The Wedding Dress Shopping that Almost Wasn't

This is the story of my latest adventure into wedding dress shopping or, as I like to call it..."Help Fishie Buy a Dress so she Doesn't Walk Down The Aisle Naked-extravaganza" the poor consultants at the dress shops never knew what they were in for when they agreed to take my appointment. Unfortunately, this fun adventure almost never happened. Between work schedules, school schedules, and health issues it was down to the wire and people started backing out left and right. As any good fishie would, I was understanding and told everyone it was fine that it was OK that they were backing out on me. Inside was a different story, I was starting to get frustrated and throwing a temper tantrum that would make a 3 year old jealous. It was enough to make even the most even tempered, laid back bride loose it. My party went from having over 8 people a week earlier to now it was down to me, MOH Fishie, and FMIL Fishie. Which, although fun, wasn't what I was expecting. So what's a frustrated, angry, fishie to do? Call in reinforcements of course!




Thankfully, in this case the reinforcements actually called themselves in. Some days I'm convinced my father has ESP or something (maybe he just looks at my Facebook page) because no sooner was I worried that my dress shopping was going to be put on hold then he was calling me up and saying something about a Bluegrass festival in Eau Claire this weekend and how he needed some place to park his RV so why not park it in my driveway and hey, as long as he was coming down why doesn't he bring my friend Angie and my grandmother down too so then they could go dress shopping. Hmm....a little convenient, no? So, although it wasn't the 8 person party I was originally planning it was enough to make me happy and still be able to keep my appointments. So, big thanks to my dad for being willing to endure a 2 hr car ride with my grandma.

We woke up bright and early and left 10am for Foreign 5 Bridal Sweet in Chippewa Falls.

It was really nice, I got to sit and flip through a book while the other 3 picked out dresses for me to try on. After the dresses I liked were veteoed before I even tried them on, I relinquished control and said they could pick them out for me.

This was the first dress, no clue who the designer is but it was nice and flowy. I really enjoyed the amber jewel right between my boobs but...

 it was almost a little TOO flowy for my taste. Although I did enjoy swishing back and forth in it.

 Dress number 2, a little sleeker, a little more modern but still had the jewel in between my boobs. I was really digging the neckline. Fortunately we don't have a picture of how much I felt up my boobs in this dress. I was liking the fact that I actually looked like I had boobs. And here I thought I couldn't do the sweetheart neckline since I have no boobs but the consultant actually said I should because it gives the illusion of a fuller chest. Well that and a wonderbra.

I'd seen this dress plenty of times in ads and at the bridal shows and it looked interesting, however I mocked it mercilessly and thus decided I had to try it on just in case...

but the mocking was well justified, I mean just look at the high neck and back collar. Really, not my style.

This one looked good on the mannequin but the straps itched and it was just a little tooo plain for my taste.

Which brings us to dress number 5, ignore the goofy look on my face and focus on the pretty beading under my boobs and make note of how big my boobs look in this dress. Yeah, 34 A over here and this dress does not make it look like it thank you very much! And hello waist line. The only downside to this dress? Was the weight of the fabric...

however I could still do the Chicken Dance in it so it went into the "Maybe" pile. And yes, the ability to do the "Chicken Dance" was a requirement of the dress. I fully intend to shake, shake, shake, shake my booty at the reception.

Onto dress number 6... too much detail and too poofy...nuff said.

This next dress was nice but again, not really my style. I wasn't really big on an A-Line dress, it just didn't seem to fit my non-poofy criteria.

And the last dress of the day, just so happened to be one that I'd tried with FMIL Fishie the last time...well I say "Just so happened" but in reality it was FMIL's suggestion that I try it on again since I'd liked it so much the last time. And after the poor sales woman had to go hunting all over the store to try and find it for us, I still walked away...it was a great dress but I'm very indecisive and couldn't make a decision.

 And with that...I left Chippewa and headed to Eau Claire with my entourage in tow. Unfortunately, the Bridal Shoppe in EC doesn't allow pictures so there's no pictures of the many many dresses that I tried on. But, needless to say I walked out of that store confused, and still without a dress. It was a fun day for everyone, even if I didn't buy a dress.

Am I being too picky? Should I just buy a dress and hope for the best? Or do I keep looking?