Dress Story- Part 2

I'm sorry it's taken so long to finish my dress story!  As the wedding gets closer, my schedule gets busier.
(To read the first part of the story, take a look at my previous post:  Dress Story- Part 1.)
After trying on dresses in California, I went to Texas to try some of my favorites with my family.  First we went to David's Bridal and I tried on some of the ones I liked there.  My family liked the same dresses I did but there wasn't one that everyone had a big reaction too.
The next day we went to Alfred Angelo after a trip to Build-A-Bear where my youngest sister got a new lamb.  The lamb went with us to shop for dresses!

At Alfred Angelo I was able to try on the Ariel and Snow White Disney dresses.  Ariel was a very beautiful dress with a lot of detail!  I liked it but it was a little too hard for me to walk in. I really liked the Snow White dress though and it became a fave.

Top- Ariel, Bottom- Snow White

I must add that at this Alfred Angelo I was paired with an awesome dress consultant.  She was so helpful and really went out of her way to make the whole dress shopping experience a special one!  She even played with my little sister's lamb and let my sister try on a big tiara!
After a couple more dresses I tried on my favorite dress from my previous visit to the California Alfred Angelo for my family to see. This was the one everyone seemed to love!  It is not a Disney dress but looks a lot like Belle's ballgown dress from Beauty and the Beast.  I tried on a few more dresses afterwards but everyone in my family seemed to agree that the Belle-like dress was the one.  I tried it on one more time and then we looked at veils and tiaras.  I ended up picking a tiara my youngest sister picked out.  I love the tiara even more because of that!
So my dress is picked out and that big decision is done! I'm not posting a picture of it because I want it to be a surprise for the wedding guests.  I'll be getting my dress in the mail in July.  I can't wait!

Dress Story- Part 1

So a couple weeks ago I finally ordered my dress!  It's sort of a long story but I will try to summarize it the best I can.
You can read about some issues I had with getting myself to dress shop here:
Where's the time gone and Wedding Dress Blues

What I ended up doing was I decided I would go to a few dress stores in California to get an idea on what I like and then I would go to Texas for a weekend to make my final choice with my family.  The few weeks went by quick but in the end I got my dress!

The first shop I went to was David's Bridal.  I was a little nervous that they would be pushy but luckily the dress consultant I was paired with was really nice and not pushy at all!  I took Jared with me because I really don't mind if he sees the dress beforehand.  He's always really helpful when we go shopping so I wanted him to be there.
I had Jared armed with both my phone and my camera for him to take photos.  He texted pictures of the dresses to my family as I tried them on.  The photos he took on my other camera I emailed to my family later that day.  It ended up working out pretty well!
The dress consultant was great- she let me try on every single dress on my list and gave me some space after I tried on each dress so that Jared could take pictures and I could get a feel for the dress.  It was a really nice experience!  There was even a dress I liked there.

Our next stop in California was an Alfred Angelo.  Here I was able to try a few of the Disney dresses- Belle and Cinderella.  I really liked these but the Cinderella dress was a bit too puffy for me and the Belle dress felt heavy.  They were beautiful dresses and so much fun to try on but they were not quite me.

This dress was beautiful but wasn't the one for me.

I did try on another dress that I really liked that actually reminded me of Belle even though it wasn't a Disney dress.  I thought it was the one but unfortunately the consultant I had was putting a little too much pressure on me to purchase it right away.  She got me to the counter to check out and place my order but I froze and told her I wanted to wait.  I'm very glad I did!
Those were the two places I went to in California.  The next two places I went to were in Texas.  I will tell this part of the story in my next post so stay tuned!

Update- Where's the time gone? & the Wedding dress blues

It has been a busy yet productive couple weeks!  Jared and I have really started taking action on the wedding planning. We filled out our wedding packet, met with our wedding coordinator, and have started brainstorming on the stuff we still need to do.  A couple weeks ago, I looked at a calendar and counted the months we have until the wedding and realized it's not as long as I'd thought.  We're getting married in October so that only leaves us a little more than 6 months.  We got engaged over a year ago and decided we'd give ourselves plenty of time to save for the wedding and for the planning.  It's been pretty relaxed because the wedding always seemed so far away but now it's started to hit me that it's right around the corner.
The thing I'm most nervous about is the dress. No, I haven't gotten one yet.  I didn't think it was a big deal but the past two weeks several people stare at me in disbelief when I say I haven't picked one out.  I wasn't planning to until the end of May.  I don't have anything in mind, just that I'm leaning towards trying to get something at Alfred Angelo because I want to look at the Disney dresses and also the other dresses there because I like what I've seen in pictures and on the website. A coworker got a dress from there and she recently told me she loved it and really recommended Alfred Angelo.  (She looked amazing in it too!)  That just further got me set on going to one of their stores.

The one thing that is keeping me from going and getting one right now though is that I really and I mean really want to go with my mom and my sisters.  They live in Texas and I'm in California so to make this happen there's a little more work involved.  I was planning on visiting in May and looking then but now I'm wondering if I should go sooner?  I was going to look with them and see what I like and then order the dress here in California.
So yeah, the wedding dress is the big challenge for me right now and the whole thing feels like it's looming over me.  Honestly I'm not big on clothes shopping of any kind so I'm also a bit nervous about the whole thing and not as excited as other people might be.
On a happy note though, all the other planning is going great!  I've got several posts planned talking about some of the things we've been able to decide and accomplish the past few weeks so stay tuned!