dress

 

After months of waiting, it finally happened

My beloved wedding dress is finally back in my arms and in my house. Oh the joy and relief.

I took the dress to be shortened back in late June. The dress fit perfectly, almost as if it had been custom made just for me, except when it came to length. It was way too long and I'm to0 klutzy to deal with that, it had to be shortened.

The alterations lady assured me it would be a fairly easy process so I left it with her. She said she had a big wedding for the middle of September but she should be able to get to my dress right after that.

I wasn't thrilled with having to wait all the way until September because why couldn't she do it in July or August but I really had no choice.

The middle of September came and went and I was trying hard not to be a bridezilla but I finally texted her on September 26 for an update. She said it wasn't finished yet but she'd get with me soon.

Her definition of *soon* and mine must be very different because I heard nothing from her during October until I finally broke down and texted just a week away from the wedding and still my dress wasn't ready but she promised it 4 days before the wedding.

4 days!?!

Yesterday I showed up at her house at our appointed time and no one was home and I really started to panic. Had she flaked out at the last minute? Her husband came from around the back and told me that she wasn't there and he thought she'd left to do a painting job. That didn't sound good but when I called her she assured me she was on her way home and would be there within minutes and I started to breathe again.

She had the dress on a mannequin in the front room and I started to tear up when I saw my dress again. It looked so vintage and elegant and beautiful, exactly the way I want to feel on my wedding day.

I've got to tell you, I've been in love with this dress since the moment I saw it. I didn't have a whole Say Yes To The Dress moment in a bridal salon, I didn't have an entourage come with me to pick it out, I didn't even go anywhere to pick it out. I found it online at a discount site and I held my breath and bought it just hoping it wouldn't be ugly. I was lucky, it was perfect and, as I've said, it fit perfectly. It's vintage and boho and flatters my figure. I can't stop smiling whenever I put it on and that's how I know it's the perfect dress. Even with all the upheaval in our wedding planning process, I've always known that I would wear this dress no matter where we said our vows and I wasn't going to be cheated out of that moment.

So I tried on the dress to check the length and she did a great job. I may not have enjoyed the process but I can't argue with the outcome. It's the perfect length, I won't trip over it and she even remembered to leave the train. Quite frankly the train is my favorite part of the dress, I just love the way it sweeps along the floor, and if she'd accidentally removed it I probably would have had a total meltdown. I've only had a couple of meltdowns in my life and believe me, they ain't pretty.

And wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles - it still fits! That had been an irrational fear of mine all summer, that somehow I'd balloon up and the dress wouldn't zip up anymore. I don't know why I was worried about that, all my other clothes fit perfectly and I haven't been overeating but nevertheless it was quite a relief when it zipped up without a problem. I didn't try to lose weight for the wedding. I've been a big girl all my life but since losing Taz I also lost weight and I'm ok with my body the way it is now, it may get even smaller in the future but I didn't need that for my wedding and luckily the dress is ok with that too. I figure if Chris likes my body, I should as well.

I paid, snatched the dress and got out of there. I'd been so worried that something would happen to take the dress away from me so I wasn't taking any chances. It's in my closet right now, will hang in my sister's vacation rental house on Friday night until I put it on Saturday afternoon.