After over two months of searching, I finally found my dress!
(Sorry this is so long but I just have to vent this all out! I am on cloud 9 at the moment!!)
I tried on so many different styles, changed my mind a thousand times, and I am so happy to say that the dress I chose is both everything I wanted AND waaaaay on sale!!!
The dress that I envisioned was definitely ballgown. I am a girly girl so I wanted a dress that had elements of sparkle, a poofy bottom and the WOW factor. I wanted a dress fit for a princess (Don't we all!!??)
Well..... I found it! After trying on so many, I learned that it was the sweetheart style that flattered me most. I was on the search for a bodice that had both satin and sparkly beading throughout it. I wanted the bottom to be made or tulle and to have personality to it. I wanted it to be fun and move with me when I walked like I was walking on a cloud.
Well, I ended up finding it at the last place I imagined I would! There is a Bridal Warehouse in Tampa called Jon's Bridal. I had my sister in law come with me. I wasn't expecting to find the dress at all. The store is very old fashioned with ugly carpets and wallpaper from the 1960's!! But I thought I would give it a shot since I had tried so many others. I didn't even realize until my appointment that the way this place works is that you buy off the rack. It's a warehouse of designer dresses sold for cheap because you buy them as is. We grabbed a bunch from the floor and tried one after one. I found the lady that I was dealing with a little anal and I will have to say that from my experience, the customer service there was less than stellar. She was kind of rude to my sister in law and I had picked certain dresses to try on and she didn't bring them into the change room for me.
But I will say this, the second dress that I walked out in by far knocked every dress out of the water that I had tried on. It had EVERYTHING! The bodice was super sparkly, it had the sweetheart shape bust line, the bottom skirt was all tulle and had little fabric flowers threaded throughout it, and it was a corset back which was another thing i had wanted. I felt like it flattered my figure so nicely. I felt like a princess. This dress, had the wow factor!!
I have to actually credit the consultant for one thing she did. When I arrived for my appt I was asked my budget. i had muffled "under $1500" under my breath hoping that I could find something within that realm. When she was putting this dress on me, I had asked her for the price and she said she preferred not to tell me. I thought to myself in that moment "Ah, lady,. this is something I need to know as it weighs in huge for my decision making!" But there was a reason for her not telling me. She knew the price of the dress and wanted to make sure that I selected the gown that I loved the most out of all of them, trusting that they were all under my budget. After I had tried on about 6 dresses in total, I said that i really wanted to put the second one back on. That is was by far my favourite and I needed to feel myself in it again. When I put it on I looked at Jessica (my sister ) and teared up, i told her it was the one! She teared up too and we had a moment together with tissues. It was then the lady told Jessica that she would let her tell me how much the dress was. Jess read the tag and it was on sale for........ $875 dollars!!!!!!
I couldn't believe it. I began sobbing because I felt like it was a Godsend. My fiance and I have been struggling with money as I just moved to Tampa and we've run into some unexpected immigration fees. I can't work yet so we are living on his income! It's been very challenging as we also have to plan a wedding at the same time.
This dress was meant to be mine, and it feels so good!
Because the dress was an exclusive line from Allure called ACE, i can't find a picture of it anywhere as I have read that it was an "unadvertised exclusive line"
The photo of the dress I have posted is the closest I could find to what it looks like. The bottom is the exact same. The top is pretty much the same as well with less beading on the bodice and more satin showing.
I am so in love and so relieved. I bought the dress and I will have it in one month! I am making a few alterations, one being that I will be extending the corset ties in the back as I felt they ended too high up.
So after everything, I can now check that off my list, and am so very happy I found my princess ballgown dress!!!
God is good!!
