Well I didn't get home last night until 11pm... then I passed out. Dress shopping went AMAZING and I couldn't wait to talk about it!! So here I am!
Here's a little background on how the day went:
I work in downtown Cincinnati, which is 10 miles from my home in Florence, Ky (grab a map if you have questions about this, lol) Unfortunately traffic can make that 10 mile drive 35 minutes or longer. So I got home at 5:30, grabbed some spanx-type thing I bought for a skimpy halloween costume a few years back, threw on some makeup the way I think it will probably look and ran out the door to grab my friend and go.
(I did the same makeup look last Saturday for work and took pix)
[insert makeup pix here]
So the friend I took was surprisingly not one of my very best friends, not my probable MOH, not a family member... but a good friend and co-worker that is around my age, has the same goals as me, has curves like me and has always seen eye to eye with me. She expressed interest in going and it just felt right. This was the best decision ever. We had the best time and she was 100% honest, helpful and supportive.
We hit about 45 minutes in traffic getting to the shop. Although I live a few minutes outside of Cincinnati it's cut into different parts... and I am West Side stupid. I didn't realize that 12 miles outside of downtown was going to take half my night getting there. So we arrive to bridal row. That's what they call it because it is an entire street of bridal shops, accessory shops and alterations shops. I may shop around in the others for accessories, but Bridal and Formal is the only store that carries Maggie Sottero around here. As we're walking past the employee parking, there's a mini van with 4 Disney World decals on it... I told my friend, "we're gonna be just fine here."
So we go in, it's huge! We sign in and get assigned a sales person. We were given a spot on a rack and were told to choose 7 dresses. They walked us through the dress floor and it was all separated by designer. Score... show me the Maggie's. So I got my list out of what I wanted to try, lol! They had 5 of the 10 I was looking for... and I considered that pretty good. I also grabbed 2 others that looked nice. I had: Emily, Rachael, Hadley, Dominique, Annika Marie, Cambria, and Jesslyn (this was a Sottero and Midgley).
I wanted to try the Emily first. It's my first love and my number one that I posted before. I was told that whatever I liked, I would hate on me, lol... so I was prepared for the worst. This dress was amazing. I knew, my friend knew, the sale person knew, other sales reps stopped by---it was stunning, grabbed all the right places and I couldn't imagine this not being "it". No cameras were allowed, but my friend is sneaky and took a terrible picture of me when I wasn't looking. It at least gives you an idea....
[insert half picture of me in the best dress ever here]
I proceded to try the others on... really hoping to like Rachael--but she made me look like family sized tent. I found another name for her rather than Rachael--but we won't say that here
When I put the Dominique on, we all stopped again--could this be better than Emily?? I thought it maybe was... but everyone said no. I really liked Dominique and she is my close #2--we'll keep her around.
[insert Dominique here]
The others were so meh compared to my sweet Emily. Some cut my short body off and looked awful, but that's what we were there for... to try! A lady came by with a Mickey tattoo on her ankle and I asked her if that was her van, she said no, but she was a huge fan. I told her where I was getting married and she flew out of the room, came back with 4 other employees a few seconds later and they were giddy, excited and wanted to hear all about it. I kind of felt bad for the 2 other girls in there because I had a herd of cattle around me, asking all kinds of questions! They wanted to see "the" dress.
So we put my girl E back on and they offered me a veil--I told them no... I was more of a headband or flower kind of girl. They put the prettiest, sparkliest headband I've ever seen on me and I was in heaven, then the earrings and bracelet----this is probably it. The earrings and bracelet were nice, but working at Dillard's, I can get a massive discount on jewelry. But this headband was amazing... until I looked at the price tag of $330 Yikes!! I was trying to reason with myself on it... but we'll have to wait and see.
When we were in the Jewelry department, I was starting to realize just how big this place was. It was beautiful. They had TONS of shoes, but I didn't get into that yet. Keep in mind that DF and I are a foot apart. I would like something like this:
[insert cute shoe here]
So we chatted and she got all my information set up in the computer before I left. I was on cloud 9 and soooo happy
We begin to backtrack how we got there and realize... ummm there's no on-ramp where we got off the highway. Oh West Side--I Hate You. We drove around for about 15 minutes, it's getting dark... then we realize we both have Mapquest GPS on our iPhones. We pull into a well lighted parking lot and try to figure it out. Next thing you know that GPS lady was yelling at us and telling us where to go
I love when they tell you off. It was about 9:15 when we finally made it home. Even though we had a house full of food, DF waited for me and asked what I was making for dinner.
Right. So we hopped in the car and went to grab a bite. We talked about money, and wedding, and dresses, and babies--and it was nice--so were my chicken fingers
Anyway... The Maggie Trunk Show is there in 2 weeks and they are going to request the few dresses they didn't have for me to try. So here's the run down:
Tried, Liked, In the Running: Emily and Dominique
Want to Try: Cambria Marie, Monica Marie, Megan -- Geddes (Sottero and Midgely)
I'm pretty sure I know what the final answer will be... but I just want to be sure.
Thoughts are always welcome!
I'll add the pix in tonight when I get home from work!