Dress Shopping

This past weekend my Maid of Honor, Irene, and one of my bridesmaids, Lauren, visited Tallahassee. So we decided to do some wedding dress shopping! Irene came into town early in the afternoon on Friday so we went to David’s Bridal first. It was my first time trying on wedding dresses (and my first time ever even in a Bridal shop).

At David’s Bridal (which I do not recommend to anyone) the first thing that happened was the attendant fishing for as much information as they could get out of me. Some of it was necessary for the appointment like the styles I was interested in and budget. The other info they wanted was my bridesmaid, flower girl, and ring bearer’s email addresses and phone numbers. I felt disinclined to give them any such info because I didn’t want to commit to David’s Bridal, nor did I want them harassing my girls.

I thought the first part of this experience was a little uncomfortable, I felt pushed to give more information than I was prepared to (or wanted to) give. For example, they asked about a ring bearer and flower girl. Neither of which I have even considered because I am completely new to everything wedding–I have never been one to watch Bridal shows, nor have I even been to a wedding. So when I responded “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought of that.” The attendant gave me a weird look. A second, maybe more uncomfortable request for info was what color wedding dress I wanted. I kind of laughed and said “White,” because I honestly thought he was asking whether I wanted white or a non-traditional color like blue or something. But he clarified asking what type of white I wanted white white or ivory. I didn’t know the difference–but I do now! Needless to say the gave me another funny look.

I tried on dresses for about 2 and a half hours. At first it was frustrating because I wanted to see how various styles looked and that meant hit-or-miss. It was fun but I was over-all unimpressed with the quality of the dresses for the price they were asking. Either the beading was too dramatic. Or the sequins were falling off in the dressing room. The lace didn’t go all the way around the dress but was more draped as Irene said like a “table cloth” over the layers of tulle underneath.

Saturday morning Lauren, Irene, and I went to a beautiful little boutique in Midtown (Tallahassee) called Vocelles. It was definitely a more upscale place, but they still had dresses within my limited budget. The consultants were very sweet and the dresses were absolutely stunning. I fell in love with a dress that was over my budget and had to leave it behind. My practical mind kicked in, and I just couldn’t justify spending that much on a one-time dress.

Our final stop was a cute boutique called Absolute Haven Bridal run by a mother and daughter. They were so welcoming with hugs and congratulations and deep considerations of my budget. They had me try on dresses that were less than half my budget to start and I quickly found a dress that I loved with an amazing price to boot. I kept trying on a couple of dresses after just to see how I would feel, but they seriously kept asking me “Are you sure?” and telling me very clearly before taking each dress off the hanger what the price was.

I walked away with a sample dress right off the rack for only $448! I absolutely would recommend this little shop to anyone whether on a strict budget or not. They were so sweet, I didn’t feel pressured to buy, and they were upfront about the price of each dress.

Here is a picture of Irene (left), me (middle), and Lauren (right) at Absolute Haven Bridal!