Looking for the Perfect Dress
I went wedding dress shopping on Saturday, Feb. 11. I took my mom, my sister and my best friend from high school. I made an appointment at David’s Bridal in Oklahoma City. I recommend making appointments at any bridal shop. I also recommend going with some dress styles picked out. I went through magazines and looked online to get an idea of what I wanted.
I didn’t find anything I liked at David’s Bridal. In fact I tried on one dress and left. Although, my sister did find a prom dress there. The dresses there were nice, just not what I was looking for. I was looking for a strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline with no beading and that wasn’t big. I wanted the skirt to flow straight down, close to my body. David’s Bridal had a lot of big dresses with lots of beading, not what I was looking for.
Next we went to Ashley’s Bridal on NW Expressway. They were very busy and we had to wait for a dressing room. Once again I only tried on one dress. It was fun to wait in line for the dressing room. There were no mirrors in the dressing rooms, so everyone had to come out and look in the mirror. It was fun seeing everyone else in their wedding dresses or prom dresses.
After Ashley’s Bridal, we went down the street to Sabra. They were very insistent that you had an appointment and almost wouldn’t even let me try on a dress. I could understand if they couldn’t give me any personal attention because I didn’t have an appointment, but they weren’t even going to let me try on a dress. They let me try on one dress and I didn’t like it. We left their immediately. The staff was very rude. A pet peeve of mine is staff that isn’t very good at customer service.
Next we went to Enchanted Evenings on
. Once again all of the dresses were the same, big and beaded. At Sabra, a lady told my mom to try The Bridal Showroom on North May Avenue. We went there and immediately after walking in I could tell I was going to get my dress there. The atmosphere there was very nice. There was enough space between the dress racks so you could walk through without being squished in by the dresses.
I didn’t have an appointment and got lucky that they weren’t too busy. The sales lady, Sondra, was very helpful. After I described what I was looking for she immediately began pulling dresses off the rack that fit my descriptions perfectly. I tried on eight dresses.
The second dress I tried on turned out to be the one I bought. As soon as I came out of the dressing room everyone said, this is the one. I wasn’t sure until Sondra put a veil on me. I started crying! I didn’t expect to be that emotional; after all it’s only a dress.
I kept trying on dresses after that just to be sure and to get ideas on exactly how I wanted it to be designed. Mo, the store owner, custom makes all the dresses in the back of the store. If he doesn’t have the dress in your size, then he custom makes it to your specific body measurements. He also makes any changes to the dress that you want. He does all this for the price listed on the dress. The wedding dresses that I tried on ranged in price from $500-$800.
After I was done trying on dresses I met with Mo. He showed me where he designs the dresses and showed me my fabric. He told me and my mom that we should put a down payment on the lace, because there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t be discontinued or sold before I wanted it. We decided to do that.
Mo also sketched my dress with all the changes that I made to it. For example, it was just a strapless dress, but I wanted a strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline. I will start going in for fittings in December. (My wedding is not until May 2007.)
I would recommend that everyone do there wedding dress shopping at The Bridal Showroom. The store had amazing dresses and a great staff.