The Dress

I found the dress! Whoohoo. Its fabulous. I went shopping with Eileen and Mam. We went to two shops. The first one was ruled out when Mam asked could she use the bathroom and they said no, even though the shop was in their house so there was clearly a bathroom available that they wouldn't let her use. Boo.

The second was Virginia Bridal on Roches Street. They'd lovely stuff, I tried on lots but the last one just blew all the others away. I looked in the mirror and have to admit to feeling a very small unCiara-like lump in my throat. I've fallen into the classic bridal trap - going from thinking all the dresses looked the same to thinking I've found the one in a million thats different!

Its off-white, chiffon and floaty. The style is kind of Grecian and is very figure-hugging. If I put on a few pounds I'm in trouble. I felt like Ava Gardner or Marilyn Monroe in it...I have a suspicion it might be cause my bum looks enormous in it, but I've assurances from Mam and Eileen that thats not the case. I can't believe I picked a dress that accentuates my arse...Sean should be happy though.

Next step...Wedding dress shopping

Myself and Clo went wedding dress shopping on saturday, which was fun. Actually it was fun for me, kind of boring for Clo who should have brought a book or something. We went to 2 boutiques and I tried lots of different shapes and styles. Following this indepth scientifically sound sampling exercise, I can now safely say...they all looked the same to me! They were all lovely - you could get married in any of them and look very nice.

On the one hand I'm very relieved, cause it looks like the wedding dress process won't be like the venue hunting process, where I fell for the most expensive choice and had to back track a bit. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I should keep looking or just buy any old one and get another thing ticked off the list. I'm going to London for work later this week so will drop into the high street stores that have bridal sections, see if they have anything nice...bring it home on my Ryanair hand luggage.

Interesting to note the horror on the faces of bridal shop assistants when they heard the wedding date...eyes instantly dropped to my stomach to see if they would have to factor a bump into the dress fittings!

Date confirmed

Coolbawn wins! The date of thursday, 17th September 2009, is booked and confirmed...hoorah! We're getting married in Castleconnell Church (Sean got his way there) and having the meal in Coolbawn (I got my way with that one)...in the true spirit of marital compromising, we found a win-win resolution to our conflict.

Thank God its done! It was wrecking our heads...now I'm filled with a zen calm that the worst is over, despite people shrieking in horror "This Year?" when I tell them the date and what I haven't organized yet.