Dress Hunt

The last two weeks I have been on the hunt for a dress. Not just any old dress but “the dress.” The one that you dream about from the day you learned what a dress was. You dream of what it will look like, how it will fit and how you will feel wearing it.

I have heard over and over from multiple people that “I will just know” when I put on the right dress. After 6 shops and probably 25-30 dresses later you begin to wonder. I just wasn’t having any luck. Sure I was finding gorgeous dresses, sure I was finding dresses that fit but I hadn’t found the dress that had it all.

While on this journey I came across some very interesting bridal shop rules as I like to refer to them. Each shop has surprisingly done things a little differently than the last. A few of these rules were just too out there and weird that I had to write about them.

I encountered probably one of the most control freak bridal shop assistants EVER. I knew I was in for it when she was guiding my every move from the moment I walked in. She did so by saying things such as “Why don’t you come right over HERE and look at THESE (specifying a specific rack) dresses. Once I had picked out about 5 she said “Ok why don’t we get started on these and see where we get.” [This annoys me. I want to do one task and then move on to the next. I want to look, then try. Not look, try, look, try. That is annoying. Let me have my process people!]

It got even more comical when we went to try them on. She gave me strict instructions on what to put on and then informed me that she would help me from there. My mom was there, of course, and so she just started helping me. I think the lady heard the unzipping and the rustling of dresses and started freaking out. There was only a curtain between us and she kept asking “Can I come in!? Can I come in!?” I thought she was going to rip down the curtain. We were promptly informed that they have “certain” ways of putting on the dresses and that they prefer to have a bridal assistant help to put on the dresses. My mom was then banished from the room and I had to awkwardly change from dress to dress with a complete stranger [Not a fan. Although I became somewhat immune to it by after a few shops]

At another shop I knew I was in for it the moment I walked in and a 70 year old women greeted us. I just prayed to myself that I could put the dresses on myself. But of course that was not the case. What would be the fun in that!? So I proceeded to have a 70 year old woman help me try on dresses [at times I thought the dress was going to be too heavy for her little arms to hold up]. The kicker at this place was that you had to wear white gloves. Yeah…gloves. The old lady wasn’t wearing any. Riddle me that Batman.

Other places consisted of me having to take my shoes, going through a magazine rather than being able to look through the rack, writing down the name of the dress and having an assistant bring it to me. Some of these rules made sense and some didn’t (Gloves?) but I guess each place has the right to run their business how they choose.

• If I were to create my own shop I would let the girl look through the rack herself (looking at a picture in a magazine and looking at the actual dress are two totally different things and you don’t want someone who has no idea what you like looking for pick out dresses for you. That is absurd).


• She could have her own room with a large mirror in case she didn’t want to come out in the open and put on a show for the bazillion other brides in the shop.
  
• I would avoid making brides have an appt if possible. People have crazy schedules and sometimes you just have to go look when you have a spare minute.


• If there needs to be special care taken when trying on the dress I would instruct the mom, friend or whomever on how to do it so they don’t have to feel all uncomfortable with some random stranger in their dressing room. If they’re alone I will provide a long slip so that they can at least be covered and decrease embarrassment.


• Last but not least, I would give the bride some space. When she tries on the dress and she looks as though she is trying to decide if she likes it and she just wants to have a word with her mom in privacy to get her opinion without the SALES person standing right there to combat every complaint or worry she might have I would give them some space. Also, this space would give them the opportunity to look at the price tag without feeling like they have to sneak a peek while I am not looking. [Price matters and if something is completely out of your price range then it is better you not fall in love with the dress].

That is just how I would do it if it were me.

The happy ending to this whole process…I found it, THE DRESS!

Car trouble...

Story to come on this one. I have to wait until the story has an ending though. Nothing more frustrating then car trouble. Grrr. This is me except it is 7:00 at night in FREEZING cold weather. Not sure if I had that expression...I think I had more anger on my face. Yeah I think that would be accurate.

Humbled

I was asked to work on a project that required me to go through about 200 pieces of coverage (news articles). Of course my initial reaction was not exactly "Yippee!" but I found some determination and went to work. I worked from about 8:30 to 1:00 and then finished up the rest after lunch and ended around 3:00. I actually made pretty good time and felt good about my accomplishment.

