Unofficial Wedding Plans -- Part 2

....because of the dress.

Yes, the one and only thing official about this wedding thus far, is that I have the dress.

And it's gorgeous. (As gorgeous as a size 10 dress could be, but I'll never get my ribs in something smaller anyway). And best of all, it's almost medieval fantasy.

This is the story of how I got my dress.

Last year, a month after finally meeting my boyfriend in person (we met online in a Christian fantasy writers forum), my girlfriends and I went to David's just to look around. Well, the one girl decided to trick me into trying on a dress. She acted like she wanted to try one on, but wouldn't if I didn't do it too, made me go first, and all along never had any intention of doing so.

But anyway, here's the thing: I was NEVER going to buy a dress from David's. I had already collected business cards from designers at the Renaissance Faire and was going to have a dress custom made for me, like a white, pouffy version of something Arwen would wear.

I felt very guilty taking up the salesperson's time as I tried to explain that I wanted something medieval/fantasy-style. She told me the only that was even remotely similar was this ballroom style gown with a lace coat. I took one look at it (in the bag) and said, that's not what I'm talking about.

This is when my girlfriend stepped in and pulled her trick.

So I find myself in the dressing room, being buttoned into a size 34D corset (i was thinner last year, lost weight to meet my boyfriend), then this dress (off-white, btw) pulled over my head. Finally, I step out and my girlfriends gasp. The one starts tearing up and says, you look like Cinderella.

I looked in the mirror and I swear, I have NEVER felt as beautiful in my entire life. I was shocked. I've never had such a pronounced waist or a flat stomach since giving birth to my son at 19 -- of course all that was the corset, but at that lower weight, the corset took away what would have jumped out at me as ugliness and I was able to see the rest of me, the whole of me, and see the beauty of the gown, the medieval flair it had (as the salesperson said).

Now, I had almost no money in the bank. I have no credit cards. And I even reiterated to the sales lady that I was having one custom made from the Renn Faire. But she is in full sales-lady mode and says, just let me go see if it's on sale (from $600), writes the barcode numbers down and walks away. Uh-huh. I am flat broke. I'm reminding myself of this. That I have no money. That I want one fully medieval (which was going to cost about $2000 and I have no idea where that money would magically appear from).  She comes back and takes the tag directly from the dress, saying "I must have written the numbers down wrong, it says it's only $100. I laughed and said, if it's $100 I will buy it.

She returned a few moments later and said, you have yourself a wedding dress.

My jaw hit the floor. I looked in the mirror. I drank in the feeling of feeling beautiful. A simple alteration to the sleeves of the lace coat could make it as medieval as I needed it to be, and there was probably no chance in hell I would ever have $2000 anyway.

The she informs me that it's the last dress they have and it's discontinued (thus the low price).

Just then, boyfriend calls and asks what I'm doing. I hesitantly tell him, wondering if he'd be typical guy (met girl in person, a month later she's trying on wedding gowns). He asked if I liked it, I told him I never felt so beautiful in my life. He said: Buy it.

And so, that is the story of how I got my dress.

However....I weighed somewhere between 149 and 155 at that time. The dress fit fairly well except that I was hanging over the top (it's strapless. My chest and fat was squeezed up and out. I figure it was only about 10 pounds that needed losing, and if I lost more, I would just have the waist taken in. Alas, I now weigh 158.8. In the very least, I HAVE to lose 20 pounds in 2 months and 23 days or the one thing I actually have official for this wedding, I won't have at all. I feel as though all my dreams of feeling like a princess hang on this Cinderella-dress.

My waist does not do that in real life, one of the reasons I felt so beautiful. An idea I have for the sleeves is to alter them so that they are the long flowing sleeves like Arewn has in LOTR.

Was 150 in these pictures, am now 160. And at that time, I needed to lose another 10 to fit properly (I don't think it could be buttoned all the way up in the back). In the full length one, you can see alittle bit how much I am spilling out over the top, but the coat and my hair help cover. At the wedding though, I want to be able to take the coat off during the reception and don't want to have to hope my hair is always covering my fat. I want to be confident. I don't want to hide from the camera, or alter, tug, or fix before every picture. I want to be free and know I am beautiful and just smile and enjoy my day being a princess.