Wow on the David's Bridal

So this past weekend, I helped a client of mine pick out her wedding dress. Maybe I should preface this story by saying I only have one client because I am thinking about "moonlighting" as a stylist. I started working with her in Fall of 2007 - she was a 30 year old woman that worked in a law firm, lost a TON of weight and still dressed like she was in college. She was all ears when I appeared on her doorstep to clean out her closet. We got rid of A LOT of "frumpy" clothes (she went from a size 10 to a size 4) and I showed her some basic techniques to look more professional at the office.

I had set her on her way with a few new basic pieces and some great shoes and I got occasional updates about her wardrobe from Amanda, who works in the same office, and it seemed like she was well on her way.

Well - she contacted me last week to see if I could accompany her to David's Bridal to pick out a wedding dress (she's getting married in June). I thought she had one already, when we met, but it turns out that her Mom helped her pick it out and she just didn't like it anymore. Understandable as tastes change. When I arrived at David's Bridal, she was already in the dressing room with two dresses hanging up. Apparently, she had spent the previous weekend at another David's Bridal with a co-worker and they looked at and tried on 25-50 dresses (the count varies depending on who you ask). My job was easy because I only had to look at five.

The first one was a discontinued dress that her Mom picked out for her. Apparently, her Mom went online and saw the dress on the David's Bridal website and thought that this dress was fancy enough for her wedding and thought it would look great on her. This is the same Mom that buys her daughter clothes from TJMaxx/Marshalls in size Medium and Large even though she has told her Mom countless times that she lost weight. When my client tried on the dress her Mom picked out for her, the first things out of my mouth were, 'You look like a cake.' It's not so much what I think, however, but it's how the bride feels in the dress she's in and she wasn't feeling it -I could read it in her face. So that was a no-go. And bottom line - the client's Mom has bad taste!

The second dress was a dress that was simple yet sophisticated. Not a lot of beading, not a lot of fuss - when she put it on, her face didn't light up - but I think she viewed it more as a 'safe' dress. Then she goes on to tell me that one of the girls in her wedding party wore the same dress for her wedding in October 2007. This is when I proceeded to tell the sales girl to take the dress back. That is a 'no-no.' It would be "slightly" different had her friend not been in the wedding party but the fact that she is in the wedding party just automatically throws it back into "gen-pop." She'll find another dress!

The third dress is probably every girl's fantasy dress - intricately beaded bodice with layers upon layers of tulle poofed out to make you feel like a fairy princess. This made my client's face light up - she was giddy - I could totally read it in her face. The fact that she's a size 4 didn't hurt any because all the dresses looked great on her - but she looked wonderful and I think she felt that way too. So this dress automatically made it to the final rounds.

The next dress, admittedly, was not my favorite at first, but she put it on and a compared it with the picture in the catalog. In the catalog, they accessorize the dress with a colored sash (I'm thinking to match your wedding party). When I asked her where the wedding party dresses came from, she said 'David's Bridal.' When I asked her what color they were, she said that it was almost like a hot pink but it's called watermelon. Well, hot damn because that's one of my favorite colors....so I grabbed the sash and instead of tying it like they did in the catalog picture, I tied it around her waist and made a pretty bow off to her right and let long strands of sash ribbon fall down the dress. It was gorgeous and that's what made the dress for me. She said that her mother would have a heart attack - the idea of wearing anything other than white in her wedding attire, is my guess. But I told her that she could compromise - she could wear the dress alone for the ceremony, which lasts for all of 20 minutes, and then for the reception, she could put on the sash for that extra kick...and we both thought that was a great idea! So this made it to the final round.

The last dress was just one I picked out because I'm preferable to empire waists but she has such a great figure that she shouldn't have to show it off - so we nixed my choice.

So the final two - poofy princess or traditional with a kick. Long story short, she went with traditional with a kick. Although she loved poofy princess, it was a little too poofy and I found out her wedding is an evening garden wedding. Had it been an afternoon garden wedding, I think I would've pushed the poofy princess, but since it was an evening ceremony and an evening reception, I think she ultimately made the right decision and I'm super happy for her.

I have to say that I went into the David's Bridal trip with some skepticism because five years ago, when I was getting married, I had heard of other brides with bad experiences at David's Bridal - the beading was shoddy, straps came loose the day of, etc. So when I went to go try on a dress, I pretty much avoided David's Bridal....but I did end up buying my tiara and veil there. And I kind of thought David's Bridal was like the 'ABS' of wedding dresses...but now, their dresses are priced just as much as regular, designer wedding dresses and they have some really pretty ones there - ones that in hindsight, I wish they had when it was my turn.

So I'm endorsing David's Bridal - dresses range in prices from $300 through $900 (from what we saw) and they're always having sales...where they get you is the extras - bras, shoes, veil, tiara, etc. Our sales person was EXTREMELY helpful and patient and even paid me a compliment, when it was all over, for how honest I was and how it was nice that my client had someone like me that could help her like this.....cause apparently, you wouldn't believe the shit that some family members put their sisters/daughters into. Anyways - worth a trip if you're in the market and bring an honest friend.