I've Taken the Plunge...

... and bought a wedding dress.  That definitely makes this whole "wedding" thing feel so real.  Yesterday I went to David's Bridal with my best friend (and maid of honor) and another friend (and bridesmaid) and my MOH's mom, who kindly played the sane, motherly role for us.  While in the past I have derided the quality of David's Bridal, you can't beat the price and can get some nice dresses for really cheap.  (And some really ugly dresses for lots of money. You have to have balance.) We went during their $99 dress sale, so it was a bit hectic.

Special thanks to Jessica's mom Alison
for buying this for me as a gift!

My consultant, Emma, was fantastic.  Her style of dress- very retro- was very much what I was looking for.  She didn't try to push us into anything, and in general was just a lot of fun.  I tried on maybe six or seven dresses in a few styles, and ended up picking the third dress I tried on, which was one of my top five from their website anyways.  I was done in half the time of a regular appointment- though I think that was because I knew what I wanted, or more accurately, what I didn't want, and that narrowed down my choices.  I had also decided that I was going to buy that day, which helped, and probably made my consultant a little more attentive to me since she does work on commission.  With the sale discount, including tax, my dress was $279.  The best part was that I don't need any alterations- I fit the Size 6 perfectly.  At most I might have to have it hemmed a bit, depending on how much the dress I ordered ends up like the one I tried on.  (I've been told I'm not allowed to post pictures of the dress or me in it so I can "surprise people".  I don't really care if people see it beforehand, but the bridesmaids were fairly adamant about this point, and since they were such good sports about the bridesmaid dress shopping, I'll acquiesce.  But here's a picture of my hair decoration, to give you a hint.)

This is the bridesmaid dress.  Just imagine it
in cornflower blue, not whatever this is.

We made such good time shopping for me, that we decided to look at bridesmaids dresses.  Finding a dress for a busty girl and a not so busty girl was ridiculously difficult.  There were so many dresses that one of them liked but the other hated.  They probably tried on 15 different styles, and of course the very last one we tried on was the one they liked.  It's a bit more formal than I was going for, but looks really cute with my dress, and is the kind of dress you could wear again (though I doubt they will).  The best part was, the dress was $99, but because I bought my wedding dress there, they only paid $79.

 The next thing we have to do is figure out what the groom, best man, and grooms-person will wear.  I think the grooms-person will probably wear the same dress as the bridesmaids, only in silver or black.  But I haven't a clue what the groom will wear.  A tux is just too formal for our wedding.  If anyone has suggestions, let me know!