Drooling Over Wedding Dresses

I kind of always thought I would be overly eagerly to try on wedding dresses. The truth? It took me eight, yes 8, months to step into a bridal shop. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps the long engagement? Maybe the cost? Could it be that we only have one bridal store in good 'ol Durango? I'd say it's a combo of all three. BUT just because I didn't physically meet some pretty dresses for eight months, that certainly didn't mean that I didn't oogle over many of them online.

I did sign up for The Knot the day after getting engaged. My other immediate email subscription? David's Bridal. So beginning the very first full day of being engaged, I was receiving daily emails from these two websites and obv's they are filled to the brim with wedding dress pictures. I found it far too intimidating to just casually browse the 'web for pictures and I found The Knot to be very sufficient in showing me pictures of thousands of dress all one site. I'm ridiculously intimated by designer gowns and their prices and therefore looking at the fancy-schmancy names of wedding designers sent me with my tail between my legs. After a few months of browsing, I just wasn't too concerned with what I would wear. I felt so un-bridal.

But on the other hand I knew I would find A dress and I knew that I would fall in love with something. Plus, just looking at the pictures on a screen monitor is a bit overwhelming. I mentally told myself (read: told my mom) that I was only interested in attending a David's Bridal, and that I didn't need to spend lots of moolah on a dress for one day. They have dresses for $99 that are perfectly beautiful! The problem was that the nearest David's Bridal is just over three hours away. I still managed to save a handful of images in my inspiration folder and here's what my browsing had provided me:

{Oleg Cassini CWG352 via David's Bridal}

{Galina Signature SWG354 via David's Bridal}

{Galina Signature SV415 via David's Bridal}

{Allure 8808 via The Knot}

{Alfred Sung 6837 via The Knot}

{Alfred Angelo 2034 via The Knot}

{Jenny Lee 1117 via The Knot}

Pick up on a very noticeable trend in my inspiration pictures? I clearly liked structure and detailing on the bottom of my dress. I was drawn to strapless, non-ball gown, non beaded type dresses. I liked something that made a statement but that was also simplistic, but had one some sort of dramatic element. I feel like I had a good idea of what I envisioned myself in, it was just a matter of getting out of Durango and to a bridal salon to actually try them on.

So, bees, who else had a nonchalant approach to trying on dresses?