, even went to other stores, but could never shake that dress from my mind). Even though it felt like “the one” when I tried it, I didn’t really have that moment you hear brides talk about, bc it was the FIRST dress I tried. Sort of like marrying your 7th grade boyfriend, ya know?
My hubs and I forgot to buy wedding rings. Yeah. I mean, with only a year and half long engagement, you’d THINK it would have crossed our minds. (what did I care, I had the bling already! hee hee) Cut to us at Zales two nights before the wedding. And I love my $200 Zales ring
SPF: That’s EXACTLY why I have to get on the ball!
I know I’m late but had to leave a comment. I was the exact same. I dreaded dress shopping. I love all other kinds of shopping and clothes and fashion but I did NOT want to go inside any kind of bridal store.
In the end my mom took over sensing my trepidation and asked one day, “Do you need someone to tell you have to go dress shopping? Because I’ll do it.” I did, and she did. An hour later I was trying on dresses. I picked one that day and never looked back.
You can do it! And you’ll love the dress for the rest of your life simply because it is THE DRESS.
SPF: Never too late to comment here! Thanks for the encouragement. I made a date with a friend to do some try-ons early in March. I’ll keep you posted!
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