Dress Shopping: Take 1!

I can't believe it but today was my first bridal gown shopping experience!!!

I was lucky enough to have my Mom, Grandma, Aunt Beth and cousin Maggie (also a bridesmaid!) all with me today. At first I was very nervous, but they were all so excited and encouraging that my nerves quickly melted. Why nervous you ask?? Anyone who knows me well knows that decision-making is my absolute least favorite activity in the world. And this is a BIGGIE!! Of course I've been browsing pictures and magazines over the past couple months trying to get a feel for what styles I like, but all that's gotten me so far is a sizable collection of non-similar but beautiful photos of dresses and yet no idea of what I want in real life. Typical Nicole :) If left to my own devices I probably would have procrastinated much longer to avoid starring in my own little game of mission:impossible, but having Grandma up from Florida and Aunt Beth and Maggie up from Virginia was the perfect excuse to play hooky from work and seemed as good of a reason as any to get the search started.

Coincidentally enough, I am reading a chick lit book right now called "Diary of a Mad Bride" (by Laura Wolf) and I kid you not that I saw this sentence in the book earlier this week:

"It's official. I've seen every wedding dress on Long Island. And Mandy now has bunions."

Can we say uh oh?! Needless to say I interpreted this is a bad sign and was not expecting good luck today. I mean, you could easily swap in Maggie's name for "Mandy" there and end up with a disaster on your hands. Turns out I completely over-exaggerated (shocker!) and we ended up having such a terrific and fun day. And when I say fun, I mean FUN! How else would one describe this...

See?!?! Pure girly fun!!!!! If only everyone could start every day like this the world would be such a happier place! :) Aunt Beth popped this CD on as soon as we all loaded ourselves into the car and the adventure began!

We ended up visiting two boutiques (the first in Babylon and the second in Bay Shore) and I tried a good number of dresses on at each. My wonderful fiance might read this blog at any moment, so we're not going to delve into any details here. Let's just say we discovered a few "leads" and I am definitely looking forward to trying on many more beautiful dresses on Day 2!