I actually, most certainly believe that I am most probably a bit stupid. Something happened to me the minute that shiny, silver, beaut slipped onto my pointer - I turned into an obsessed, wedding dress fanatic. Like most people I have a 'smart' phone (how on earth they received that title I will never know, the damn thing never seems to work properly) well, I developed this need, this desire (a bit like a psycho on a man hunt) to purchase the dress of my dreams (although on a very tight budget) as soon as he said yes and having my useless Blackberry to hand I was able to literally scan Google Images in an instant without coming up for air.
Googling - Vintage Wedding Dresses, Unique Wedding Dresses, Wedding Dresses, Ivory Wedding Dresses, Retro Wedding Dresses, Any Bloody Wedding Dresses...and so it went on until the space behind my eyes began to throb. Why do we do this, why do we get so obsessed? And when I say 'we' I am not pigeon holing every women here, just ones like myself. I can't be the only one to have done this can I?
About 3 days later there I am, still on my Blackberry, still scrolling through wedding dress after wedding dress and I find myself on Ebay. Ebay?! Really? Can I really get my wedding dress off Ebay?. Well I did. I found the dress of my dreams...HA, yeah right! I am trying to sell the bloody thing now. Look don't get me wrong it's stunning.1930's vintage - PERFECT, sleek - PERFECT, ivory - PERFECT, gorgeous brocade fabric - PERFECT, cheap - PERFECT, made me look thin - PERFECT, long sleeves - PERF...hang on...what date are we getting married? August....August being summer?...Summer being hot?...fan'bloody'tastic!
My sister said "Won't you be hot in that?", "No" I said, "I love...being...hot" trying really hard to sound like I enjoy sweating my bit's off. Surely I can't admit that she is in fact right can I?! That would be preposterous...surely. Ok, so she was right. I know what you might be thinking, England. Rain. Yes, this could be the case BUT on the off chance it is hot which probably would happen because it probably just would, I would most certainly be extremely toasty and I already suffer with the heat, I have not been on holiday since I was 15 and my legs are what you could call 'fridge white?'. There was a long running joke when I was studying at Uni that I was the same colour as our halls of residence, rather large white fridge.So much so a couple of my housemates found it utterly hilarious to take pictures of me next to it and laugh hysterically at the similarity in colour. It's ok. I admit it. I am a bit pale. Anyhow...I had screwed up. I didn't wait, I didn't take my time - even though it felt like I did. Not to mention that our theme was going to be based on the 50's...1930's dress, Hello?! I really did not think this through at all did I.
I said I had two dresses and that would be right...I came across a vintage designer online, I say came across because I wasn't hunting this time...sort of. I thought it might be fun to take a 3 hour trip to her studio in Twickenham via train and tube, in the blistering heat. My bridesmaids slowly pondering over the idea of why they even considered being my bridesmaids in the first place. I had already seen the picture on her webpage and I was excited although part of me thought "I am in serious trouble if this dress is hideous". We finally found the studio after using Google map to find our way on foot. By this point I just wanted a jack Daniels and a roll up. I don't smoke unless I drink, a nasty habit but at this moment in time I was craving both of those things in a nice cool beer garden. We knocked, we entered, we made polite chit chat whilst I was combusting on the inside with the need to see it and then...out came the dress.
This dress looked completely and utterly...beautiful, maybe even stunning. I popped my legs in and pulled it up. (I must point out that I can't go into to much detail in fear of my fiance reading this.) I had heard that you get this weird feeling when you try on THE dress. A feeling like butterfly's fluttering around in your belly. A warm fuzzy feeling. A bit like when you meet the guy you're going to marry, I suppose. I expect for some, the dress is almost as important. Well I don't know if that is true but I felt something and it was big enough for me to make a commitment to this dress. The dress that I was gazing at in the mirror in front of me had to be mine. OK so your probably thinking, really? You made this commitment once already, but no - this was most definitely different. My belly told me so and so did my bridesmaids. In fact they even shed a small tear. That was my own personal mission there, if I saw tears things were a good'en!
Are you looking for your 'Dream' dress or have you already found it and was the adventure as ridiculous as mine? We would love to hear it, it makes me look less stupid anyway.
Are you looking for your 'Dream' dress or have you already found it and was the adventure as ridiculous as mine? We would love to hear it, it makes me look less stupid anyway.
