Shopping for wedding gowns is an amazing experience. You walk into a little boutique lined with beautiful dresses made of satin, silk and lace, and embroidered with sequins, seed pearls, and little flowers. You know that you’ll be walking out with one of these gowns, if not today than someday soon. It’s exciting and magical. It’s like being a little girl again. Now imagine if you actually were a little girl.
Last December I talked to Ben’s 3 year old little sister, Lucy, about being our flower girl. She’s pretty shy and quiet, and answered with a barely audible “yes” when I asked if she would like us to take her out and buy her a new dress and tie flowers in her hair for the wedding. After I confirmed we’d be doing this, she went racing down the hall where I could hear her excitedly telling her mother all about how I was going to buy her a dress and fix her hair. I knew at that moment that shopping with Lucy was going to one of the highlights of preparing for the wedding.
I was right. Yesterday’s shopping trip was a completely charming. Lucy started glowing the moment we entered the girls dress section of Macy’s. If I could have, I would have had Lucy try on every floufy, puffy, pink dress I could find, but I knew we had one shot at this and if I didn’t find the dress by 5pm, I was going to be shopping alone. Never the less, I think we all got our fill of flouf, especially me and Susan (Ben’s stepmom) who had to battle the tiny buttons and obstinate bows while Lucy skipped, twirled, hopped and danced around the dressing room in a variety of fluffy dresses. Ben spent this time waiting outside, bonding with his youngest sister Cayenne. I might add here that this is the only shopping trip I’ve ever seen Ben enthusiastic about and I think he had a great time admiring Lucy as she modeled each dress for him, and playing “pound on the stroller tray” with Cayenne.
As usually, I had difficulty finding something I thought was right. Everything was either the wrong color, the wrong size or just unattractive. I was getting a little discouraged by 3pm when we decided to try out Neiman Marcus. Two minutes walking around the dress section and I gave the gasp that Ben later said was how I’ve reacted every time I find the perfect thing for the wedding, be it dress, cake or flowers. How embarrasing! Anyway, that was that. The dress. Perfect.
I think the dress we ended up with was rather underwhelming from Lucy’s perspective. It’s ivory and although it still has the organza overlay and some lace detailing, it’s not like the over-the-top dresses she tried on before, with their shimmery skirts, gauzy rose buds and giant pink bows. However, I think both Susan and I agreed that this was far better. This dress is elegant, and super soft inside (“I’m jealous!” Ben said when I called him in to feel the lining after we got home last night) and it’s natural fibers. I feel much better imagining Lucy running around in a soft, breathable dress rather than itchy polyester, which helps to justify the triple figure price tag. We finished yesterday with enough time to not only complete the look with a comfortable pair of leather ballet style shoes and some ivory tights but also to squeeze in a trip to the awesome play ground by Yerba Buena Gardens. Lucy even got to watch some ice skaters practicing for a show! Sometimes I wonder if experiences like this will make planning the wedding such an amazing memory, that my memory of the actual wedding will seem dull in comparison. I guess worse thing have happened, right?