My Wedding Report

I got my dress!! Woohoo! So excited and I can check that major one off the list. But before I do my celebration dance (jk) I’ll give you the background story.

On Sunday I went out shopping with my team, consisting of my mom, Mark’s mom and my two maids of honor. We had the itinerary of Mon Amie, The White Dress and then Saks in South Coast Plaza.

(side note: Saks is closing most of their bridal salons in the US and therefore have all their samples on sale!)

Store One: Mon Amie

Mon Amie is probably one of the biggest wedding dress stores on the West Coast and it just so happens to be 25 minutes from where I live. My mom and one MOH drove up from San Diego, my other MOH came down from LA and then with Mark’s mom I met them at Mon Amie. The store is huge! They have over 4,000 dresses, I’m not sure how you can possibly know everything that is in that store.

It was a busy day so we did not have a regular sales person, but one of the seamstress/designers named Sonia helping us. This was great because first of all she was not a pushy sales person that used all the cliches and instead of using those ugly binder clips she just used pins. After talking with Sonia and picking out some dresses that I liked we just started trying dresses on. Based on what I liked and what was flattering everyone pulled more dresses.

It was pretty busy in there so I tried most of the dresses on in my room since you know I have issues with going out into the open where random strangers look at me. However, once I narrowed it down to 3 that I really liked they had me go down the aisle. Yes…they have an aisle. And Yes I felt awkward going down the aisle with fake flowers and then standing on a pedestal. However, I was able to get out into more natural light and that was helpful. After that the “aisle” was taken so I just used a different pedestal minus the aisle and flowers to my relief.

They wouldn’t let me take pictures there unless you buy the dress, so sadly I have no pictures to share!

There was one dress that I really liked there and narrowed everything down to. Surprisingly it was a Mon Amie exclusive and was the most affordable out of everything I tried on! (Love that!) However, we still had an appointment to go and we were in need of a lunch break. (Have I ever mentioned that when I don’t eat for a long period of time and I’m in need of a meal I will get cranky?)

So off we went to lunch at the delicious Avila’s El Ranchito (also love chips, salsa and guac!) before our next destination where we found THE ONE! The rest of the story will be coming shortly…

If you are a new reader and want to hear about my first dress shopping experiences and look at some scary pictures of me, here is part I and part II of my shopping trip in San Diego with my mom.

Remember when I told you about my anxiety to go shopping and find“the dress”? In preparation of my first bridal dress appointment I checked out all the designers that were going to be at the store. I was excited, but a little nervous at the same time. I still didn’t like the idea of being on a pedestal with a bunch of people looking at me. I was going with mama duck and my goal was just to really get an idea of what I liked and what looked good on me.

I know we’ve looked at dresses before, but here are an example of some of the designers were at the first store we went to. Are you familiar with any of them?

Michelle Roth Couture

Henry Roth

Alvina Valenta

Tara Keely

ProNovias

Lazaro

Jim Helm

Rivini

Renella De Fina Couture

Have you heard of these designers? Or was your dress made by one of them? Any tips for shopping?

The briefing on this first trip will be coming soon…