i found THE dress!

11 months before the wedding, I found my dress!!! [insert HUGE smile here] I know it seems wayyy too early, but I'm very happy that I already have my dress. Let me tell you how that happened.

I have a list of bridal salons that I plan to visit. Salons that carry Maggie Sottero, Demetrios and La Sposa gowns. Sometime last week, I was checking Demetrios website when I saw that they will be having a trunk show in Schaumburg, on June 18-20. Knowing that the place will surely be packed on the weekends, I called and scheduled an appointment on June 18, a Friday. I asked if the consultant that helped me before, Jackie, will be there. The lady that I've spoke to said that Jackie will actually be on the shop the day before, June 17. I then asked if the dresses on the trunk show will be displayed on the 17th, she said they will. I moved my appointment from the 18th to the 17th at 2:30pm.

I decided to visit another shop within the Schaumburg area so that I can make most of that day. I visited this shop called Marilee Bridal in Arlington Heights. They carry Maggie Sottero dresses. When I got there, the place was pretty empty. I was showed to the room where most of the bridal gowns are. The consultant who was assisting asked me to look around the room and then choose the ones I liked. To be completely honest, the selection was very limited. Most of the dresses that they have are shiny and of satin fabric. I took out about 4 dresses that I liked enough to try on. It was not a successful appointment, the dresses that I was looking for, they don't have it.

By 2:30pm, I'm in Demetrios. Jackie was already there with my file. I told her that I would like to try on the dresses in my file and a few more. I was actually very excited to try again the dress that I fell in love with. If it was the same dress that I picture it to be, because honestly, every time I go dress shopping, I compare every dress that I tried on to it. And IT IS. It truly is the same gorgeous dress. I still LOVE it. Now here's the situation, the dress was already discontinued. I cannot order the dress to be made for me. They called the main office and they said that the lace used with the dress is already discounted thus they cannot make any more dresses. They said I can buy the sample dress for 2/3 of the original price. I have no problems withe the sample since it fits me like a glove. But it needs to be hemmed and cleaned.

I asked further on how long the discontinued dresses stay in the salon, they cannot answer that since if another client liked it and decided to purchase the gown, they can. The dress cannot be hold for me. I don't know what to do. I've mentioned before that I have a list of bridal salons that I haven't visited yet. And I planned to visit Filene's Basement Running of the Bride. Yet, I haven't met another dress that I liked as much as this one.

This went on and on for a couple of minutes and I called Topher to ask him what to do. He said, if I really love the dress, just get it. He cannot fix the heartbreak that I will went through if the dress is not there by the time I'm ready to buy it. Still cannot decide, I spoke to the salon's manager and she told me that I can down 50% for the dress so that they can hold it for me. That's what I did. I paid a 50% down on the dress and will pay the other 50% when I get it on July 1st. I asked if they can fix it up a bit since there were some beads that was missing.

So without further ado, I will be walking down the aisle wearing this very same dress. I LOVE IT.

As far the checklist goes, this one is off the list! Wedding Dress = Check!