How I Found THE Dress For My Non-Traditional Wedding

Haven't written in a  while...well, I've written, I just haven't blogged. I've been busy finishing up DANGEROUS ALLIANCE (the sequel to DECEPTIVE INNOCENCE) and outlining what will be a JUST ONE NIGHT tie in book (now tentatively titled JUST ONE LIE).  Robert and Kasie will be in that one but they won't be the main characters. That said, I will be writing a Robert and Kasie short story for the spring.

I've also been planning my wedding. I use the word "planning" very loosely because we're not having a big event. We're having a very small, private ceremony with just our immediate family in attendance.  Afterwards we're having a few friends over to the house to celebrate with us. So again, it's all very intimate and kick-back...

...except, for some reason, even the most casual weddings in the world aren't that kickback. There are still things that need to be done. The rings, the legal stuff, even finding a decent evite can be time consuming. And then there's the dress...

...and let's face it the latter item is the most important one. It probably shouldn't be, but it absolutely is. No matter how small the wedding EVERY woman wants to look her absolute best on her wedding day. Period. When we initially got engaged last year I went wedding dress shopping with my mother and my fiancé's daughter. It was totally fun. We went to Beverly Hills on my birthday and just had a full on girl's day. At the time I thought we were having a more formal wedding so I selected a lovely evening gown from Bagdley Mischka. It was very pretty and elegant and it was the best one I found that day. BTW...the slit on mine wasn't quite so high. I didn't want to feel like I was going to have to strike the Angelina-Jolie-one-leg-out pose all day.

But then both Rod and I decided that we didn't want a formal wedding so the Bagdley Mischka was returned and I waited until we were both sure what kind of wedding we were going to have before I shopped again.

 This last weekend while in Denver with some girlfriends I found a lovely Nicole Miller dress.  A bright pink wrap dress. Again, it was very pretty. As you can see from the picture, the sizes they had left were too big on me (it's supposed to be more tailored) but when I called the Nicole Miller boutique in L.A. they said they could order the dress in a smaller size and they had a tailor who could take it in if it was still too big.  Plus I sort of liked the idea of finding my wedding dress while on this particular trip. I went to high school with all the women I was with...in fact we were  in the same AP English class together.  We currently all live in different parts of the country but periodically we find some destination and we meet up for a girl's weekend. So wedding dress shopping with them felt...well, special. So I went ahead and ordered the Nicole Miller.

But the thing is, I already had wedding-dress shopping plans with one of my closest friends in LA. So I told her that I had a "back-up" dress but still wanted to look around to see if there was something better. So I started at the Monique Ihuillier and found a pretty little cocktail dress. Very flattering, very sophisticated. It was probably a little better than the pink dress. then I went to Chloé and found...nothing. Literally nothing. Guess I'm just not a Chloé girl. And then I went to Oscar de la Renta.

I now have a big fashion-crush on Oscar. The first dress I tried on was another pink one. It was totally cute and immediately became my favorite. But the saleswoman brought me yet another dress she thought I should try. I looked at the dress and immediately thought, really? I mean for one thing, it was yellow. I never wear yellow. I've always thought it makes me look jaundiced. Aside from that the dress just didn't seem that special too me. Just your average, garden-party cocktail dress. But I tried it on simply because it was hanging there in my dressing room.  And then...Oh. My. God.

I have never seen a dress transform itself this much once you try it on. It went from eh to jaw-dropping. And that's literally what happened. I walked out of the dressing room and the jaws of the other women shopping dropped. "That's gorgeous," whispered one woman as she turned to her own saleswoman in hopes of trying one on as well. But guess what? It was the last one in the store, possibly the country since it was already marked to 40% off. And now it's mine!

It's the one. Which is perfect because I'm marrying the one.

Obviously I'm not posting pictures of the dress now but I certainly will after the wedding.

What's cool is that since I ended up buying three dresses (returning two) I was able to go wedding dress shopping with many of the women I wanted to go wedding dress shopping with. My mom, my groom's daughter, my high school friends and finally Kim, who is the first friend I made when I moved to LA.

And it's funny, once you have The Dress the rest of the wedding feels so real! Up until now I had just been excited about being married to this man that I love. Now I'm excited about getting married to him too. We've been engaged for over a year and yet it wasn't until I got the dress that I put the date down in my calendar. I emailed my party planner and we worked out a bunch of details. I now frequently find myself mooning over our engagement pictures.  It's just ridiculous! And it's wonderful.

I'm getting married to a wonderful guy in a wonderful dress. And I'm happy.
Really and truly happy.