The Dress

I'm going to skip ahead a bit and I may or may not go back to fill in the time between these posts.

I would guess that one of the most special days in the life of a little girl is dreaming about and anticipating the day she picks out her wedding dress- I may be wrong but it does seem this is a pretty big deal. If you think about it it is kind of crazy that so much time and thought goes into something that only lasts a few hours or gets worn one day- but that's how we are with some many other things as well. I also understand that the wedding dress is something that will be seen in the wedding day pictures for the rest of their lives, so let's get it right.

So Kimmy's big day was the day after Christmas- in 2009 that landed on a Sat. There are not too many places to pick a dress and so the scheduling is not too difficult. One of our options was part of a bartering company that I belong to. I won't get into too much of the background on this except to say that I tried really intently to make sure that we had all the bases covered before entering this day because I didn't want any unnecessary drama because of me. The other stop was going to be a place where many brides go but is less "fancy"- probably not the best word but you get the idea.

The reason this day was chosen was because Kimmy wanted to have as many of the bridesmaids there as possible and some were in town for the Christmas break. So now we have a huge day for Kimmy and an audience to share it with.

I threw a little more wood in the gears by volunteering to do a talk show on the radio with a designer friend of mine. I told her that I needed to be on the first hour because I had been invited to go shopping with all the girls. I felt very privileged to be included knowing that most dads would not care a bit about what dress was picked as long as the price was right. But I guess- I know- I am not like most dads in this area. I actually care about the color and how it looks. In fact, the radio host said on the air that I was a "fashionistia"- meaning I like fashion. The girls got a good laugh at that as they listened on the way to the store.

So, as I was on the air the girls were all caravaning down to the first store- the one on my program. Kimmy apparently tried on 6-8 dresses before I arrived and had taken more than a few of those off the list- she had really like the very first dress she had tried on. I rolled in and went into the store to see my little girl in a wedding dress. I don't know that I was really prepared to see that- but she looked beautiful.

Of course some of the dresses were not right at all for her, but some were very nice. I hadn't seen the first one until later on in the morning and so I was using other dresses as a baseline for selection. Finally she decided to try the first one back on so I could see it. As soon as she came out I knew it was the one. Perfectly simple yet elegant- like Kimmy. I can't give more details because that would potentially wreck the surprise, but she looked amazing.

We then had the other girls/ladies try on a bunch of different dresses- all kinds of colors, shapes and sizes trying to imagine what they would look like in the wedding colors and trying to figure out which would best suit the style of the day and also the shapes and sizes of the "cast". If all the girls are size 2 and the same height and skin tone then there is no issue getting a dress that looks amazing on them all. But that is not often the case as is true with the guys. A suit that looks great on one guy might look bad on anther for all the same reasons- it's just that most of the time the guys don't really care what they look like, they just want to know how soon they can get out of their "get-up".

So with all that in consideration they tried many dresses on and then made what seemed to be a good decision. So- Kimmy's dress selection was her very first one and the others had picked one as well. I then asked the lady working there about doing this in our normal bartering fashion and she told me that they didn't use this company. So, after I had called to ensure that all was in order and Kimmy had made the appointment based on this info and then they had made all the selections were made they told us that this was not going to work. Kimmy was very disappointed and reasonably so, but it was Sat.- the day after Christmas- and I didn't know who to turn to.

We had another appointment at the other place and so Kimmy hopped in my truck, in tears, and we drove to the next place. I made a few phone calls and started the ball rolling to see if I could salvage the first stop, but there was certainly no guarantees at the point that this would indeed happen.

We went to lunch in between stops and I still didn't have a resolution completed before we started going to the next place. From the restaurant to the the store was literally only about 1 mile, but since it was the day after Christmas it took almost the entire 45 minutes that we were "early" to get there. Big surprise there. Then of course parking was a nightmare, but we were finally in the store. An added note- I hate going shopping on any of these kinds of days because it seems so inefficient.

As soon as we walked into the store I knew that we were not in the right place. I have never shopped for wedding dresses before and all I had to go on was the fabric and packaging in both stores- no dress had been tried on at the second location. I asked Teresa if it was my imagination or was the product as this place way less quality than the first- she confirmed my suspicion.

Kimmy and the girls tried quite a few on and some were fine, but at least for Kimmy there was no comparison in any at this store to the first one- not even close. In the mean time I had received a phone call stating that the other location just didn't know exactly how the program worked and that I had not talked to the right people the first time through and that we would be able to make it work if we wanted to go that direction.

So, at the end of the day we had just a bit of drama- not compared to what it could have been- a bunch of great looking dresses selected and a happy dad and bride.

On a similar note- it is difficult to know what to expect as the father of the bride. Even though I have watched the show and laughed at "George's" response it is hard to know what something like this is going to cost and how much time and dollars should be thrown at this event. We obviously want this day to be a celebration of what God has done in the lives of 2 great young people, but you can spend a fortune if you so choose.

Kimmy will often say, "what do you think the budget should be for this?". I really have no idea on most of it because I don't know who is even supposed to be paying for this, that and the other thing; do we really need that and is there a better way to do this for just a few dollars more, and the list of questions is unending. So, I am trying hard to not be "George" but at the same time enjoy the process and have this day be as special and inclusive as possible on all fronts.

So, to end this post- Kimmy, and the rest of the ladies, are going to look lovely and I can't believe I am the Father of this beautiful bride to be. It will be a fun and for sure a tear filled day for me. But for those of you who know me that is no surprise.

Kimmy- thanks for letting me share the "dress day" with you.