..I found the one my heart loves. Song of Solomon 3:4
And this time, I’m not talking about my fiance.
Last weekend, I feel in love for the second time — with the beautiful white dress that I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little girl dancing around my grandmother’s living room with her white silk robe draped around my body and her white scarf tied in my hair. I’ve always heard that when you find “the one,” you know it. Now I’m a believer.
For the last several weeks, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect wedding dress. It had to have some pouf to it, but not too much. It had to be form-fitting, but not too tight. It needed to be dramatic, but timeless. It had to make me feel like a bride.
There was a lot riding on finding the perfect dress. For one thing, I have been envisioning this dress since I was big enough to even know what a wedding was. In my mind, nothing less than perfect will do.
A wedding dress practically sets the tone for the entire wedding, and everything other wedding detail centers around what it looks like.
I also have a closet full of dresses from high school proms, homecoming and charity balls, and this dress has to outshine them all.
If you’ve never been in a bridal salon, the selection will overwhelm you. I thought I was well prepared for my first trip. I had researched dresses, printed off pictures of what I liked, learned the silhouette terminology and types of fabric and lace, but even that didn’t prepare me for what I saw. Walls and walls of endless white. The dresses started morphing together like a big abominable snowman and suddenly I forgot everything I had spent weeks learning. Now I know how some of those girls on TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress” feel. Trust me, they aren’t just being divas. They really are overwhelmed when they step inside Kleinfeld’s in New York. I would be, too.
I went into my first bridal salon in Tupelo with an idea in my head of what I wanted only to come out more confused than I was in my college chemistry class.
I know I tried on at least 30 dresses in my grueling 3 1/2 hour appointment. But at least I came out with an idea of what I did NOT want.
After scouring stores all over north Mississippi and Memphis, my bridal entourage and I finally decided to try out this little bridal shop in Columbus last weekend. It’s small and practically brand new. It opened in February.
The consultant asked me a bunch of questions about what I liked, and she and I went over to the first wall of dresses and started pulling some out. When she pulled that first dress, I knew that was meant to be mine. I think angels in Heaven started singing. I promise you, that dress had a heavenly glow around it. She pulled two or three more, but I didn’t have much interest in them.
She helped me into that first dress and I smiled. That shade of white was phenomenal. The neckline was ideal and the dress hit me in all the right places. I stepped out of the dressing room and up on the pedestal, and everyone in the store couldn’t get over how pretty the dress was.
Noticing how everybody was doting over the dress, the consultant grabbed a beautiful veil and secured it in my hair. (As you know, it’s just a white dress until you put on a veil.) And that’s when my dad, who sat bored out of his mind on the couch reading a book, finally shed a tear.
I went on to try on two more dresses, but neither of them made me feel like that one did. No other dress I’ve ever worn in my life has made me feel that way.
We ordered that dress shortly afterwards. It should be here in March. Only the hem needs a little alteration. (Curse my 5-foot-1-inch stature.)
Finding a dress is like finding a groom. Once you find it, you quit looking. I, for one, am so thankful I’ve now found both.
nContact Beth Thomas at 581-7233 or bthomas@gwcommonwealth.com
