Bridesmaid's Shopping

Hi!

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was nice! Since Marisa was home from college and Abbie was on school vacation we thought it was the perfect time to go look for dresses!

Grams, Dina, Cece, Me, Abbie, and Marisa

Day One: We went to this small boutique in West Hartford, so you know it's expensive! This place was like the size of my room and then a two roomed dressing room. It seemed that everyone was finding dresses and I wasn't. I found 3 while everyone had like 12. Whatever. So we go to the dressing rooms and are taking turns. Marisa looks great in everything she can wear any style. I can only wear a dress with straps and a back that covers my bra. And no, strapless bras do not work for a 32 DD/E boob. I wasn't super upset but I did get a little down while watching everyone laughing and smiling holding potential dresses. I did feel myself wanting to cry and when I was in the dressing room alone looking in the mirror I was angry at my chest. But tomorrow we would go to David's Bridal so I tried not to worry too much.

Day Two: Davids Bridal had tons more options.... but not for me. As I searched I felt myself getting more discouraged. I found 4. Better then yesterday's selection. We had a section of dressing rooms all together, every bridesmaid was here plus my mom, 2 aunts, Odie's mom, and Grams. We had our own little spot, very roomie unlike the WeHa place. So I got into my dressing room and just stared at the dresses thinking which one should I even put on since none would fit or they looked like they were for an old lady. I tried on the least unattractive dress. Surprise, surprise, looks weird on my chest. I went to the second dress when my mom knocked and said to come out to show everyone....

Of course everyone is giving opinions at once. Over all no one liked it saying it looks too old for me. You think I don't know that? It's the only thing with straps! I'm on the verge of tears. I'm wearing this stupid dress and everyone else is happy and laughing, finding so many options. It's been about an hour and 4 girls have already picked out the ones they want. The other girl still looking had already narrowed it down. This made me want to cry even more. My mom, my sister, my grandma kept shoving dresses in the dressing room to try on. I wanted to scream "STOP!" I'm not going to wear any of those. If it doesn't have straps it's not happening.

Then everyone has to keep saying "Aw, what's wrong?" or "Are you okay?" and that just makes the tears pour out. So now I'm in the dressing room crying. This whole time before dress shopping I thought it would be so easy for me. But boy, was I wrong. I was not smiling, not laughing, not loving every dress like everyone else. I didn't want to be the Debbie downer or make things difficult for my sister. My sister finally came in to see what was wrong. I kept crying and saying sorry for ruining the day. She said not to worry and would be back. She found a few dresses and told me to just try them on and I didn't have to come out of the dressing room.

I still didn't like any of them. Then... She picked out this pretty one and I was like "No, there is only one strap..." but she said we could see if we could add one to the other side so I should just try it on anyway. So I listened and she said it looked beautiful and I should step out of the room and show everyone else. I did. Everyone was extra "Omg, Christina, you look stunning" because they really wanted to be nice since I had been crying this whole time. So it felt like they were being fake, but they weren't.

As you can tell my smile isn't fully real...

As I looked in the mirror I started to like it but it was 3 shades darker then everyone else's... then Dina said to me "You're the maid of honor, you get to stand out!" The women said when they hem the bottom they can use that fabric to make a strap that would cover my bra. Well, after they tried offering me to try on the strapless bras they sell. I mean, they didn't even have my size, yet they still were like it's a 34 D it's like the equivalent. No, it's not or I'd wear that bra instead of spending like $100 on my size! Duh!

By the end of our day my face chaffed from wiping my eyes/cheeks, my legs and feet hurt from standing so long, and I was mentally exhausted but I did feel relief in knowing that everything turned out okay.

-Christina