In search of my dress-tiny: the last stop

For the days immediately following the appointment in Greensburg, I wrestled with the decision between my two dress options.  I tried the list of pros and cons, which got me nowhere.  I tried to envision myself on my wedding day, and all I could see was a white dress, nothing specific.  I may have even enlisted the help of my summer roommates (who all happened to be GG's groosmen).  Shockingly, that didn't yield a definitive answer, either. I knew this was a decision that I was supposed to make for myself, but I was really banking on someone, anyone stepping in and matter-of-factly stating "THIS IS YOUR DRESS," followed by me realizing that indeed, this mystery decision-maker was actually right.  Commence celebrating.

Image via Cape Cod Branding

I was 99.999% sure that my wedding dress would be one of the two possibilities from Greensburg, but I decided to go to one more salon, since it was always my plan to visit Johnstown, Greensburg, and Pittsburgh, at the most.  I decided a trip to a Pittsburgh store needed to happen, hopefully to make the Greensburg decision easier.  

Based on GG's cousin's recommendation, we settled on The Exquisite Bride in Murrysville, PA (about 20 minutes outside of Pittsburgh).  This time, I brought along Mom Snow Cone, FMIL Snow Cone, and one of Mr. Snow Cone's sistes, BM J.  The consultant asked me what I was looking for, and I proceeded to rattle off my ever-changing wish list of dress attributes... I think at this appointment it was ruching, a corset back, maybe a ballgown, maybe not a ballgown, some beading but not too much beading, and so on.  Totally descriptive and decisive, as you'd expect.

Thankfully, the consultant didn't even bat and eye.  She whisked me off into a suite and then started grabbing some dresses based on my requests.  First, I tried on a dress that I had never seen before but is now in every bridal magazine I open:

Image via Justin Alexander Bridal (style 4565)

The Justin Alexander 8465.  This was totally not what I ever thought I would wear on my wedding day.  At the same time, this li'l bugger has a whimsical charm that most dresses don't have.  It was cute and fun, but still elegant and classic.  I started to have a lot of self-doubt: was this dress too different?  Or would it be well-received because it's so different from what you normally see?  Would people talk about it in a positive or negative light?  Screw other people, what did I actually think about?  Then, I started to break out into insta-nervous-sweat.  I was getting further and further derailed from making any sort of decision.  Instead of becoming more convinced that one of the Greensburg dresses was the winner, I was adding completely dissimilar dresses to the pool of contenders.

Unable to make a decision, I went back to the fitting room and got the opportunity to try on one of the dresses I was sure was "the one" at an earlier stage in planning -- Maggie Sottero's Vogue.  Here's a refresher:

Image via Pizazz Wedding / Dress by Maggie Sottero (Vogue Royale)

I was really excited to see this one in person.  I stepped out of the fitting room, and it was just... not it.  Even though it went to the reject pile, I was grateful that I was finally able to decisively turn down a dress.

Next up:  this beauty.  

Image via WeddingBee Classifieds / Dress by Enzoani (Diana)

I.  LOVED.  THIS.  DRESS.  The picture doesn't even do it justice.  It was beautiful, elegant, chic, sophisticated, and so much more.  The black flower belt was definitely a bit more "high fashion" than I ever thought I would like, but it worked.  Once again, I broke out into insta-nervous-sweat... but this time, it was because I thought I may have finally landed on a winner.  The fitting room had a couple more dresses, so we decided to go through the motions and see what they had to offer, on the off-chance that one of them could take the title from this outstanding garment (highly unlikely!).  

I know the title of this post says "the last stop"... and it is... sort of.  It's about my last full-blown dress-shopping appointment.  Next up: the big decision!

Did you have a dress appointment take you by surprise, offering you some serious choices when you least expected?