Finding My Dress: Part 2

When we last spoke, I had visited two bridal salons and found two very beautiful gowns I was considering: the Hunter and the Eleanor.

The week following my trip to Le Salon, I made an appointment at a local salon called Bridal Magic in Canton. I went with BM L after work one day. The salon is tucked away in a strip mall and I had never noticed it before, even though it is only ten minutes away from my house and I drive past it all the time. I found out that the owner and her husband opened the shop only a few months ago, which might explain why I hadn’t had my eye on it. When we arrived, we had the place to ourselves and the owner, Zeinab, to help me try on dresses. Here, I finally got to try on a few dresses that weren’t strapless, and guess what? They looked horrible on me! The strapped gowns made me look like a flamenco dancer on a cruise ship — not really the look I was going for.

Not the look I’m going for. / Photo via Marry in Spain

Again, a few gowns came out on top, but there was one standout: the Dartmouth by Enzoani. This dress was made in a beautiful, lightweight fabric that I felt great in, and the skirt and train was elaborate without being too much.

Photo via Blue by Enzoani

A couple days later I headed back to Plymouth to check out Bridal Couture in Plymouth with a coworker who had gotten her dress there a couple years back. Honestly, while the store was great and I had a very nice time with the consultant there, I didn’t find anything that I really loved. The store was a little on the small side (and one of the more pricier ones I had been in), so I wasn’t expecting too much.

I took a little break to think about what I had seen so far. There were definitely some stand-outs at this point. When I was ready, I went to B Ella Bridal in Ann Arbor. MOH D and BM L both met me there, and assessed the next batch of dresses I tried on. The appointment started off a little iffy, as  the consultant assigned to us wasn’t really listening to what I wanted, and attempted, multiple times, to get me to try on a dress more than twice my budget. She eventually was replaced by another consultant, who I believe might have been the owner or at least a manager. She pulled a bunch of great dresses off of their sample rack, which means they were discounted but were being sold as-is (I wouldn’t be ordering a new dress, I would be buying one that had been tried on by countless other girls). One of these dresses was a Paloma Blanca, style #3966. I loved the lace on this dress and it fit almost perfectly. Here’s the photo:

Photo via Paloma Blanca / Dress no longer in production

The last stop on my bridal salon tour was Gina’s Bridal of Milford, possibly my favorite shopping experience of them all. Maybe it was because I was back in my hometown, shopping with my mom. Perhaps it was the adorable knee-length clearance dress I bought to wear to the rehearsal dinner. It was definitely in part to the amazing customer service that Gina’s provided (ok, so they recognized my last name and realized Gina and I had taken ice skating lessons together a loooooooong time ago — but still, the ladies in that shop are amazing). I didn’t think I would find anything at Gina’s — honestly, I believed I had found my dress at a previous store. But then I tried on two dresses that changed my mind:

Photo via Casablanca

Photo via Casablanca

I loved the fit of the Casablanca 2037, but the chiffon fabric of the Casablanca 2049 was amazingly soft and lightweight. I then learned that Casablanca is very willing to make custom changes (for a cost, of course), and they would likely be able to make the 2037 in the chiffon fabric that I loved. The following week, my consultant, Cinnamon (no lie), emailed to say that would be totally doable. The only question I had to ask myself was, would I be comfortable buying a custom-made wedding dress and not knowing exactly what it would look like until it came in?

More to come!

Did you have any pushy salespeople when you were trying on dresses? Would you be comfortable ordering a dress sight unseen?