2009 Wrap-up

So here we are, at the end of possibly the most thrilling, exhausting, unexpectedly exciting year yet of our nearly 3-year relationship. One year ago we were not yet engaged (though Darryl had just picked-up the ring), we had just gotten Dewey but did not yet have Ginger, we lived ten minutes away from each other, Darryl had just finished his BA at Vanguard and had not yet been accepted to UCR, we had no idea we would be traveling to Chicago, or anywhere else for that matter, our flower girl had not yet been born, and Darryl's X-box was fresh out of the package having been shipped through UPS where he still worked hideous holiday hours. The list of significant events over the past year alone goes on and on, and it's truly hard to imagine what this upcoming year has to offer.

Two major events to catch-up on: Chicago and the dress...

We took our first vacation together to Chicago back in November! I had vacation time to use up, and Darryl had the week off of school for Thanksgiving, so we hopped on a plane and went to visit our fabulous hosts, Justin and Meesa. I was hesitant at first, since we are trying to save up for a wedding afterall, but we needed to get away and have a real adventure before the craziness of this upcoming year begins. Chicago totally lived-up to my high expectations, since I've never met anyone who has been there and hated it, and made us greatly miss good public transportation, chilly weather, old buildings, and the other perks of city life when we returned to the OC.

One of the most exciting things we did on our trip was visit the Macy's bridal salon, the biggest and oldest department store I think I have ever seen, and the only one that has a bridal department in the country.

I had mentioned to Meesa before we arrived that the Macy's in downtown Chicago had a bridal salon and that if we had time we might try to sneek in and try-on a dress or two for the fun of it. Meesa, being as wedding crazy as I am, squealed with glee via AIM and when we were wandering around town our second night there, we stopped by to see if they were open. As it turns out, Chicago has two Macy's and we were at the wrong one. So we traveled all the way to the correct location, the one by the Chicago Theater where we took our (awesome!) Chicago sign pictures, only to find that the bridal department was already closed for the day, but they had fliers out advertising their sample sale which started the following morning by appointment only. So the plan was then to return to the apartment and call them in the morning to see if there was some slim chance they actually had an appointment slot available the next afternoon. So as luck would have it, I called early the next morning and was actually able to get an official appointment for my very first dress shopping extravaganza in the one-and-only Macy's bridal salon! I honestly felt kind of guilty since I had no plans of actually buying a dress and knew I would probably just be wasting some poor consultant's time, and had... well, lied.. about my exact wedding date since I knew if I said "June, 2011" they would never take me seriously because only a crazy person would buy her dress over 18 months before her expected wedding date...right?

So, after touring the Shedd Aquarium and browsing downtown and Millenium Park once again, we (me, Meesa, and yes, Darryl) headed boldly in the direction of Macy's. We were about forty minutes early so while Darryl searched the 30-something floors for a restroom, Meesa and I took a look at the selection of bridesmaids dresses. They definitely left something to be desired... like taste, or style perhaps. This made me rather concerned about their possible selection of bridal gowns, but even if all I tried on that day were horrible dresses, we'd still have fun doing it. Then they told me I could start looking at the gowns on display for ideas and at the racks of sample gowns for sale, most of which were 50% off or more. Once again, I was a bit underwhelmed. The gowns on display were just not my style and were insanely overpriced, and most of the sample gowns were stained, damaged, or just laughably ugly. My consultant came out and asked if I had seen anything I'd like to try on, and on a whim I picked a lace dress off the rack because I liked the train, but didn't have high hopes for it. It was the very first dress I tried on...

And as cheesy as it sounds, I knew right when she zipped it up and I saw myself in the mirror that this was my dress. Of course I didn't say that right then; afterall, this was the only dress I had ever tried on, so how was I supposed to know it was the one? But out of all the dresses I had this one on the longest since the consultant was gathering other gowns for me to try, and so we had plenty of time to admire it and for more people to walk-by and gasp with approval (which I'll admit felt pretty darn good). But then it was time to move on to more dresses...

