...wedding dress...

I'm sure you're all getting sick of constant updates on the endings of our wedding, but I wanted to share this. The bridal store where I bought my wedding dress wanted to put pictures of me wearing it up on their blog so here's that link! For those who don't know, I bought my wedding dress at Abella Bridal located then at riverwoods mall, and now at a shopping center farther south but still on University Avenue. They were absolutely amazing and helpful with everything. The girls were very courteous, not pushy, and resourceful when I had difficult questions. Although it was just a bit pricier then what I would have wanted to pay, in the end we got exactly what we paid for-an AMAZING wedding gown shopping/purchasing/cleaning experience!

I've had a lot of my recently engaged friends ask for advice as to wear good stores are to look for a bridal gown. There are so many, and unfortunately my mother and I spent a couple of Saturday's searching, trying, and giving up on dresses at other stores because I'd already made my mind up. But after trying on hundreds of dresses I can honestly say that there are some stores that would be the best places to go to, and some to avoid. My top choices would definitely be Abella Bridal, The Perfect Dress, and Gateway Bridal and Prom. All three had amazing selection and very attentive helpers, it just happened that the dress I fell in love with was the first one I tried on at Abella Bridal, which was also the first store we went to.

The one bridal store I WOULDN'T recommend to ANYONE is Allyses' bridal in either American Fork or University Mall in Provo. Although they have a lot of sizes in each dress, I felt that there selection was very monotone, dull, and not really flattering on many girls who I saw there. Now don't get me wrong, they've got dresses at great prices, but I was really disappointed on the attention we were given, the seamstresses pricing was confusing, and the store is SO big and there were SO many other girls there that it felt like we were getting very little attention and no answers. I'm very glad I didn't purchase my dress from Allyses'. The girls are also paid on commission so you feel like you're getting hustled around/forced to try dresses you don't want to try on (literally in my case). I don't know if it was just the seamstress who I dealt with but I was not impressed. After I purchased my dress from Abella I commissioned a sash from Allyses' and clearly outlined when I met with the seamstress that I wanted light silk, and what I ended up with was so stiff it was almost cardboard. So if you newly engaged, DON'T go to Allyses'.

Wedding dress shopping is already so overwhelming because you are searching for THE dress and you want it to say all the right things and to accentuate your body in all the right places. Don't give up sleep and chance the start of wrinkles (or your first gray hair in my case) over trying to sacrifice the price and still get good quality. Don't get me wrong, you don't want to spend a ton if you don't have to, but at least go somewhere where there is good customer service and they can give you their full and undivided attention and advice.