sweet tea and humidity: The dress

I'm so excited to say that I have found the dress I will get married in! The process however was not quite like what you see on "Say Yes to the Dress."

Earlier this month, we made the back roads drive to Brinkley to shop at Low's Bridal. I have heard quite a few horror stories from girls who had awful experiences at Low's. I also witnessed one first hand when I went with Heather to shop their semi-annual sale and they refused to give her a dressing room. Y'all she had to try on dresses in the middle of the store, horrifying! I had no intentions of shopping at Low's at all for my wedding dress. Lucky for Low's, they were the only store in Arkansas that had the bridesmaid dress that I liked in stock. Since I had no choice, I took a couple bridesmaids there to try it on. We actually had a fantastic experience. Our consultant, Ann was so amazing! I decided that I would shop Low's as long as I had her helping me.

I'm not sure if I have shared this or not but my only cousin on my Dad's side of the family, Tonya, is getting married one month after me and C. It's been fun to be able to share all the glory and horror of wedding planning with her. I made us both an appointment at Low's and made sure that I requested Ann. I was a little nervous because she said they couldn't promise that Ann would be my consultant but she would try. Thankfully, Ann (sidenote: my middle name is also Ann) was available!

Tonya and I

I tend to overwhelm myself because before I make a decision, I want to know ALL my options. Sometimes, this is a good thing because it keeps me from making hasty decisions. When you are planning a wedding for 14 months and building a house without a builder, it can be a nightmare. Before I went to Low's I picked out 30 (yes, three zero) dresses that I wanted to try on. Since you are only supposed to be allowed an hour and a half, I tried to trim that down. I ended up with 17 dresses. I am pretty sure I tried on close to that many. Ann was so patient with me, we had been there for almost 3 hours and I still hadn't picked a dress! I was so thankful that they hadn't kicked me out.

I narrowed it down to 2 dresses. One of the dresses had been stolen by another consultant and her bride would NOT take it off. I was so close to going bridezilla! I was so exhausted and really overwhelmed at this point so I just picked the dress that I had on. It was a gorgeous dress and it was WAYYY under budget.

That night I woke up at 2am and was near a panic attack because I knew I had picked the wrong dress. I'm sure you know that you can't just exchange your wedding dress and I was terrified that I was going to have to get married in the dress that I had bought. Low's is closed on Sundays and Mondays so for 2 days I was in agony. I had literally been praying that I knew how silly it was but please don't make me get married in that dress. Monday was the worst. My first thought that day was that I've been engaged for almost 7 months and haven't had an emotional breakdown yet but I am pretty sure it's coming. Tuesday morning I stared at the clock every 10 seconds until they opened. At 10:00:00 and with my whole body shaking, I called and told Ann the situation. I'm pretty sure she knew because when I told her I picked the wrong dress, she said "you did, didn't you." She checked with the people in the office and called me back to tell me that they hadn't ordered the dress yet so I could switch! It was like she gave me a rainbow raining skittles I was so happy. I can't wait to wear my dress on the day I marry my bestie!

Here is the almost but not really dress. It's gorgeous but it's just not the dress.