Dress #2 was a cinderella-like ball gown, which I don't have a picture of, but lets just say it brought out my inner-disney-princess-sparkle-cupcake.

Dress #3: This dress was actually what I kind of assumed I would like for a pretty long time - mermaid/trumpet sillhouette, straps, silk taffeta, and some beading but not all over the gown. As it turns out, I was wrong. While it did give me a version of my figure I did not know existed, I was ready to move-on and try on the next one.

Dress #4: Once again, this dress was something that could have been a possibility in my mind, and I was wrong. Very wrong. It basically replaced my chest with fabric petals.

Dress #5 (I think I messed-up the order, oops): This one was actually a close contender with the first dress. I liked the shape of it, and there was some but not a lot of beading, but it still just didn't quite seem me.

Dresses #6 & 7: The last two dresses were, well, not worth getting pictures of, except for maybe comic relief (and I think the consultant was starting to notice Meesa taking pictures with my iPhone behind her back, hehe). The were both polyester, both had a giant fake flower on the side, had clear plastic beading, and the last one was topped off with a black velvet sash at the waist. It's amazing what can still cost over a thousand dollars these days.

So then my hour was up and the consultant made no assumptions about me buying any of the gowns since I had mentioned that we were from California and were on vacation, but she was cool about it and just gave me the sku numbers for the two dresses that I liked so that I could try to find them online. I got back into my street clothes and stared at the first dress which was still on the rack in the dressing room. I really liked it. The more I thought about it, the more perfect it actually was, lack of beading and all. It had kind of a vintage feel, but without being old-fashioned, if that's possible. I walked back out to Darryl and Meesa, still mulling over the dress, and ended up going back in the room to take it back to the racks outside so we could look at it again. I agonized over it for a good 45 minutes or so, wondering if I should just take it, or deal with trying to find it somewhere back home, probably not at the sample sale 50% off price, or not finding it at all and trying to get a similar dress by another designer. By this time I'd attracted the attention of my consultant again, as well as her coworker, who stood back and analyzed my dilemma for themselves. There was no pressure from them, just my own paranoia about not being able to let this dress go. Even Darryl loved the dress, but it was up to me to make the final call. So then I said it: Alright, I'll take it, I'm saying yes to the dress! Everyone in the room cheered, I signed the paperwork, she swiped my credit card (afterwhich I had to call the customer service line in India to tell CapitalOne that I was, indeed, in Chicago making a major purchase, afterwhich the guy on the other end extended his congratulations), and then the dress was mine.

There was just one little issue: we were still in the middle of downtown Chicago and were not planning on heading back to the apartment right away since we were meeting Justin at a place to have Chicago-style hotdogs for dinner. So, Darryl carried my plastic-wrapped dress all over the city, on the subway and all, for the rest of the evening, until we returned and had to pack it with the rest of our luggage on the flight back home the next morning. The good news is that the dress survived, and although it still needs to be altered and cleaned, it's still my perfect dress and I have no regrets whatsoever.

I do, of course, realize that there are many people who wanted to be there when I bought my dress, but I promise that there will be an appropriate reveal after it's altered and the design is finalized. I also realize that I broke a pretty major tradition of not allowing the groom to see the bride in her gown before the wedding, but I was actually already considering that before I even booked the flights to Chicago. Darryl was watching Say Yes to the Dress with me one day, and he mentioned the possibility of shopping for my dress with me, and after I thought about it for awhile, it made perfect sense. Brides go bridal shopping with their best clothes shopping buddy, and for me that is Darryl, and it would have been an even harder decision without him there to say he loved it. I wouldn't trade the fun experience I had that day for anything.

Done with one year, and on to the next. This year will have much more in store for the wedding as we get closer and closer to the big day. Let's keep a tally of how many times I change my mind on color schemes, shall we... or maybe a drinking game would be more like it. Happy New Year and cheers to 2010!