The Lead Up -Part II - Dress Quest

The first week living together - all nine of us - went really well. The following week was the wedding. Kevin and Dylan got new suits. Emily and the little girls all got new dresses. Kevin's wedding band was Fed-exed just in time. I made our bouquets. (They turned out tolerable. Martha Stewart, I ain't.) The chapel had taken care of the other details. All that was left was to get a dress for myself.

Take my advice...never attempt to shop for a wedding dress with 5 little girls. It's just a bad idea.

Which brings us to Thursday night. Less than 24 hours before the wedding. No dress.

I convinced myself that Dillard's was my best option so I got up early Friday morning, took the kids to school and headed to Hickory Hollow. I arrived just after 8AM. I'm not a big mall shopper so I had no idea what time they actually opened. 9AM just seemed appropriate to me so I thought I would just get a big cup of coffee and be at the door when they opened. And, yeah, I guess I could have checked the opening time before driving all the way there but I wasn't exactly in a rational state of mind.

At 8:30 I decided to walk up to the front door just to check the opening time. Apparently that particular Dillard's was going out of business so that location did not open until 11:00. I handled that setback pretty well all things considered. I jumped back in the van and drove all the way to Cool Springs. I made it there around 8:50. I had a very encouraging voice mail from Kevin and I had almost convinced myself that everything was gonna work out fine. I would go in, find the perfect dress within minutes and be headed back to Providence in plenty of time for my hair/makeup appointment. Then I realized that it was after 9AM and no one was in the parking lot. I walked to the door to read the sign. Open at 10:00AM. Let the freak-out commence.

I really wanted (NEEDED) to get my nails done so I drove around until I found a salon. I thought this would be the best way to fill the hour before the store opened while eliminating one more item on my 'to do' list. Guess what time the nail salon opened? I was needing that cup of coffee real, real bad at this point.

Store finally opens at 10AM. I go in, pick up the first 6 dresses I find in my size and head to the dressing room. I am brimming with confidence. I will come out with THE dress (not too dressy, not too casual) and this whole nonsense will be behind me. 10 minutes later I emerge without THE dress. I search the racks again and grudgingly decide to give up on Dillards.

I wandered into the mall and headed to Macys. I had no plan at this point. I was just walking. Macy's had two racks of nonsense so I set out for JCPenneys. It's 10:45 and I'm feeling the urge to curl up in the fetal position and coo like a pigeon. JCP is the biggest disappointment of the morning. There are just racks everywhere with barely any room to walk between them. It was as if the store had gone out of business years ago but nobody bothered to tell the employees. After much searching, I found one tolerable selection. Actually it wasn't tolerable, it was just the right size but I simply could not bring myself to try it on.

I walked back out into the mall in a panic. I had no idea where else I could possibly look and I was so frustrated with myself. I'm just not the type of person who loses her cool over something as trivial as a dress. But there I was on the verge of a meltdown in the middle of the Galleria.

I am not ashamed to admit that, at that point, I literally prayed for a dress.

Cool Springs is a two level mall. I began scanning the stores around me when I looked up and saw it. Jessica McClintock. The mother ship. Formalwear is all they sell. I had no idea they even had a store. I ran up the escalator and felt relief for the first time that day. Racks upon racks of wedding dresses both formal and casual in every size. I grabbed three and headed to the dressing room.

I don't think I found THE dress but I found one that fit and was not embarrassing. And it was fifty percent off which made me like it even more. I stopped on the way out for a celebratory cup of coffee and I drove home feeling like everything was gonna work out fine. Little did I know that a hair massacre was awaiting me...