expensive taste...

she's here! she's beautiful, more than i remembered....
and yeah, i'm talking about my wedding dress. SIGHHHHHHHHHHH. i would LOVE to post a picture of my dress but a) Mr. Ramen is quite dedicated to reading my wedding blog now, because "it's my wedding too!" and b) i actually want it to be a surprise for him, to see me in THE dress. so.... i'm going to just tell you about my experiences dress shopping, and show you some of the ones who didn't make the cut....

since we got engaged in January, i've spent a majority of my time in SoCal, slaving away at school, and so have visited just about EVERY SINGLE DRESS STORE in OC, not to mention a few in SF, SD, and PHX. seriously. i am not kidding. i'm a tad bit of a perfectionist, and had to see every single dress that i could before i made a decision.

i've tried on dresses at:

La Soie in Tustin* AND in Torrance ***
Ferndales in Orange
Mon Amie in Costa Mesa
Mary Me in Orange

Jaclyns in Costa Mesa

The Dresser in Fullerton
The Wedding Day in Huntington Beach

David's Bridal in Brea

The Ivory Suite in Pasadena *

Mariposa in Anaheim *

Tom's Bridal in Anaheim

Jinny's Bridal in Huntington
Karoza in Glendale

Bridal Galleria in SF

Glamour Closet in SF AND in LA *

La Boutique Des Brides in SF

Novella Bridal in SF *
Priscilla of Boston in SF*

Chez Bride Moderne in SD *

and I Do I Do Bridal in Phoenix*.

there actually might be a few I left out, but just can't remember....and shamefully, I've been to a couple of these places more than once. *nervous laughter* so i've tried on at least a million dresses - i am a pro wedding-gown-tryer-on-er; i think i can fit in at least 15 dresses in one appointment. The ones that I've starred are the stores where I received the BEST customer service, and would highly recommend people to shop there. I bought my lovely from La Soie in Torrance; hence the special triple-star. My sister/MOH and cousin/BM have all been really good sports and gone with me on MANY dress trips.

My only real criteria for a dress was that I didn't want a typical A-line ball gown, partially because I would look like a giant marshmallow/bell, and mostly because I really wanted something different. So I began looking for a modified A/almost-mermaid cut. Nothing too frou-frou, or cheap-looking, but something for less than $2k after tax, and including alterations if possible. and did I mention my new love affair with lace? i wanted to look modern but classic, sexy yet not trashy, and expensive-looking but cheap. that might explain why i shopped around so much....

This is the Opera by Monique Lhuillier. I loooooved this dress. I was ready to spend almost double my budget to have this baby. But my sister said it just didn't have the WOW factor. But I mean, really. It's Monique!

Like any reasonable girl, I had already fallen madly in love with Monique Lhuillier and Jim Hjelm gowns... until I discovered their INSANE price tags. They really should post prices in wedding magazines!!!! I remember the shock of discovering that most Jim Hjelms start at around $2k, and let's not even start on Moniques! And Priscilla of Boston?!?! Yeah... that was pretty fun, although I could never afford one. I actually sort-of-maybe lied when they asked what my budget was, because I realllllllly wanted to try on the high end gowns because really, when am I ever going to touch a dress that costs $7000+ ever again? And also, I was a bit interested in buying my dress used. Yes, this means I was super-stalking Preownedweddingdresses.com and oncewed.com. Seriously stalking. But I never found the right dress, at the right time, at the right price, in the right size. SIGH.

At any rate, because I know everyone just wants to look at pictures, here are a few of the contenders from my many appointments...

this is a jh gown... that i actually didn't really care TOO much for, but my sister and one of my bms loooooved this dress. and Mr. Ramen actually did too (uhm, so i broke a rule and let him see a few dresses. but i didn't get any of them, so it's ok. plus you can't even see my face...

i was so serious about this dress, i tried it on 3 separate times. it's a JH, and there are very few salons in OC that carry a lot of the JH line. it was also over my budget, BUT through the WB boards, i actually found an AWESOME store owner in a NW state who sells JH dresses at EXTREMELY reasonable rates - so it would be just a tad bit over my original budget, but i ended up going with a different dress that i loved more.... but i still love this one too!

This is at Mariposa in Anaheim. The girls there are soooo sweet, and will take pictures for you! The dresses here are really reasonably priced. This is a 2009 Enzoani (Diana, i think) that I loooooved because of the crazy flower belt. This was actually the first dress I had tried on, ever - but at a different store (I think i tried it on at 3-4 different stores); you have the option of getting the belt in a black/brown OR in this ivory tone. I loved the black/brown because it was sooo funky. Again, I'm not unhappy, I'm just uncomfortable having pictures taken of me by strangers.

This is at La Soie in Tustin. I actually almost bought the sample off the rack in desperation (Panda by Pronovias, I think)- until I realized that the lace pattern across the front was remniscent of Charlie Brown's shirt. SIGH. I also didn't realy loooove this dress... I was just settling for a "good enough".

I liked a lot of these dresses, I even thought that 2 of them were "the one"... but no dice. I ended up choosing a totally different Enzoani gown...

Did you have an ridiculously hard time choosing your gown like I did?