My feelings on “THE dress,” part 1

I was looking back through my old posts, and I realized that I have never really delved too much into my dress selection process. And…I feel that I probably should, because my experience was, I guess, not the magical one that I had imagined it to be. Let me explain…

For those of you who don’t know me or can’t tell from pictures, I am a small human being. I’m about 5’2”/5’3,” and I weigh just over 100 pounds. I’m “fun size.” I have a hard time shopping at a lot of stores; at some retailers their XS’s or 0’s are too big for me. So, when it came to dress shopping, I had a lot of things to keep in mind.

I went into my dress search with a pretty distinct vision. I’d like to think that I know how to dress myself properly, and that when it came to shopping for dresses, I’d be no different.

I knew for certain that I had to stray away from dresses with “poof,” as they would completely swallow me alive. They aren’t my style anyway. Besides, I am confident about my body, so I did want to find a gown that showed off my figure!

Another thing I was sure of? Lace. There is just something so romantic about lace, and it is timeless. I just had to have a dress made of lace.

Finally, I knew that I wanted a sweetheart neckline if possible. I’m not ashamed to admit it; I am pretty much flat as a pancake up top…which I actually LIKE (gasp! What?!?! I know, who would think?). However, when it comes to clothing with strapless necklines, I start to look like a washboard. Not the most attractive thing you’ve ever seen.

So, what were my original dress inspirations? I sourced them all from The Knot:

Raidis by Pronovias

I love the flowy nature of the dress…the babydoll shape would possibly be a good look on me.

Rocha by Monique Lhuillier

Sigh. Doesn’t need words.

Gwenyth by Renella De Fina Couture

This is one of the closest images to what I was going for in my overall look. Yum.

And then, I happened to come across Cymbeline, and I fell in love with some of the dresses…most notably Agadir…

The halter wasn’t what I originally wanted, but the dress was just so gorgeous…I wanted very very badly to at least try it on…

As for my budget? Honestly, I was trying to keep the dress itself around $1,000 or less. Did I succeed? Time will tell…

So…I had my inspiration and my price requirements…then it was on to the stores to make my dreams into reality!