Wedding Dress Try-ons, expectations, etc.

I started off with my first appointment at David's Bridal, despite the reputation my local store has, and I'm glad I did. It seems like a lot of DB stores have a bad rap, but overall I had a good experience. My consultant was a lot of fun to work with and didn't rush me in and out of dresses, in fact, I was there for about 5 hours! Crazy, right?! But she pulled as many dresses as she could from my favorites and some that she thought I'd like.

Originally I wanted the appointment to get an idea of what type of silhouette I wanted. I know that my fiance and I want a beach wedding, we don't know exactly where yet, but it has to be on a beach! So I was/am leaning towards a mermaid/fit and flare/slim a-line, basically anything fitted and no ballgowns! Being that I've never tried on a wedding dress before, and typically don't wear anything fitted, I wanted to make sure that was the right silhouette for me and made me feel special...or just bridal. :)

Here are some things I learned based on my appointments:

• If possible, find out if the bridal boutique/salon/store will have undergarments for you to wear. If not, or you'd rather wear your own, plan on wearing something like Spanx and a strapless bra. If nothing else, just wear your basic undergarments, but wear something as the consultant might be assisting in dressing you. ;)
• Not a big deal in my opinion, but I've seen several sites/advice forums/etc. stress footwear. Personally, I'm considering being barefoot, so I tried on most of my dresses barefoot. I don't think shoes are necessary until you've picked your dress and you're going to your fitting. But for picking out the dress, they're not necessary, but will help when trying to envision how you'll look. 
• I've heard yays and nays on this, but wearing makeup and your hair like you would on your wedding day to help visualize the overall look. I wore makeup for both appointments (I've done 2 so far) and with all the pictures, I'm glad I did. 
• Pictures! Take lots and lots of pictures, even video! I had someone around to take pictures of all the dresses so I could go back and look at them. It'll gave me an idea of how the dress looked on, how it moves, and how it photographs. And so far, it's helped me narrow down my selection and what I want. 
• Eat, or take something with you to eat, and bring water! I was starving after my DB appointment! I brought water, but I should've brought some non-salted almonds or peanuts to munch on.
• Don't take a huge party. For my first appointment, it was my fiance (Taboo, I know! haha) and my mom. My second appointment was just me and my future mother in law. Anymore than 2-3 is probably too many opinions. The only opinion that matters is yours and how you feel, the rest of your party will agree if it's something you love, but you don't want to be overwhelmed and lose sight of your own thoughts.
• Sleep on it! I can't stand pushy sales people and will quickly leave if I'm being pushed. It's your dress and you have to be happy with it, plus it can be a ton of money! Any good sales person will want you to have a great experience, so you do come back when you're ready, and not try to push for something right away. So go home, talk with your entourage, look at pictures, and decide later. 
• Be open minded about what a consultant pulls for you, but it's okay to try it and not like it.
• Print out your favorite dresses so you have something to hand off to the consultant. DB's system was having issues printing out my favorites that I had created on their site, luckily I could pull them up on my phone, but a print out would've been easier.
• If you find a dress online that you like, check the collection it came out in. You don't want to love a dress that's already discontinued or hunt for it at local places and find out they don't have it. However, buying pre-owned is a good option for discontinued dresses! 

I brought my fiance with me to my first appointment because I wasn't planning on purchasing my dress that day even if I found it, but I wanted to try on different silhouettes because my fiance seems to think that there's a force field of tulle and he won't be able to stand near me if the dress were too "poofy" LOL. So he stayed for a couple of hours and then had to leave for a meeting. He has a hard time visualizing me in dresses when I've showed him some that I've liked, so it was nice for him to be able to see different silhouettes and be able to tell me what he liked and didn't like.

The second appointment I had was with a local boutique that carries Maggie Sottero, Jasmine, and Allure Bridals. I did my research between all of the designers and printed out my favorites for each one. I failed to check out when certain dresses came out, so I was able to nix about half of my options for each designer because the dress hadn't come out yet or had been discontinued. :(

So, here are the dresses I've liked so far from my appointments. And actually, before I post them, have all brides cried when finding their dresses? I haven't come close! No teary-eyed moments for me! Does that mean I haven't found "The One"? Or am I just missing that "gene"? lol I can be an emotional person, and have even cried during Say Yes to the Dress, so I'm starting to get concerned and think that I haven't found yet. lol Annnnyyyyways, onto the dresses:

Left - White by Vera Wang Mikado Fit and Flare, Right- Maggie Sottero Lacey, Lacey Marie

Maggie Sottero Chesney w/o jacket

Maggie Sottero Karena Royale

As much as I like these dresses, there's still something I would change in all of them, which makes me think I haven't found the perfect dress yet. If it's perfect, it wouldn't need to be changed, right? For the Mikado and Karena Royale dress, I'd add a sweetheart neckline, For Chesney, I think it would be nice if it had some of the lace detailing across the neckline to add a scalloped sweetheart look. And for Lacey, I'd change the color, which is possible, but I didn't like how I felt in it. Can I just have 2 dresses!? JK In reality I have it narrowed down to two of them, but I'm trying to hold off. Even though I already bought shoes and a clutch to go with my unknown dress. Oops haha. But we're aiming for 2017, so it's not like I don't have some time and I'll be attending bridal shows galore (2 this month, 1 the next). 

I haven't come up with a wedding series name...but I've been telling my self that it's Wedding Wednesday to remind myself to post on Wednesday haha. I'd love some suggestions! If you have any, please leave them in the comments! And for now, expect wedding related posts on Wednesday and I'll be throwing in some review posts as well.