Dave and Jen's Engagement

Dress shopping

I got a wedding dress!!

Went wedding dress (excuse me, wedding "gown") shopping with my mom and sister last Wed-Sat, and purchased a dress on Sat morning! Yay! One major thing out of the way.

I now have really strong opinions about bridal salons. Along with the entire wedding industry which finds many ridiculous ways to suck up your money, bridal salons insist on calling it a "gown" which reinforces the bridal-princess image and makes you want to feel extra fancy and therefore spend more money on your perfect "gown".

Major annoyances:
- Salesgirls who work on commission and have the pushiness and fake perkiness to prove it.
- Stores that don't let you touch the dresses or look through the racks yourself even though each dress is individually wrapped in a bullet proof clear zippered bag, and then insist on making you sit there while they slowly bring you dresses that of course are not your style.
- And most of all, David's Bridal, a model of inefficiency and bad business practices.

Major positives:
- Nouvelle Bridal in Palo Alto, where we found my dress. The woman who owns it has been in business for years and she knows her stuff. Will gladly let you dig through the racks and try on anything you want. Beautiful dresses at reasonable prices.
- Glamour Closet in North Beach (SF), where I was tempted to buy 2 more dresses except that wedding gowns aren't the sort of thing you need to stock up on. Gorgeous designer gowns at 1/2 price, including some that cost the same or less than David's but were of visibly higher-quality and infinitely more beautiful.

Finally, I have to say that dress shopping is a humbling experience. There's nothing like a bunch of other brides-to-be coming out of their dressing rooms next to yours and standing next to you in front of a mirror to remind you that you are not a princess and that people get married all the time, so please come down off your high-falutin' cloud and be reasonable about your wedding. :)

posted by Dave @ 12:50 PM