Clarissa and Zachary

I am now positive that I will be clothed when I walk down the isle. I had heard of a sample wedding dress sale from a friend of the family at church and decided to check it out with my mother Kathy, sister Natalie, friend Katie, and soon-to-be-mother-in-law Donna. The place we went to was a medium-sized dress shop called Glenrose Bridal. The shop was probably half the size of a David’s Bridal, but it was packed with dresses. The first thing my fitter, Lisabeth, did was hand me a clipboard to fill out my name and other information. My mom, sister, Katie, and I got to walk around the shop looking at dresses. (Donna came a little later when I was trying on dresses.) As I looked at dresses, my family and Katie kept calling me over and asking, “how about this one?” It was a lot of fun. At first, I was timid and, not being totally sure what I wanted, couldn’t tell them exactly what to look for. However, after seeing a few dresses, I began to get an idea of what I wanted, and soon we had five or six dresses on the rack in the dressing room.

Finding the dresses was fairly simple. I just said yes or no and gave a reason. Trying them on was more difficult because wedding dresses must be put on in a certain way so they don’t get ruined and the wearer doesn’t get all tangled up. First, I had to find the bottom of the dress. This was difficult with a few of the dresses. Some of them had LOTS of crinoline underneath.  Lisabeth told me that to find the bottom of the dress, I should reach my arm through the top of the dress while it was on the hanger. After finding the bottom of the dress, I unhooked it from the hanger. Then I lifted the dress and let it “slide” over my head and fall down the length of my body. There was usually some wiggling involved. At one point, I had to have someone come in and help me pull the dress on. After that, someone had to help me lace, buckle, or zip up the dress. Wearing a dress that laces up is quite a process.

The first dress I tried on was one my mother had picked out, and also happened to be my favorite. Of course, I tried on the other four or five that were there, but I still liked the first one best. My mother, Natalie, Katie, and Donna all really liked that dress, too. As I was standing on the podium in front of the mirror, Lisabeth informed me that I was the first woman to try on that dress, which surprised me because it was a sample dress. After comparing my top three favorite dresses, I picked the first one I had tried on. I bought the dress that day along with a simple but elegant veil.