These past few weeks have been such a whirlwind. I spent the last week of July on vacation in Summerville with my wonderful best friend, Jessica Proctor. It was such a great time just relaxing and catching up. For the end of the week I intended to head back to Columbia to spend some time with Kyle and I also had plans to go to Greenville with my sorority little sis to see her wedding dress. Knowing I was going to be in the Columbia area for a few days, I contacted my mom at the last-minute to see if she could go to Bella Vista Bridal to look at some wedding dresses on Friday. We ended up making plans to go on that day and were able to go a day early.
Now my intentions of dress hunting were simply to look. I knew Bella Vista Bridal in Columbia was having their summer sale after chatting with them at the recent bridal show I attended. So I informed my mom that Bella Vista was NOT in my budget, we were only going for the sale dresses. I woke up on that Thursday with an outrageous amount of butterflies. I’m thinking, “We are JUST looking, what is wrong with me?!” Mom and I meet up and head to the boutique and we both start getting nervous. Mom’s worried about how they will treat us since I told her we can only look at sale gowns, I’m worried about what I will find, we are both a hot mess!
We walk in and my breath is immediately taken away. It is your picture perfect bridal boutique: closed off rooms with dresses, a room with a stage and nice seating area, elegance galore. We are greeted by a sweet young lady, whose name I do not know, and Chloe, training manager. They were so friendly, could tell I was nervous. They have us sit at a table and ask all about the wedding details, my style, ideas, etc. I loved that they really took the time to sit me down and ask about me so they could get a good feel. They then let us in the amazing room of dresses. I am not immediately blow away by anything, I pointed out a few that I liked and they put them in a dressing room. Chloe then states that she has some dresses in mind that are not on sale but she believes would fit exactly what I’m looking for. That was it, downhill from there. Chloe had my style nailed to a T. She brought several dresses that I was so excited about. Unfortunately, the sale dresses no longer mattered to me.
They then take me into a dressing room where there are no mirrors. I’m thinking, “What if I don’t like it?!”. We slip on the first dress and walk out, Mom is silent. She loved it, was in awe, so excited. We both held back the tears (very impressive for us!). I love the dress, but is it me? We go back and I try on the next dress, it was so-so. “Nothing compared to that first one,” Mom says. So I head back and try on the third dress. Before even seeing it in the mirror, I knew this dress is everything I was looking for. I had a specific style that I loved and this was it. Would Mom like it? I walk out and Mom loves it too. She is now torn between the first dress and this one. I try on some others and know in my head it’s between those two from the beginning. So we try them on again. Mom admits that she loves the third one most, she was taken back by the “first wedding dress” I put on and not the dress itself. Did we find THE dress that quickly?!
We leave Bella Vista and head to Jo-Lin’s in Irmo. We walk in and aren’t greeted. We start looking at dresses and they finally decide to help us. I knew they had a dress I wanted to try on so that was the only reason we went. I heard about their horrible customer service, and boy did we experience it first hand. They left my Mom and I to get the dresses on me. Thank goodness Chloe had taught me some techniques for my part-time job at Charlotte’s Bridal in Aiken, so I had taken some notes. I helped Mom guide me in the dresses. The one I had gone to look at was great, but I knew I was not buying it from there. Then there was the question again, “Is it me?!”.
I thought about the Bella Vista dress non-stop over the next 24 hours. No other dress came to mind. That was the one. I contacted Chloe at Bella Vista to see if we could come back on Saturday because I wanted Proctor to see it. She was able to squeeze me in at the end of the day. So I contacted Kyle’s Mom as well as my other four girlfriends to see if they could come. It was an eight party date. That Friday night I decided Saturday’s appointment would be the perfect opportunity to ask my best friends to be my bridesmaids. After all, two of them had been harassing me long enough. 😉 So I started researching ideas on how to ask them and found THE cutest idea and loved it! Like I told them, I cannot take credit for this great idea. I found it at www.WeddingBee.com.
I stayed up working on the gifts, anxiously anticipating the next day. We showed up a little early and they were able to slip me right into a room and into a dress. I ended up coming out in less than two minutes I think, everybody was silent (so of course I’m freaking out). Then I look at Kyle’s Mom who is about to cry, or is crying. They all loved it. After waiting for everyone to arrive, I started passing out the gifts. First to my Maid of Honor and long time friend/roommate, Jessica Proctor. Lindsey and Jen then realize what is going on and start hovering by me waiting for theirs, they were my Mom’s favorites. She said they looked like little kids.
After all of that excitement, Chloe finally asks if this is my dress, and I Said YES to the dress! I know when you get engaged you become the bride, but for me, putting on that dress in front of my Mom, Kyle’s Mom, and my best friends is when I officially became a bride in my head. I’m really getting married.
The Bella Vista girls then brought out champagne for us to enjoy. Sadly enough I then had to take the dream dress off and return to my normal self. We finished up measurements and payments so they could close up shop. As we are leaving we all had to reminisce in the funniest part of the day which I have left out. While I am standing on the stage in my dress and we are all discussing it, there is a large crack. Proctor, Christy, Jen and Lindsey had all been sitting on a lovely bench and sure enough, it cracked.
Needless to say it was an unforgettable day. I am so thankful to have a wonderful Mom, future mother-in-law, and best friends/bridesmaids. 14 months and counting. 🙂 Unfortunately I thought to take pictures after Mama Bryant left. 😦
Love never fails. 