A Surprising Turn of Events

...caught your attention with that one. Didn't I?

My two best women - Janette and Samia have picked out their best women outfits. As you may or may not recall from previous blog entries, I have always been against assigning dresses to my "bridal party." I have purchased way too many "oh, you'll wear it again" dresses for hundreds of dollars. Besides, we were trying to be a little less formal, a little less "wedding-y." I wanted those participating intimately in this special event to feel their most comfortable, their most confident without breaking the bank. After one far in advance planned shopping trip during which we came up empty, we decided to do internet searches and reconvene. It turns out that David's Bridal - that's right, David's Bridal, of all places - had the most reasonable prices for flattering green dresses. Before venturing into the hotbed of all things wedding machine, we chose the color "clover" and the ladies tried on a bunch of short cocktail style dresses. They both chose the same dress. So suddenly the bride to be who was trying desperately not to dictate dress style or even color is scratching her head over the fact that her best women will be clad in David Bridal Couture. This is not their dress.

Speaking of which, after the best ladies chose their garments, I went back to David's Bridal (a different one in LI) a week later with my mother, two of my aunts and my cousin (the flower girl...is there a better genderlicious term for this? Flower girl sounds kind of nice). This would make the third time that I had an appointment with them. Yet, I could not get over the difference in the amount of attention I received from appointment A - looking for a bridal gown to appointment B - looking to purchase two "bridesmaids" dresses to appointment C - just shopping for a flower girl dress. The first time, I had a devoted attendant. She spent over an hour on me, getting me anything I wanted and helping me at every turn. The second time, the woman helped us out and proceeded to sketch pictures of naked women by the computer monitor (I kid not) until we needed her, but at least she was around. This last time really irked me. Our attendant walked us over the white dress flower girl area showed us where the size 10's were and watched us as we picked out a few dresses. She then took us to the fitting room and disappeared for the rest of the afternoon. We had to flag down another person to show us some of the other more colorful options. When we went up front to put some things on the "wish list," and asked about sizing, we were asked snottily, "well, did she try on the 10?" When I explained that nobody had been around to help us, the attitude continued.

You know, I'm not particularly sophisticated, but when the clerks at David's Bridal in Smithtown give you sass, it may be time to reassess some things.

We bought the flower girl dress at Burlington Coat factory for less than half of what the evil people at DB were going to charge. Take that! This is NOT Sarah's dress. I just thought this image was slightly creepy. Thought we could open up the floor to the implications of projecting images of young girls as brides...any takers?

Anyway, as the fates would have it, we might have to go back to DB. We liked one of the dresses for my mother. She looked beautiful in a Sapphire blue number with a lacy top. Maybe Burlington Coat Factory will have a better deal on that one too. At the very least, since we do not need to make an appointment or have someone pretend to help us, we won't be disappointed with the service.

The Elusive Dress

Yesterday, my two best women and I traveled to Roosevelt Field Mall to explore its nooks and crannies and find dresses for them. Arthur and I want our colors for the wedding to be peridot and garnet (the colors of our birthstones). At first, as you may have read before, we were more or less going to let the best women and best men wear whatever they felt comfortable in. This is still very important to us, but we may try to have the women in one color and the men wear ties in the other color. First, though, we need to find the dresses.

After planning this day months ago, we were all anxious to get out there and start shopping. So we made the logical first stop. The food court, of course! Hey. There were free samples. And, well, one needs sustenance in order to walk around the mall for hours. Don't judge!

Anyway, after a quick lunch and discussion over day before wedding activities (J found a great reflexology place in LI and we no plan to make appointments), we were off.

We went to Bloomingdales, Macy's, Nordstrom's, JC Penny, Ann Taylor, J. Crew and Jessica McClintock. This list is neither in order nor complete.

When we walked into our first store, we noticed that pea soup green is quite in and we all mocked it, as women do when they shop. We moved on to to try to find clover greens, grass greens, seafoam greens or apple greens. Need more green references? Click here. Nothing was wowing us. There were sun dresses and "maxi" dresses and formal gowns, but there seemed to be a dearth of cute green cocktail dresses in most of the stores.

Then J found a dress that looked very good on her. Guess what color it was? Pea soup green! She bought it! The next challenge was to find a dress that complimented it for S. Do you know how hard it is to find a dress that does not clash with pea soup green? You don't know. It's pretty freakin' hard.


Meanwhile, we stepped into Jessica McClintock for kicks and trips down prom memory lane. It turned out that they had a dress with both green and garnet! It was really funky and when J handed it to me, I laughed at first and joked that I should be in Moulin Rouge. I tried it on, it fit and looked good. It was also 25% off. I bought it for the rehearsal dinner. Note: that is not at all settled and I was a bit worried about wearing such an ensemble to Rib City. I mean is it weird to wear a fancy cocktail dress to a place that has a carton character display of the animal you about to eat? My best women convinced me that my concerns were unwarranted, that it was just about the only time I could wear something like that and I got over it. It is now safely ensconced at J's place so that Arthur cannot see it. Did you know the tradition is that it is bad luck for the groom to see the rehearsal dinner dress before the rehearsal?

Anyway, we left the mall feeling slightly unsatisfied in regards to our original quest. We had to make this past shopping date about two months ago because of everyone's schedule, so I fear it will take just as long to do it again. In the mean time, there will be lots of on-line shopping.