I wasn't given all the articles however. A portion of them were given to someone else. I wasn't told who they were given to but all I knew was that I wasn't going to be able to do it all myself. When it was all said and done I was somewhat curious as to who did the rest of the articles thinking that we could commiserate together a little.

Today I returned some of the hard copy articles to the partner that had asked for my help. When I handed him the stack he made the comment that this was only a small part of the rest of the stack. I took this as my opportunity to find out who he had gotten to go through the rest of the articles.

His response..."I did and also another one of our partners went through a few too."

At that moment I felt about two inches tall. Here I was feeling all picked on and one of the "big wigs," the "top dogs," the "head honchos" had done the SAME work that I had done. I walked out of that office so grateful to be working for a company who employs individuals, including those at the top, that work hard everyday.

I made a commitment to have a better attitude when a not so glamorous project comes my way. A little hard work never hurt anyone.

Wedding Planning

I want to blog an update about the wedding plans because I have actually made some progress to blog about. First of all I have chosen a reception center. The place of choice is Eldrege Manor.

I really like this place. I like the style. I won't have to do much to make it look nice. It has a lighter warmer feel. I have the option to do it either inside or outside (weather depending). It is equip for dancing, bouquet toss, cake cutting the works! I have a meeting with the owner on Saturday where we will work out all the details.

Second decision made is the photographer. We have decided to go with Swensen Photography.

This picture isn't really my favorite but it was the only one that I could copy and paste from the Web site. Go check out the rest of their pictures. I am a big fan of their style. Let's just hope that my pictures turn out as good as their gallery photos. I am still trying to decide if we are going to have someone else do our engagements or not simply for the fact that we can have all the negatives. We can't have the copyright unless we pay for them with Swensen (yeah I know total downside, except most of the quality photographers require you pay extra for copyright anyway) I have a lot of things I would like to use our engagement photos for so it would be nice to have unlimited use of them.

I have a videographer that I would like to hire (just waiting for the go ahead from the madre). His name is Nathan Pickett and he also has a blog where he posts more videos. You can check it out here. I talked with him on the phone and he was very personable, I liked his personality, and he seemed very workable. Not to mention he has the best deal out of all the videographers that I have looked into. I think we can get everything that we want for a good price.

Last but not least for updates I think I have found the dress that I want. All that it comes down to is money. I think out of the two that I like I of course like the more expensive one! Obviously. Mom is coming down to Provo tomorrow to check it out and we will see how it goes.

That is where I am at. *sigh* I have a lot more to go. this wedding planning is keeping me insanely busy. I hope that as I get these big things out of the way I can breathe a little and not feel like I need to be doing wedding stuff EVERY day! It is fun however and it is exciting to start seeing things come together and really get a picture of how I want it to be and look like.

Next steps...
1. Colors (I know I should already have this figured out but I don't!)
2. Invitations
3. Shoes! (I am so excited for this one! I am going to find some FABULOUS shoes!)

Now I would like to introduce my very first guest blogger...fiance!

Boy, this wedding planning is exhausting work! For Marisa, that is. This is Fiance, and I just wanted to clarify that all this planning comes from Marisa. Just kidding. No, but seriously, Marisa has done everything. I just nod my head from side to side or up and down. I'm thankful for a fiance (Marisa) who works hard to make things nice. I sure love her!

Fiance has been wonderful through this whole process. He has been patient, helped when asked and simply held me when I wanted to quit. He has been fantastic and I love him so! I think I will marry him!

Student Driver

Today I saw a semi trailer labeled Student Driver. My first reaction was “I do not want to be near this guy.” “He isn’t trained!” Any smart person knows you do not want to be around a beginner driver who happens to be controlling a 50 foot steal box.

I had no idea that semi drivers participated in any kind of driving training. Then I realized why I have never known that. The reason: many of the semi drivers on the road don’t drive like they have had any training!

I guess it is somewhat comforting to know that they have received a least a little bit of training. I wouldn’t want to see how they drove if they didn’t. There would probably be daily occurrences of semi’s taking out cars and buildings because they turned to sharp.

I wonder if the driving instructor has a brake pedal on his side of the student semi …