Love it or hate it shopping for your wedding dress is one of the most exciting things a girl gets to do. Many people talk of the heavens parting and tears of joy springing forth when you find “the one.” That didn't happen with me--at least not right away-- but it was still without a doubt one of the most exciting, stressful, emotional, surreal and memorable experiences of my life...
Despite living in New York the thought of shopping for a dress without my mom was not an option. So for Christmas I surprised her with a round trip airline ticket from Florida to New York for the first weekend in February.
We weren’t planning on finding my wedding dress in the course of two days (I mean really, how crazy is that?!) nor were we planning on buying a designer dress— rather our goal was merely to get some ideas and see what we liked. On Saturday we got up bright and early and hit 3 or 4 different small bridal boutiques around Manhattan--Lara Helene, Kelima K, Pronovias and Priscilla of Boston if memory serves. We found a plethora of gorgeous gowns from extremely talented designers but nothing that really stood out to us.
The following day we started out at Kleinfelds. For those of you not familiar with the Manhattan dress scene let me explain. Kleinfelds is known for having the largest selection of bridal gowns from top European and American designers in Manhattan. Now usually I prefer more of the smaller boutiques—like the places we had visited the day before—but as this was my mom’s last day in town, I figured it’d be fun to check out such a wide array of dresses from so many different designers.
To say the place was overwhelming would be a bit of an understatement. Walking in you come across a plush waiting room which opens out into an enormous showroom filled with more dresses than one could ever hope to get through in a week. And don't even get me started on the accessories! Under normal circumstances I probably would have turned around and made a break for it. Instead, and despite being incredibly intimidated, we stayed and waited for our ‘dress consultant’.
We all have a particular style of dress we like, and I was no different. Being tall (5’10”), very thin and rather flat chested (think Olive Oil or Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride") I was looking for a V neck, lace sheath styled dress. So far, I hadn't found any I really liked and I was looking forward to seeing Kleinfeld's selection.
As we were waiting in the lobby area taking it all in I noticed one of the dresses in the back being showcased on a mannequin. It was a strapless, empire waisted chiffon and tulle creation that was exquisite in its simplicity. It was gorgeous and so very different from anything I had ever seen. My mom noticed it at the same time I did, and we both couldn’t help but admire it from afar.
After our consultant met up with us and we made our way through Kleinfeld’s showroom gathering up every possible slim lace creation they had, on a whim I asked about trying on the dress from the mannequin.
Back in the dressing room, the mannequin dress was one of the last dresses I tried on. It fit like a glove (oh the glory of not having any boobs!). I had about 10 seconds to admire it and think “hey this doesn’t look half bad on me—who’d have thought?” before pandemonium broke out.
The consultant felt the need to cry out in (supposed) joy that “This was the dress!” and promptly forced me out of our quiet, peaceful, private room into the hallway and onto a pedestal in front of a mirror. Quick as lightening she then forced a fake bouquet into my hands and shoved a veil on my head.
You know the expression ‘a dear in headlights’? That’s what I looked like. As I’m trying to digest all this, a small crowd of various sales associates and random observers started to form around me. Next thing I know I’m being dragged down the hallway into the main showroom to be shown-off like the winning cow a the state fair. Mothers, sisters and friends of other brides were coming up to me, telling me how gorgeous I looked in this dress....and when was I going to take it off? It was all…just a bit…too much. Everything was so over the top that it seemed almost blatantly orchestrated. It was as if at any moment I expected a TV crew to jump out from behind a wall and proclaim ‘Gotcha’! (Ok, maybe not “gotcha”. Imagine a more witty catchphrase instead )
As I was standing there in all of my awkward glory, a striking petite woman came up to me with ---I am dead serious here—tears in her eyes. She proceeded to tell me that while she usually doesn’t do this, she had to come over and introduce herself. She said that I looked amazing in the dress and that this was her favorite from her new collection. She talked about how even though she was given grief over it not looking more traditional, she knew someone would see what she saw in it and love it……
(internal monologue at this very moment in time: OHMYFREAKINGGOODNESSAREYOUKIDDINGME?!?!?!!!!!!!!)
oh yes folks that’s right. The designer herself, the lovely, amazing, gorgeous, talented AMSALE herself came up to me to compliment me in HER DRESS!!!!
Turns out this dress had just come off the runway the day before from Amsale’s Fall 08 Collection and was being showcased for the first time in Kleinfeld’s that day. How freaking cool is that?
Speaking of cool, since the dress was brand spanking new and part of a showcase it was being sold at a significant discount. The bad news was that if we wanted it, we had to order it on the spot. Since the dress was so new it was being shipped off to Europe to be showcased there for a bit and wouldn’t be found in any store for retail for another 6 months. It hadn’t even gone into production yet. Like I said earlier, this was only the second day of dress shopping and we hadn't really planned on finding anything. We had a decision to make and very little time in which to do so
(side note: "dress consultants" at Kleinfeld's are nice until you ask for some time alone to think about making such a huge emotional/financial decision. Then they turn into very rude bitches)
I am indecisive. I also hate making huge decisions on the spot. I'm the kind of person who likes to sleep on things and think them through. So this, having to decide to buy my wedding dress right then and there was a teeny tiny bit stressful. Added to that was the fact that it was more than we had budgeted for and nothing at all what I thought I had wanted. I could have simply walked away. After all did I really care that much about a dress? It hadn’t been on my list of things to splurge on and I was sure I could find something nice somewhere else. Luckily my mom was with me, and usually being the voice of reason surprised me with her answer. She said it was all to much of a coincidence to be anything but fate. To happen to walk into a store the one and only day the dress was here, to have a discount being offered and to have the designer herself speak to you...it was all very exciting and nothing short of something meant to be. The dress was expensive but it wasn't out of reach and while it was different than what I had thought I wanted, perhaps being so different and so unique made it perfect.
So we said yes....to the dress (sorry! couldn't resist). We walked into the office and put the order in. Yet I wasn’t excited. I was almost filled with what seemed like a sense of dread…and nausea. I don’t know about everyone else’s experiences but something told me that that was usually not what one was supposed to feel. When asked what was wrong, I told my mom I wasn't sure but something simply didn’t feel right.
Feeling terrible, we walked out into a cold, overcast New York afternoon and ran into Amsale on the street corner. She had escaped outside for a quick cigarette break and when she saw us waved us over. We got into a 45 minute discussion on life and love. She had come to New York from Nigeria when she was 17 determined to make it as a designer. We talked about the dress and why it was her favorite. She told us it reminded her of another era, one where love conquered all and she was touched that I instantly fell in love with it. We talked of her many travels and how fate works in funny and unexplainable ways...It was a such a beautiful and surreal moment in time. Standing there on the corner of 6th Ave and W 18th St having a intimate conversation with my mom and a world renowned designer.
As Amsale headed back inside, a bum walked past us carrying a boombox blasting “Walking on Sunshine” at the same time the clouds parted and the sun came out. In that moment everything simply fell into place. I turned to my mom and told her I was excited and I felt like a bride-to-be. Smiling, arms linked together, we headed up to Shake Shack to celebrate over burgers and hot chocolate. That’s about when the tears of joys came.
