I Said YES to the Dress

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. Proverbs 31: 25

This President’s Day my Maid of Honor Nicole and I headed out early to shop for my wedding dress.  As we took the short walk (that felt like a mile) to the bridal shop, for the first time it truly hit me HARD the importance of the moment.  Yes, just like many other brides before  me; I have a check list of to do items I know I have to accomplish before my “Big Day”, and rather effortlessly I have been checking each item off that list by the grace of God.  Yet the selection of my bridal gown is a task that I have been dragging my feet about just a bit.

I believe it’s because I am not the common bride.  I haven’t been dreaming about my wedding dress since I was a little girl.  Of course, I had some ideas of how I would like the dress to look like, but nothing over the top or in grand detail.  I knew in my heart that my mother, both grandmothers (one I never knew) and dad were with me as part of my cloud of witnesses.  So I didn’t have any choked up feelings about them not being there.

Don’t get me wrong I am thoroughly excited about the fact I am marrying my modern day Boaz; my fiancé “The Coach”.  It was just the reality that I was about to select the garment that I would ultimately present myself to him as his bride; almost took my away my breath.

I scheduled my appointment for shortly after the shop opened and this turned out to be a bright idea.  We almost had the salon to ourselves for the majority of my consultation and were aided not only by my dedicated consultant, but also by some of the managerial staff.

David’s Bridal advises when you make your appointment, to go to their website select your favorites and bring them with you.  I had followed the advice.  Good thing to know, if you don’t have a printer, by saving your favorites on their website they have the ability to pull them up at the store.  So, upon my arrival my consultant Margo did just that.  She also had my print outs from home to use to pull my selections.  I have to note that my consultant Margo was exceptionally personable and helpful.  She truly made my experience sensational.

Once Nicole and I were settled in the salon’s fitting area and Margo finished arranging my favorites on the rack.  I realized it was time.  Alone in the dressing room putting on my foundational pieces; I began to feel a bit self conscious.  The first lender corset Margo had given me was too small.  I had worn my own, but most of my selections were sweetheart neckline styled, my personal corset wasn’t.  I started to think to myself, was this a foreshadowing of how the rest of the consultation would go?  How would I look in the dresses?  I didn’t want to appear to have any “fat back” or “bun in the oven” silhouettes.   Would I even find my dress today?  Did I start this process too late in the game?  I had to stop for a minute there take a breath and just pray for my nerves to calm down. I had to press pause on my thoughts and just PRAY.  I think I had watched way too many episodes of “My Fair Wedding” and “Say Yes to the Dress”; so my expectation level was a bit mixed.

After getting a bit of help from both Nicole and Margo, I was decked out in the first sample gown; complete with accessories such as shoes and headwear.  When I took that first glance of myself in the mirror, I was surprised and quite shocked to see how quickly I could transform from Lela Jefferson the single gal to the future Mrs. Lela J. Fagan.  Wow, I looked every part of a bride!

Nicole began taking pictures as I twirled around.  The dress though pretty did not scream to me, it was my dress.  So we moved on to the next and the next one after that.  The shop quickly began to fill.  As I was standing there in my third dress, I had the opportunity to pose some more in front of the mirror.  As I walked around the salon, in the dress I began to fall in love with it.

I received several comments from the staff and patrons alike that I looked good in the dress.  However, I still I knew in my heart, it was not the dress I wanted to say “I will” in; no fireworks went off in my head telling me that this particular dress was to be mine.  Maybe it would be the next one…

Well, it turned out the next one was my dress.  As soon as I was in it, I noticed that it was a perfect fit. All my curves the righteous and undisciplined ones, looked well in it; I finally felt like my prince’s bride.

© 2012 – 2014, Lela Jefferson Fagan. All rights reserved.

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