THE dress

Mission: Buy a wedding dress

Participants: Sofia aka bride + Robbin aka grandma

Location: Washington, DC 

Time: 144 hours

Minor setback: Getting pulled over (for the first time ever!!) while going from David's Bridal to Alfred Angelo. 

Me: (I see a police officer with a pony tail approach us out of my rear view mirror. She is driving a regular, white car, is that allowed?!) oh, oh...

Police: drivers license and registration

Me: yes ma'am

Police: do you know why I pulled you over?

Me: (to lie or not to lie?) yes, because of my illegal u-turn
Police:  yes. If you knew, why did you do it?
Me: (to lie or not to lie?) because I'm running late...
Police:  what is so important that you would risk your life, your grandma's life and the life of others?
Me: (to lie or not to lie?) a wedding dress appointment...

Police:  so, you are telling me that you just put everyone's life in jeopardy to go try on dresses?

Me: yes, I'm so sorry

Police:  if you were DEAD, you wouldn't need a wedding dress!

Me: yes, you are right, I'm so sorry, it won't happen again

Police:  plus your windows are tinted and that's illegal and you have Texas stickers on your windshield. You don't live there, do you?

Me: no ma'am, sorry I didn't know that was illegal, I bought the car like this

Police: I don't care how you bought it, you have 2 weeks to fix it. I'll be looking for you every day and will ticket you EVERY day if I see you. Tuesday? Ticket! Wednesday: Ticket! Thursday? Ticket

Me: yes ma'am

Police: ok, leave and NEVER make an illegal u-turn again

Me: (what?? No ticket?!) no, I won't, thank you

My grandma came all the way from California this past weekend to reenact our very own version of Say Yes to the Dress! Experts (aka The Knot) recommend ordering a dress 6-8 months before your wedding, which seems like waaay too long, but depending on the dress and where you purchase it, you might need that much time or more. So, without further ado, we officially began the search. You need appointments for most bridal stores, so I made 7 appointments in order of price range, over a 4 day period -- Carine's Bridal Atelier, David's Bridal, J.Crew, Nordstrom, Alfred Angelo and Hitched.

Some observations:

• Bridal sizes run roughly two sizes smaller than street clothes, because "bridal sizing goes back to a scale established in WW2, that used data intended for making uniforms". Therefore, if you wear a size 6 usually, your gown might have to be ordered in a size 10. Obviously, this depends on the dress, designer, etc. However, psychologically, I think this is traumatizing for brides. I suggest it be the other way around, two sizes bigger, so that the size 6 person, orders a size 2. We would all be elated :)
• Most bridal salons, at least in this area, are closed on Monday's. Why would that be? Needless to say, it disrupted the efficiency of our mission a bit.
• When ordering a wedding dress, it's easy to overlook alteration costs (some places charge a flat fee of $600!!) and tax. These can easily come back to bite you in the buttocks. 

Vera Wang and J.Crew

Nordstrom and Reem Acra

After trying on a couple dozen dresses in all shapes and forms (some featured above), we found a winner at Nordstrom! We kept looking at it over and over again on our phones and in the end,  knew that it needed to come home with us.  Mission accomplished. While I cannot disclose much about the actual dress, I do promise that it looks nothing like this:

While my grandma was in town, we also decided to look into flowers and invitations. It's a whole world of information, decisions and costs. We'll need a few days to recover, before tackling those items. However, not all activities were wedding related - we also got to have dinner with Ann (my old boss from Rice) and her family, Zumba/Spinning/Body Combat, some Covert Affairs watching, Eastern Market/Phillips Collection/Textile Museum exploring and metro doors closing and separating grandma from me! Another mission in and of itself to find each other again. Eek.

Dinner at J&G Steakhouse during Restaurant Week with Kate (highly recommend)

The waitress brought us complimentary champagne and chocolate molten cake!

Stunning view from the W Hotel

Grandma at the end of her visit...

To conclude, a tune for your Friday afternoon - Justin Nozuka "After Tonight" (reminds me of our friend Jacob T.) Hope you have a great weekend!

P.S: I forgot to mention last week, if anyone wants my watercolor iPhone case, please let me know and it's all yours! I want it to have a good home, where it is held and appreciated daily. Not a lonely life in a World Market basket.