As I reflect on our five year anniversary, I am prompted to write about my wedding dress experience. Every little girl dreams of what her wedding dress will one day look like. As the youngest of ten, I had the opportunity to dwell on this perhaps more than others as I watched each of my brothers and sister get married. When my time came, I didn't worry about the flowers or the decorations too much - but the dress would not be compromised. I had in mind the kind of dress I wanted - something chic and sophisticated - not those overstuffed, marshmallow embellished nightmares I've seen countless times. I also wanted something unique - I did not want the quintessential "mormon temple-ready" dress. Initially, I tried on dresses that did not flair out a lot. Many of them were quite beautiful and carried a hefty pricetag, but they just didn't feel like MY dress. I searched high and low for "the one" and visited I think every store in the valley multiple times.
FINALLY, a saleswoman from one of the shops I had overrun with visits suggested that she might have something in back I would like. She came back with a discontinued designer dress that had been sitting in a heap in the corner of the floor for quite awhile. I tried it on and immediately felt like a princess - actually three princesses. The dress was beautiful - and HUGE. The size thirteen one-of-a-kind dress was much to large for my then tiny size two frame. It also was so poofy that it clearly violated my non-marshmallow clause. But none of the other dresses had made me feel special or really, like a wedding dress, and I had NEVER seen a dress like this one before. There was no way to get another size since the dress wasn't made any more. I tried to forget the dress and went back to the few that I had been considering before but none of them felt right. I bit the bullet and bought the dress hoping that I would be able to find someone to alter it so drastically to fit (and add sleeves). Luckily for me, I remembered that my soon-to-be mother-in-law was a professional seamstress! I brought the dress to her with pleading in my eyes. She looked doubtful when she agreed to take on the task. When it was all said and done, the dress fit like a glove and was even more beautiful than I had imagined with what seemed like hundreds of folds dripping down the skirt of the gown (Mom - you are a genius!) On the day of my wedding, nothing really went right and I hated my hair, but the dress - the dress- was exactly what I had envisioned so many years before.
The sad part of the story? My one-of-a-kind dress has now become the new "mormon" standard :( Everywhere I turn I see brides tieing the knot in marshmallow, waterfall rippled, princess-inspired knock-offs. Did I inspire this trend? Who knows?! All I know is that I had this dress at least a year before I started seeing it displayed on the steps of the Salt Lake Temple. Sigh . . . . my one-of-a-kind dress is no longer one-of-a-kind. But I insist - I HAD IT FIRST!
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