Silk and Organza and Tulle, Oh my! (Part 1)

To be honest, my first experience with trying on wedding gowns was a total nightmare. I had seen an ad for a sample sale, dragged my mom along to check it out, and had a big fail whale of a moment. In addition to the lack of staff help and the tremendous amounts of tulle and fluff, my mom and I got into a whopper of a fight. The details aren't so important, but my mom was stressed about her upcoming move into her boyfriend's house and I was being a bride, and I'm learning that those sorts of mother-daughter conditions nearly always lead to tears.I ended up trying on itchy scratchy tulle dresses while blotchy and hivey from crying. Not so fun.

Needless to say, I was not looking forward to getting back on that horse. I did plenty of online research and put off dress shopping until the last possible minute. (Apparently that last possible minute is 7 months from your wedding day. It takes a long ass time to order a wedding gown!) Finally, the moment of doom arrived. I really was convinced that dress shopping take two would be horrific and would result in me a) crying b) yelling and/or c) getting drunk.

Armed with Mr. Rucksacks's dos & don'ts list and an iPad full of ideas, I set up two appointments for one weekend and asked Momma Rucksack and Auntie Rucksack to join me. I was almost certain that I would choose one of these beauties:

Theia Style 890022 via Misses Dressy

Sweetpea via Ivy and Aster

Stop one was The Plumed Serpent in Westport, Connecticut. Our appointment was at 9:30am (Alison was a sweetheart and opened early for us!) and since I had read up on dress shopping etiquette, I arrived with no make-up, simple hair, a strapless bra and leggings. I quickly learned that it didn't matter since I was naked within seconds and in a borrowed long-line bra.

In addition to the Theia dress that I "knew" was the one, I allowed my mom and aunt to each pick one dress. Momma Rucksack leaned toward huge princess ballgowns while Auntie Rucksack chose curve hugging dresses.

Well, it turned out that I was very wrong about Theia. It hit my curves in all the wrong places. Insert sad face here. Luckily, I was in a store full of beautiful dresses and with some urging from my aunt I finally tried on her choice:

Romona Keveza A-Line Gown via Kleinfeld

And I fell in love. Unfortunately, that feeling quickly dissipated when we learned that the price was way over my budget!

I left the store feeling extremely conflicted, especially after Momma Rucksack and Auntie Rucksack assured me we could make it work. I just couldn't fathom spending so much money on a dress!

Luckily, we still had one more day of shopping ahead of us.

Did you fall in love with a dress that was way over your budget?