My Two in One

And by Two in One, I mean two wedding related activities in one day. This was big for me.
My dad called me one afternoon and said he heard on the radio that a casino in our area was hosting a Bridal Show. Now, to the best of knowledge the Durango area only has one Bridal Show a year and I had missed what I thought was my only opportunity to attend it because I was in Mexico drinking Margaritas and lounging in the sun...but I'm not complaining. I marked it on my calendar and made plans with Mama Honey
to attend. We also decided we would make a trek across the state line to the nearest Hobby Lobby.
Guess what else is across the state line? An awesome bridal boutique called Silk Bridal. I decided to make an appointment but I was insanely nervous; my voice was a little shaky and for some reason I was very intimidated to make the call. I pulled it together and dialed the Salon. When I asked the consultant what times were available for the day I would be in her area, she kind of laughed at me. Not a mean laugh...no, a laugh that was preceded by this statement: "We are having an Allure Bridal trunk show that day!". She then said, "Girl, I have got to get you in. Let me move around some appointments. There we go, you are in at 12:45." Wow, and just like that I had an appointment.


Saturday rolled around and we attended the Bridal Show...which was a waste of our time...and then we headed to the Land of Enchantment for my first wedding dress shopping experience. I had actually been to Silk Bridal once before with a girlfriend and I remember having a very pleasant experience. The bathroom has this painted on the wall: Your Fiance Called and He Said You Can Have Anything You Want.

{Silk Bridal, via their Facebook}

I had some inspiration pictures from all of my drooling and even did my research on which Allure gowns I wanted to try on. The consultant met with us and and I gave her my guidelines:

• Interesting Texture
• No ballgown
• No Satin
• No beading

This is a no-picture boutique (boo!) so you'll have to settle for Allure's models and my descriptions of the dresses. I find it funny that you can't take pictures of brides for fear of brides going out and buying them after the fact somewhere cheaper, but us brides have a fantastic memory when it comes to remembering which gowns we tried on...just sayin'. Here are the dresses I tried on that day:

{Allure 8810F}

The first wedding dress I ever tried on was the 8810F, I will always remember it *grins*. I actually loved this dress, the texture on the bottom was so romantic and frilly. It had the poof but didn't feel too ball gowny. I was feeling confident and was only one dress in. Can I get a Woop Woop?!

{Allure 8806}

The second dress did not disappoint either. It was very similar to the first dress, just not as poofy. The flower detailing was superb and I was amazed at how small my waist looked and how good my booty looked. So far, so good! Why on earth did I avoid this for so long?!

{Allure 8808} 

Dress three was gorgeous, I was really drawn to the structured silhouette of the dress, and adored the mixture of the fabrics in the dress.
 

{Allure 8854F}

My consultant pulled dress 8854F for me 'just to try on'. It's a ball gown, it's silk, and it's full-o-beading. Mama Honey loved this dress, but it is very much her style so I wasn't surprised that she loved it. It was very pretty, and I was shocked that I was looking in the mirror and enjoying it. I felt very bridal, in a very traditional way.

{Allure 8801F}

Dress 8810F was a combination of the ballgown style with a beaded bodice and the texture I like on the bottom. I just couldn't decide it it was too much all together. While I was admiring myself in the mirror in this dress, the other bride across the room was eyeing me. I'm pretty sure she ended up with this dress.

{Allure 8851F}

Another satiny ballgown, pretty similar to the other one I tried on. When comparing the two satin gowns, I like this one a tad better because it was a slimmer silhouette. But again, I was shocked that I was even liking the way these dresses looked.

{Allure 8526F}

I'm not sure if it was this exact one I tried on, but something similar. Towards the end I was getting tired, overwhelmed, and hot (those things are heavy!) so they all kind of started to blend together. This style is so simple and I was imagining a big statement making necklace because it was so plain. I did like the taffeta feeling as well.

{Allure 8751F}

Last but not least, this lacy number. It's a beautiful dress, and I really liked the scalloped neckline and the deep plunge.

Mama Honey and Honey Aunt demanded requested I try on one in particular again because they knew just as much as I did, that it was the one. That means one of these pretties is my dress, squeee!

There I was, at my first bridal appointment, contemplating the purchase of a dress that I LOVED and that was way more then I had planned on spending. It wasn't out of budget, but it was more than I originally thought I would spend (hello David's Bridal $99 gown specials?!).

So, what did we do? We left empty handed and went to Olive Garden for never-ending soup and salad...and beer. I needed a Blue Moon.

Did anyone else find the dress on the first attempt?

*All wedding dress pictures are from Allure Bridals website