Here Comes The Bride! November 29, 2006
This story is dedicated to my dearest Mom!
When Mom came to visit me in San Francisco last week, we only had one task: not sight seeing, no trip to Alcatraz, no crazy shopping tour, nor extensive relaxation or pampering but to find the dress!!! I mean, THE dress. Which was easier said than done…
First drama: On Saturday, I got really frustrated when I realized that all the fancy-shmancy bridal boutiques only carry size 6 or 8. I have a US size 10 or 12 (gym membership application form already filled in) at the moment and couldn’t even go anywhere near these tiny dresses without being afraid that I tear anything apart or rip the precious silk.
I tried to swallow my disappointment and not to become too angry about the situation. Mom, I guess I didn’t do a very good job at that, huh? ;-)
Sunday in church, my friend Whitney told me about this bridal salon on Maiden Lane - Novella Bridal (www.novellabridal.com - check their website if you want to see some great picture of her and my other friend Roland modelling their bridal and groom fashion!).Â
Since Novella Bridal doesn’t just order the dresses from some huge company but creates YOUR very personal dress and only seamstresses it to fit YOUR body, I figured that it would be very pricy and therefore completely out of reach.
But, you’ll never know until you have it a try! So, Mom and I continued our hunt on Monday on Maiden Lane.
Oh, by the way, that boutique where Joy and I previously ‘found’ the dress - Ginger’s Bridal, coincidentally located on Maiden Lane, too - didn’t even bother to return my calls when I tried to make an appointment. I was very tempted to pull off that Pretty Woman scene where she goes back to that store where the sales assistants had been all snobby and arrogant towards pretty Julia and tells them that she just spent a fortune at this other shop across the street.Â
Back to the good stuff. Everyone, meet Carol! Carol is the seamstress who helped me try on the dresses and figure out what I was looking for.  She had the most simple but gorgeous dresses hanging in her studio!
That said, it wasn’t really a suprise that I stepped carefully into that one dress, made of silk covered with organza and a long trail, and immediately realized that that was the ONE.
Mom’s face when I came out of the changing room said pretty much the same. ;-)
I surely couldn’t resist to try on several more dresses but always came back to the first one. There was only one last obstacle: the price. Slightly over budget. Ok, way too much over budget. Oh no.
Enter: experienced sales person Carol. ‘What IS your budget? Maybe we can work something out?’. Enter: practical Mom. ‘Yes, maybe we can swap the fabric? or shorten the trail?’.
Solution was there. A couple of changes later, Mom and I were convinced that this was THE dress.
One last test: show your Maid of Honor and mother-in-law your dress of choice and get there approval that you will look adorable in this dress and Paul will be blown away when seeing me for the first time (wearing this dress, that is). And for the obvious reason, I can’t post any photos on our website. Right, Paulchen? ;-)
On Tuesday 11/21, we set another mile stone in the wedding planning process and signed the contract with Novella Bridal for a drop-dead gorgeous non-silk-organza dress that will be tailored just perferctly for MY figure - be it size 10, 12 or maybe even an 8.Â
My first fitting is January 29, 2007. I started my diet on Monday.
Leave a Reply