Wedding Bells Are Ringing? Or aren't they...

"Here comes the bride, all dressed in white (or ivory...) sweetly serenly in the soft glowing light.
Lovely to see, marching to thee, sweet love united for eternity."  ~Richard Wagner

Let me begin by saying that I had NO idea the Richard Wagner wrote the text/music to this well known wedding march for a wedding scene in an opera... crazy huh!  Second of all, I have been watching a lot of Say Yes to the Dress and it has inspired the experience of todays posting

Yesterday Kindal and I went to the mall to get my haircut (which I must say looks pretty good...).  We signed up for my slot, and then began walking around the mall.  As we were winding around to start heading back we passed Allyse's Bridal.  Then I got the great idea.  We need to try on wedding dresses.  So, it was planned, we were coming on Saturday to try on some dresses.  She was to be the bride, and I was to play the roll of the best friend that was really honest and would actually say what I thought.  

As we walked back to the hair salon we started discussing our story.  She was marrying a guy named Sean McBride.  He's from Beaverton Oregon and is 23.  They met here at BYU, introduced by a mutual friend.  Then were pleasantly surprised to find that they're from the same Portland area in Oregon.  They are getting married on September 3rd (labor day weekend) in the Portland Oregon Temple.  He purposed in the canyon under the stars.  He just graduated.  Their colors are white, black, rose red and deep green. Budget for the dress is $1,000.  We were ready to go.

Once we got our story set, we headed over to the boutique.  Our bridal consultant was wonderful.  Her name is Lauren and she did a great job.  She began by asking what we were looking for.  Kindal wasn't totally sure what style she wanted, but she knew she didn't like the mermaid/fit n flare/trumpet silhouette idea.  They gave us a little magazine to go through and pick out styles that we liked.

We went through many different styles.  I was gonna outline them all for you, but I can't really remember them all.  So, I'm gonna give you an outline of our top 3.  

The first had an intricately beaded bodice.  It was a dropped waist modified ball gown with a lace overlay and embroidered appliqué on the skirt.  There was also lace trim around the bottom of the skirt and train.  It really was rather lovely.  It showed her figure off wonderfully.  

Next, after telling Kindal that she has to try on something that is fitted.  So, Lauren brought out one of the dresses that we noticed in the magazine.  It was a trumpet silhouette (fit 'n flare).  There was a good amount of ruching on the top, it was fitted all the way down to the mid-thigh level, it was very modern and had a rather full skirt once it flared.  There was also this super retro cowl that wraps around her shoulders.  There was a bunch of flowers on the skirt and some on the cowl.  It was really one of my favorites dresses.  I was shocked to see what it did for her body.  It completely accentuated the hour glass figure that she has (but didn't know she has).  Even Lauren was saying she's got a great body, and could pull of something super fitted...haha.  So, I was a big fan, and said that she needed to stick with something fitted.

So, as a way to bring in the beading from the first dress, and the fitting of the second, she found another great dress for us. This dress was made of taffeta, had a v-neck, sheering through the waist and hip, and had beaded lace appliqués on the sides.  It had a detachable sheer lace jacket with a high collar, but we weren't big fans of that.  It was definitely more of your fitted silhouette.  It wasn't quite as fitted but, still showed her off.  I really liked the V neck and the V back.  

At the end, we told them that we would write down our favorites so that when her mother came, they could look at those.  It was an absolutely hysterical experience.  Especially because I saw several people that I know there, including an alto from Concert Choir who works there.  The girls were cracking up because I knew so many of the terms (like ruching).  They kept telling Kindal most guys just say yeah, it looks good, but that I have an opinion and I share it.  And let me just say, my opinions were so good...haha.  

Well, we've decided on our styles for the dress, and gave her mom a call and laughed about it.  It was such an experience.  I have 3 other girls that wanna go now...haha.  I've been told I should get in to this business, and who knows, maybe I should...but until then, Such is Life