The Dress Hunt Begins

Ryan is leaving me.

Not forever... just for the 4th of July weekend. But it's a whopping four days, so it might as well be forever!

So instead of laze around here with my dog for 4 days straight, I made the decision to be productive. I emailed my mom with the two words that would take any mother's breath away...

"Dress shopping?"

She wrote back with an ecstatic, "I'd love to!"

It's on.

After looking up many dress shops in the Chicagoland area, comparing their dresses, prices, reviews, distance from my parents' house, and whether or not they were open the 4th of July weekend, we settled with 2 shops: Bella Bianca Bridal at Oakbrook Terrace, and A Joyful Occasion in Naperville.

One of the sales ladies suggested I bring along photos of dresses I like.

Oh boy.

See, that's sort of a problem. Because... I don't know what I like. I know what I don't like (oh, yes, that's for sure), but finding out what style is "me" has been a challenge.

So I set out on a search of the interwebs and ended up with the following photos...

Priscilla of Boston JL203

Birnbaum & Bullock Leigh

Jasmine Couture T292

Winnie Couture 8358

Winnie Chlomin 3141

Amsale Coco

Miosa Couture Adrianna

Alvina Valenta AV9058

Now I'm studying the dresses looking for a common thread. This is what I came up with...

• I like relatively simple dresses with just a little bit of sparkle or flair
• I really like the drop waist
• I also like high waists with pockets
• I don't like pickups in the skirt
• I like the sweetheart neckline

Hopefully if I bring that list of likes and dislikes to the store with me, it will help the dress-shopping process move along a little easier.

One of my fears, however, is that I will look awful in a drop waist. The widest part of my body is my stomach, and I have rather small hips, so it might not work on me. If that's the case, I don't know what I'll do. It'll be back to the drawing board, I guess.