You didn't ask...but I'll tell you.

Whoever said shopping for a wedding dress is fun clearly has never gone shopping with me. 

At this point I would have to say I've tried on about 70 dresses....At a recent appointment I asked the consultant how many dresses most girls try on. She said "maybe 10-15"...and my only response was "at a time?" I thought for sure she must be joking....10 dresses before you find THE dress? THE dress that makes you feel like the best version of yourself? THE dress that will knock your just about to be husband's socks off as you walk down the aisle? I asked Lil Meg over the weekend how many she tried on....6-10 she said. WHAAAAAAA????? There must be something wrong with me. I asked her this during one of the most frustrating shopping trips. 

Up until this point all the consultants had been completely over the top helpful...even if they were off base or misguided, but as we headed to one store I had the displeasure of being "helped" by someone who as I gave her a rundown of my likes and dislikes stared at me as though I had just told her that I would be wearing a white bikini, lucite platform heels and a boa constrictor down the aisle...and I wanted her help picking just the right boa constrictor to compliment the flashing lights in the heels. She could not have been more confused and after saying at least four times to both me, my family and other consultants "i'm stumped. i have no idea what to pull" ultimately an hour later basically just said. "ok. thanks. we're done. bye". I left feeling pretty frustrated. 

At this point.....where do we stand? Well I'm glad you asked....because while I've finally had some success.....I've now reached a stand still. Over the weekend I tried on three dresses that I love. But which one is the dress?...how do you know? People say you just know....but HOW do you know??????? What if there is another dress out there?....a better dress....THE dress. You go into these stores and try on dresses that don't fit....they roll the fabric up in the back with pins and clips and tell you "it'll look like this...this isn't the color it will be...it'll fit here...we can have the seamstress do this and this and this....." and how do women make this decision????? While in one of the stores another girl who was trying on dresses mentioned she had tried on over 100 dresses....but ultimately we were there when she chose THE dress....she made a decision....and while that dress looked wonderful on her....i would have bet there were other dresses that looked amazing on her too...so HOW!!!!! I am dying to just ask my bridesmaids and mom which one I should go for....but ultimately it's my decision and they are wonderful enough to hold there tongues about their preference until I ask....but maybe that's the test...maybe when someone says "i like THIS one better.....and my gut goes "noooo you should have said the OTHER one!"....then I'LL know which one I like......or maybe I just need to try on more dresses.....when does it stop???? 

NOTE: does this post make me seem neurotic and crazy? like maybe I'm over thinking this just a weeeee bit too much? oh...it does? well, yea....welcome to what chris gets to have for the next 80 years. tell him congratulations. :)

And then my head exploded. The end.

Gah. 

What a whirlwind this past month (has it been a month? longer? huh? where am I?) has been. LOTS going on and it makes it hard that some of it I'm not yet cleared to discuss on the very public forum of "internet" so whenever I've started writing a blog post and wanted to talk about all the cool opportunities and possibilities that are a-brewin I get stuck. Stuck because everything is so intertwined and to mention one thing leads to discussing all sorts of other things....

So let's stick to one topic we can all get behind....WEDDING PLANNING!

I never really realized just how sucked into the vortex of wedding gabledegook I would be....especially so early on. The even CRAZIER thing is how we're totally not even way ahead of schedule on things. Last weekend I went shopping for wedding dresses for the first time thinking "this is nuts! this is too early to be looking" only to find out it takes 6-8 MONTHS! (not weeks. MONTHS) to get the dress once you've picked it out. Sure you can do it later...but it'll cost you in rush fees to ship and then rush alterations and blah blah blah we'll charge you for anything cuz it's your one special day and we know you'll pay it!! hahaha!

I do have to say though it's all very fun and exiting and I'm really into the whole planning process...I just wish I had more TIME and didn't have this pesky JOB! that keeps getting in the way of all the fun things I want to do. I can totally see how wedding planning drives people crazy though....with all the details and the minutiae that can swallow you whole. As a "planning" type of person I find it fun. I spend every single day planning out elaborate shoots for a show I have no personal invested interest in...and with THIS  I get to plan something that actually matters to me quite a bit! Which is awesome! It's even better that Chris actually cares about the details and has opinions! and input!...sure it's hard to get him motivated after a long day to play ball this far out from the date, but he does care.

Me: "here! look at this officiant's website!" 

Chris: "mmmhmmm...i'm downloading the Beatles remastered!"

.....I swear I am marrying my father.

Yesterday I finally sent in our contract with our venue to lock this thing down! It's official. We're getting married. Location: √.

This weekend we'll be up north for a friend's wedding....I'll also be traipsing off to do some more dress shopping with my mom while in town. Squee!!!! I feel like a five year old playing dress up and it's AWESOME!

Next week we've got two meetings set up with photographers! Yay! This is something we're totally excited about (photography...not the actual meetings...the meetings will probably be kind of tedious). The photography of our wedding is one of my big priorities...and I think Chris' too...and I'm thrilled at the possibility of having some really cool stylized wedding photography to stare fondly at when I'm 80. :)