I am not a girly girl or particularily fashion conscious. I was happy to trust the universe and let it send me the perfect gown at the perfect price - at the perfect time!
Since we were attempting to keep the wedding low key I had a vague idea of price but that was all. I'd heard countless stories of brides finding the PERFECT gown for next to nothing - I planned to do the same.
My sister and I set off to locate the perfect gown on a Monday morning. We had no real idea of where or what but we were driving and allowed the universe to take us where we needed to go.
Our first stop was "HARTS Formal Wear" in Birkenhead Point. I was in the "need a bargain" frame of mind and Birkenhead Point is a factory outlet centre. I was pumped and ready to find a bargain dress.
In hindsite...when you think about the words "wedding dress," "factory outlet" doesn't really fit....and we soon found out why.
Luckily for me I am a size 10. Lucky because we soon found out most bridal stores only stock size 10s in the store. If you are bigger or smaller they order it in once you committ to buying. My slim waisted sister as in a bit of a bind as all the bridesmaids gowns were far too big but she gave it a fair go trying on around 5 deep red gowns of various styles.
Because this was the HARTS clearance centre the dresses were very much unloved. The Bridal gowns had marks all over them - some with broken zippers or missing ribbons to lace up corsets. The Bridesmaids gowns were equally damaged which had us feeling very low about the experience and far from confident about spending any money in the store.
After trying on 5 gowns I felt depressed. They all fitted okay and could all have been potentials but none of them said "Its me - I'm your dress."
Not to be defeated we left and we on to find the next store.
The next store wasn't anything specific we had in mind which made it hard to locate. We knew that Parramatta Road in Sydney had a close group of bridal stores but the where on Parramatta Road was a mystery.
After reaching Parramatta (the west end of Parramatta Road) we turned around and headed back towards the city making it all the way to Leichardt before we spotted ANY bridal stores. We pulled over to have a poke around.
The first store we went too was closed....then the second....And the third.
I was disappointed and depressed.
This was suppose to be fun and I wasn't enjoying myself at all.
Just as we were about to give up a store caught my eye from the other side of the street. Louisa looked at me hopefully and I forced a smile as she was doing her best to keep it all light hearted and fun. A good little Maid of Honor *grin*
The signage for the store looked UBER fancy but we went in anyway.
I gulped as we stepped through the large glass doors and looked towards the display cabinet. My first reaction was "Oh-my-God they are beautiful" closely followed by "I can't afford this" in which Louisa slapped me and said "Shut up! Lets just look..."
Inside the store was mostly a gold colour scheme. On the left wall was 3 large mirrors and 2 ornatley covered gold and cream sofas. A desk sat in the corner. Glass top and cream coloured stone legs. On the right was a display cabinet full of wedding jewellry - tiaras, necklaces and earings - but the next part of the wall held my attention - the gowns.....
Hanging from gold coat hangers in a neat line was around 30 gowns all sparkiling in the light. They were organised by their shade - starting with a crisp white going all the way down to a light brown. I grinned at Louisa. "Thats the colour I wanted!" and I rushed towards the darker shades at the far end.
A small man was talking with a girl (I assume a bride) and her mother. They were smiling sweetly at the man and casting sideways glances at Louisa and I. I felt instantly under dressed. They wore neatly presented north shore weekend wear while Louisa and I had jeans and jumpers on with our hair casually pulled back. I tried to ignore it and just admire the gowns before a sales person told me I wasn't good enough to wear those dresses and that I should leave. I figured they would at least give me a few seconds.
Only a few seconds had passed when the small man came over smiling asking if I needed any help. I hesitated. What would be the best way to say "I need a dress and it needs to be amazing but all the other gowns were awful, I am really depressed about all this. Can you help me?"
I went with "I'm looking for a wedding dress."
His smile increased as he laughed and said "Well you are in the right place. Do you know what style you like?"
Although the small man, who is actually called Jo Jo, was also dressed superbly, he didn't make me feel uncomfortable and both Louisa and I were soon relaxed and comfortable in the store.
He explained that as a "couture" wedding dress the dress would be a one off piece created especially for me. The process would take quiet a few months (around 9) but would involve myself for probably 5 fittings. Each gown is hand beaded using crystals and the materials are all imported with quality in mind - allot of raw silk.
Since I was clueless to the world of "couture" I did not know what was expected of me or how I sealed the deal with Jo Jo - I wanted one of these lovely sparkiling gowns to be mine and I wanted it to be a gown no one else in the world would own.
"That sounds terrific - can we start now?" was all I managed to splutter.
He smiled politely and said "First we make an appointment for a meeting..."
I blushed. Oops.
"What we do is get you to try on a few gowns and see what you like. Its also good for you to collect images of any gowns you see and bring them in..."
I nodded excitedly. I loved to research and had already rounded up pictures from a few bridal magazines. This was going to be great!
Sis and I walked out of the shops grinning from ear to ear. Louisa was dreaming up the mother of all bridesmaid dresses from Jo Jo too (Ahh...no....) but mostly we discussed the gowns he had on display and how strange it was that little old me...miss country town who lives in jeans...was now going to have a designer wedding gown! Ha!
"Oh how I will love this experience" was all I could think of.
We booked in to see Jo Jo 2 weeks later and as soon as we got home we whipped out 100s of magazines and began collecting images frantically.
Perhaps the wedding dress thing wouldn't be so bad after all *wink*
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