Sunday, October 30, 2016

Oops, I said 'Yes to the Dress' Twice

Dress shopping. What a fun experience! (And honestly a little stressful). I grabbed a fun downtown Minneapolis hotel for 2 nights and drove down to the Twin Cities to shop for wedding dresses.

I originally just booked one bridal boutique; a&bé bridal shop, and they allowed up to 4-5 seats. So I had my mom, sisters, and future MIL meet me down there. This was booked two months in advance. The day before I drove down, my mom texted me and said I probably should've booked at least one other place. Duh! So I snuck myself into two other bridal shops last minute; Che Bella Boutique and Posh Bridal. Two other great places.

Adam and Mira came down as well and took the opportunity to do some hotel pool swimming, zoo visiting, and Valley Fair. Mira is obsessed with swimming. She literally woke up at the crack of dawn, opened the drapes, and would say, "it's light out! Wake up! Let's go swimming!".

I'll explain later what I mean by saying "yes to the dress twice", but for now I'll give a little review of each bridal shop.






Saturday morning we started at Che Bella Boutique. I picked that place because I researched some of their designers and they had some really good ones I had been eyeing. I was the first appointment, so it was quiet at the beginning. We were greeted by sweet, friendly young girls with scones and water. My personal stylist let me pick out the dresses I liked and she would take them to my dressing room and stand outside waiting for zipping and unzipping. Once other appointments started coming in it did feel a little crowded, but it was a cool trendy atmosphere. I had good luck there but nothing stopped me in my tracks. I figured I could come back if something really was on my mind. My sisters were both taking pictures the whole time too so I could always review later.




Then it was time for Posh Bridal. It was in a ritsy part of Wayzata (not sure if there are parts in Wayzata that AREN'T ritsy?). I went to the Rack first, which was the sale part of Posh. I had some luck there and most things were half price! Moved on to the actual shop and we were greeted at the door with champagne and other treats. The energy was really high over there and everyone seemed to be having so much fun and so happy to see us. We had a huge part of the shop to ourselves, which was cool. Gorgeous plush white couches and chairs with big windows letting lots of light in. Huge fancy floor mirrors, and awesome wedding themed music playing. The only thing I didn't like was that my personal stylist was IN the dressing room with me the whole time, seeing me naked and all. Not really for me, but hey, at least she was helpful. The dresses I tried on there were all very different from one another, and most weren't really my style. Lots of them were "they are pretty on, but not for me" and definitely some hard no's too. I didn't mind the constant flow of champs coming our way though ;) it felt very celebratory.



Lastly, was a&bé. This one I was most excited about because it was the original one I chose. And I followed this shop on social media and was obsessed with all the designers they had. This place was very big and completely open. There were dressing rooms but otherwise it was all open space. The way I would describe it was it seemed very "New York". The people there were more serious and seemed to be more into the fashion aspect. My mom didn't really love the vibes. I didn't care, they had amazing dresses. My stylist was Olivia, and she was quiet and sweet. She had me walk around the racks and pick dresses with her and she'd write them down. ALL of the dresses I tried on I was in love with. They were a little more unique than the other shops I went to.

One common ground of all these dress shops: I seemed to favor all the Hayley Paige dresses :).

Well, I will spare some details, but little did I know I was going to be driving back down the following weekend because of my indecisive mind. Spoiler: I got a two piece dress. I ended up deciding to only purchase the bottom from a&be, so I went to yet ANOTHER dress shop that next weekend; Bridal Accents Couture (recommended by one of my bridesmaids :)) to look for the top.



Bridal Accents Couture was a very nice, beautiful, clean shop. The dresses were beautiful, and most were different designers from what I had tried on at all the other places. I was on the hunt for a certain Watters top that nobody in Minneapolis seemed to have, but I did find something similar and beautiful. I waited over 24 hours to call them back and say "yes" to it to make sure I was not going to change my mind. So yep, I said yes to the dress at two different places, two different weekends. This basically showcases how picky I am. But now I can say I sort of designed my own dress and can check it off my list!



I will look back and laugh at myself for being so indecisive, but it was such a fun, memorable experience. I'm happy with the way it went!



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