Wedding Dress shopping - Part II
Maggie says...
Getting Barbara a dress
So, the plan was to go to the Ritche sale on Saturday morning to: 1) find a wedding dress for Barbara, and 2) try out bridesmaid dresses. Instead, our plans got delayed because of mother nature. Due to the heavy snowfall, it was unsafe for almost everyone to drive to the hotel where the bridal gown sale was being held.
Instead, Barbara called and woke me up Sunday morning saying that she wanted to just 'check out the Ritche sale for 1 hour, then go snowboarding afterwards'. Her reasoning was that the Ritche store is very expensive regularly, so how much of a sale could it really be? I told her, that I didn't think 1 hour would be enough, but sure whatever. The sale started at 11am, and we got there at 11:15, which was really good cuz we were able to get 2 small change rooms next to one another, which we converted into a much needed larger change room. About 45 minutes into trying some dresses, Barbara realized that 1 hour was not enough and she called Alan to let him know that she would need more time so he should go snowboarding without her.
I also suggested that we should call our sister Jean as she would be very helpful, but Barbara said she just wanted to go in and out quickly so she didn't want to bother Jean. About 1.5 hours into trying gowns, my fingers were becoming super raw from zipping and un-zipping dresses, so we called Jean and asked her to taxi it to the hotel. Jean took about 40 minutes to meet us, and my right hand was super happy when she arrived.
Barbara was very determined to buy a dress by the end of the day, and we were able to meet this goal. It turns out that the Ritche sale had more better quality dresses and lower prices than the bridal sale I went to last week, which had more ugly/tacky dresses you would see on those romance novels with Fabio on the cover. I do have to say that I have no regrets about buying my dress last week, as I really love the dress I got, which was not available at Ritche.
Since I had a little experience from the bridal sale last week, I learned a few tricks/tips and felt better prepared to help Barbara at the second Bridal gown sale. If any of you ever have to go to this type of sale, I highly recommend the following:
1) Bring flip flops to keep your feet clean and also allow you to protect your feet so you don't accidentally step on any needles used to pin dresses
2) Bring an easy to wear pull-over dress so that you don't have to waste time donning/doffing layers of sweater & pants when you have to go back out to the racks to look for more dresses
3) Bring lots of hair clips. We found it super useful not only to clip up our hair to get a better idea of how our dresses and veils would look, but it was also super helpful with keeping the flimsy change room curtains closed for more privacy
4) Be prepared and wear a strapless bra and flattering under-garments
5) Be open to trying out different styles of dresses, even if you think you have an idea of what you want. We both ended up liking and looking really good in dresses we would never have originally considered
6) If possible, get two change rooms next to one another and make it into a larger change room. This is easier if you go to a sale where the staff let you do your own thing, and only help when you ask for it
7) Be sure to schedule more than 1 hour of your time so you have lots of time to try the dresses!
All in all, I think Barbara may have tried over 50 dresses (10 dresses/hour). We were there from ~11:15 am-4:30 pm so I lost count. I only realized at the end of the sale that I did not eat (so I guess another tip is for shoppers to eat before a sale and bring water to stay hydrated). I am extremely glad that we have both found our wedding gowns! I seriously don't know how some brides can go to multiple stores trying on hundreds of dresses. The next item on the To-do list is to search for bride's maid dresses.
Getting Barbara a dress
So, the plan was to go to the Ritche sale on Saturday morning to: 1) find a wedding dress for Barbara, and 2) try out bridesmaid dresses. Instead, our plans got delayed because of mother nature. Due to the heavy snowfall, it was unsafe for almost everyone to drive to the hotel where the bridal gown sale was being held.
Instead, Barbara called and woke me up Sunday morning saying that she wanted to just 'check out the Ritche sale for 1 hour, then go snowboarding afterwards'. Her reasoning was that the Ritche store is very expensive regularly, so how much of a sale could it really be? I told her, that I didn't think 1 hour would be enough, but sure whatever. The sale started at 11am, and we got there at 11:15, which was really good cuz we were able to get 2 small change rooms next to one another, which we converted into a much needed larger change room. About 45 minutes into trying some dresses, Barbara realized that 1 hour was not enough and she called Alan to let him know that she would need more time so he should go snowboarding without her.
I also suggested that we should call our sister Jean as she would be very helpful, but Barbara said she just wanted to go in and out quickly so she didn't want to bother Jean. About 1.5 hours into trying gowns, my fingers were becoming super raw from zipping and un-zipping dresses, so we called Jean and asked her to taxi it to the hotel. Jean took about 40 minutes to meet us, and my right hand was super happy when she arrived.
Barbara was very determined to buy a dress by the end of the day, and we were able to meet this goal. It turns out that the Ritche sale had more better quality dresses and lower prices than the bridal sale I went to last week, which had more ugly/tacky dresses you would see on those romance novels with Fabio on the cover. I do have to say that I have no regrets about buying my dress last week, as I really love the dress I got, which was not available at Ritche.
Since I had a little experience from the bridal sale last week, I learned a few tricks/tips and felt better prepared to help Barbara at the second Bridal gown sale. If any of you ever have to go to this type of sale, I highly recommend the following:
1) Bring flip flops to keep your feet clean and also allow you to protect your feet so you don't accidentally step on any needles used to pin dresses
2) Bring an easy to wear pull-over dress so that you don't have to waste time donning/doffing layers of sweater & pants when you have to go back out to the racks to look for more dresses
3) Bring lots of hair clips. We found it super useful not only to clip up our hair to get a better idea of how our dresses and veils would look, but it was also super helpful with keeping the flimsy change room curtains closed for more privacy
4) Be prepared and wear a strapless bra and flattering under-garments
5) Be open to trying out different styles of dresses, even if you think you have an idea of what you want. We both ended up liking and looking really good in dresses we would never have originally considered
6) If possible, get two change rooms next to one another and make it into a larger change room. This is easier if you go to a sale where the staff let you do your own thing, and only help when you ask for it
7) Be sure to schedule more than 1 hour of your time so you have lots of time to try the dresses!
All in all, I think Barbara may have tried over 50 dresses (10 dresses/hour). We were there from ~11:15 am-4:30 pm so I lost count. I only realized at the end of the sale that I did not eat (so I guess another tip is for shoppers to eat before a sale and bring water to stay hydrated). I am extremely glad that we have both found our wedding gowns! I seriously don't know how some brides can go to multiple stores trying on hundreds of dresses. The next item on the To-do list is to search for bride's maid dresses.
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