The search is over...

Yes, I spent a grand total of two days trying on dresses. I went to four stores, including the Filene's basement extravaganza. The first three I have already blogged about here.

After shopping for dresses in April, my mom and I waited a grand total of three (three!) months before shopping again. Being the busy doctoral student that I am, and my mom being the busy seminarian and student pastor that she is, it did not work for us to shop again in July. But that doesn't mean that I didn't shop for dresses virtually.

I learned in bridal dress adventure number 1 that I wanted something simple, non foofy-poofy-glittery-cakelike. Mermaid style dresses looked horrid on me. Halters tended not to work quite right, as my considerably large chest would strain the top. Strapless was actually doable, especially when I started lifting weights when summer started. Spaghetti straps- not so much. A dress made of silk was important. Minimal train. Interesting detail on the back.

Which led me to this dress. Jenny Yoo's Kayla.

Jenny Yoo is a designer mostly for bridesmaid dresses- really expensive bridesmaid dresses. Made of high quality silk shantung, they are extremely well made. And this dress seemed perfect. I even dreamed about it. And two weeks before I try it on, I see it mentioned in a bridal magazine as an ideal dress for bridesmaids with large chests. It must be destiny.

So to try on this dress, my mom and I venture to All Brides Beautiful, located in Hudson, Ohio. It is the only store in Ohio or Michigan to carry Jenny Yoo's collection.

My experience at this shop could not be more different than Catan's. Located in an old house, there is one room devoted to wedding dresses, and one room devoted to bridesmaid dresses. And nearly all the wedding dresses were of the non-foofy, non-sparkly variety. The two women helping me were absolutely awesome. The dressing room was a very large room with two comfortable chairs in it, and a three way mirror. Off to the side was a small room with a curtain in which I changed in and out of dresses. The attendant would hand me a dress to try on, and would clip/help zip it if I needed it. And by clipping, I mean taking dresses that were much to small and clipping it to my bra so that I could see what it looked like. It was absolutely awesome.

So I tried on several dresses, including this one by Nicole Miller:

And I ended up getting something very different than what I thought I would end up with. Perhaps I will post more details later, but I haven't yet decided if I want to tell Calvin about the details of my dress.