Sunday, September 20, 2009

Ah yes, I have a blog


Sorry for the crickets in the background for a while...after taking Step 2, I didn't anticipate Pediatric ER being so busy. Currently at the peds ER now, working until midnight. It's raining, which means people don't usually bring their non-emergency cases of the common cold in.

So, my high school friend Emily was so kind to come with me to Santee, SC to visit the Making Memories Bridal Shop. This was an amazing experience!! I was thrilled beyond belief that a special time in my and John's life could extend something special to someone else.

Making Memories is a non-profit organization that accepts gowns from gone out of business bridal shops and bridal designers who have excess inventory and sells them at a huge discount. All profits go towards fulfilling final wishes of terminal breast cancer patients.


Tbey travel all around the US with approximately 800 of their gowns with veils, shoes, etc for brides to get a great deal and contribute to a wonderful cause. Luckily for me, Augusta is only 2 hours away from Santee and they have thousands of gowns, plus bridesmaids dresses and mother of bride dresses. I had a hilarious time with Emily. The A/C broke in the shop that day and it was SWELTERING. At first I was all modesty first, and then I gave up and started dressing outside instead of in the dressing room,which was tiny and hot. It was hilarious with Emily being a saint and helping me into the dresses, which really require two people to put on. Emily kept on accidently putting up on the wrong end so instead of putting the dress over my head and pulling it down, it was the top end that was waiting for me :)


I liked the flowy look of this dress, but I felt that it was making me look older than I actually was. I love the rocker bride in the picture in the background to the right.


This dress was terribly terribly sad and I think the heat was starting to get to my brain.


This dress was eh. It looks and felt rumpily. All in all, I tried on 12 dresses in about 2 hours, a feat only made possible by dressing out in the open and having Emily heroically throwing the dresses on me. There was a Vera Wang in the mix but I think I was so tired and forgot to photograph. It was okay...very slinky with flowers on the shoulder but even on me, it was too tight.

So I narrowed it down to 2 dresses. A beautiful ivory dress by Amsale and a beautiful champagne colored dress with rhinestones down the back by Melissa Sweet. Melissa Sweet was right on budget and I did like it. I didn't really care if I loved the dress...I was content to get something that looked pretty and I was determined to support this charity. However, I did secretly love the Amsale dress but felt it was too expensive (a few hundred more than the Melissa Sweet) and that I should just stick to the budget. The shop was going to close in 5 minutes and I didn't want to keep anyone from going home. So I bought the Melissa Sweet:

I was feeling good as I drove back to Augusta, but later on that night, I didn't feel very...excited. I reprimanded myself for getting too caught up about the dress, but I didn't even feel like flipping thru my beloved wedding magazines either. Hrm. Something was up. I sneaked a look at the pictures we took and realized that I actually liked the other dress better. This was not the grass is greener on the other side...I just needed more time to think about the two dresses.


Yes, the lovely chip bag clips is a piece of flair.



This was a beautiful dress but ultimately not for me. Cheers to the new dress! :)

7 comments:

  1. I think the blue clips did not help that dress. It made it look a little DIY if you ask me.

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  2. man...dissing my piece of flair!!

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  3. Wedding dresses need to come with instruction manuals - and directions that say "this side up!" :)

    PS - I dreamed this week that I was at your wedding, and you and your bridesmaids wore bright blue, beaded ballgowns. It was quite the show!

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  4. wait so did you exchange them? :)

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  5. Yes, a few weeks later I drove down with John and picked up the other dress with the veil :)

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  6. Good for you for getting the dress that you really wanted...I'm glad you were able to exchange them and are happy with your choice! (Also loving your blog Big Vick :) In the first photo of this post I think you look like a Greek goddess...

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