So I don’t know how I missed it, really, because I think it’s fairly obvious that I am a person who loves some quality television, but until this past Saturday, I had never seen a single episode of Say Yes To The Dress.
SHOCKING, isn’t it?
I’ve been hearing people talk about the show (which chronicles the behind-the-scenes drama of brides-to-be who are on the hunt for the perfect wedding gown) for the last year or so, but I never made a point to watch. Since I was never a girl who wanted to be a princess and spesh-ul and all that on her wedding day (I have issues with being the center of attention, and the primary issue is that I CANNOT STAND IT), sometimes I don’t really relate to wedding shows where brides are super-obsessed with all the details surrounding their ceremonies and receptions and photographs and flowers and whathaveyou. It makes me very tired.
But.
Saturday afternoon I was doing a little channel surfing while A was at a friend’s house and D was saving the world from certain peril on the Xbox, and I ran across a SYTTD marathon. I started watching because I am a little fascinated that nobody seems to wear sleeves anymore when they get married – THE WHOLE WORLD’S GONE STRAPLESS, MY FRIENDS – and sure enough, the girls on the first show I watched tried on strapless gowns exclusively. Clearly they have some upper arm confidence that I myself have never possessed. So I watched another episode. And another. And by that third episode, I was hooked. My DVR will be on SYTTD duty from here on out.
From this day forward, if you will.
Watching a show about women trying to find a wedding dress made me think about what that process was like for me back in the late 90s, and honestly, I thought that shopping for a wedding gown was pretty stress-free. When Mama and I were looking at wedding gowns one day in Memphis, I saw a dress that I had loved when I was browsing in a store in Baton Rouge a few months before. It was discontinued, but the Memphis store had my size in stock. It was the second dress I tried on, and that was that. Easy breezy.
The show also made me wonder how many of those girls are going to look back on their wedding gowns and regret their choice. I have a couple of friends with some significant Wedding Dress Regret, mainly because their taste has changed a bunch since they got married. And even though I don’t really think about my wedding gown that often, by the time I watched my fourth episode of SYTTD I was pulling out our wedding album and trying to figure out if I’d still say yes to my dress some 14 years after I walked down the aisle.
Perhaps a visual aid would be helpful.
Now. I will share my thoughts in a handy numbered format.
Thought #1) Hey. Nice bangs.
Thought #2) Seriously. Wasn’t there somebody around who could have helped me a little bit with my bangs? THEY’RE ENORMOUS.
Thought #3) I would give anything to look that rested again.
Thought #4) And also: to be 40 pounds thinner again.
Thought #5) So far I’m not really focusing on the dress, am I?
Thought #6) I could live without the little rosettes on the sleeves.
Thought #7) There’s a little bow behind the bouquet. I could live without that bow, too.
Thought #8) I like that the skirt is very simple and plain.
Thought #9) I’m a little shocked that I still really like the dress – even with the rosettes and the bow – 14 years later.
Thought #10) Conclusion: I would still say yes to my dress.
Thought #11) Conclusion: I have to say no to those bangs, though.
So what about y’all? If you’re married or have been married before, would you still say yes to your dress? Or do you wish you’d gone in a different direction? Or are you so sentimental about your wedding day that you’d look back on a dress made from potato sacks (adorned with seed pearls, of course) with fond memories and tears in your eyes?
If you need me I’ll be in the comments – waiting to hold your bouquets and fix your trains, of course.
You are beyond funny, boomama! I love me some SYTTD. I don’t try to love it, it just happens. You get me, thank goodness! I had a little wedding dress regret when I let a friend wear it in her wedding (plus the veil, plus the undergarments AND purse) and it seemed to look better on her. HA!!!! I can laugh about it because this was a really special gal and I loved her to death. She was, as they say, a good egg (never said that and been serious but I think I am). Anywho, I hear you on looking rested in your wedding photo (compared to post offspring). Ok, had to comment although it is rambling. You are awesome! Thanks for the fabulous post.
I chose an ivory dress, because everyone told me it looked better against my pale skin. I had never thought about my wedding, am not princessy, didn’t have things planned out, didn’t really care about the details — I just wanted to get married to my husband:) But then a few weeks before the wedding, I had a meltdown (my only wedding meltdown:) and cried to my parents “I want a white dress! Everyone else talked me into it, but I want to wear white!” So I got the exact same dress in white, with my own money (my parents had paid for the first one). My dress has been cleaned and boxed up to save in case my daughter wants it someday.
The first dress (the ivory one) hangs in our coat closet in our house and has moved with us to Michigan, Texas, and California. I’ve tried to sell it with no luck. Time to try some resale shops, I think:)
Part of me says “I would say yes to the dress again” because I really did like it at the time. I really thought I would get something much more simple, but I just fell in love with my dress (which was still fairly simple). But if I did it over again, I think I’d have an even simpler wedding and therefore even simpler dress. But the dress looked good at the time, and I felt really good in it, so you can’t ask for more than that:)
I would definitely say yes to my dress, still. To me, its almost like changing out your engagement ring your hubby picked for something you like better. I just couldn’t do it. Its just done and part of the beautiful history of your story. Plus, mine was gorgeous and only $150. Yes Yes Yes.
My husband is a pastor and has done many weddings over the years. He has learned to warn the bride, who is planning on wearing a strapless gown, to lift her dress up as she is climbing the stairs on our church’s platform.
These wise words came to him after he watched a bride climb up the stairs and up the inside of her dress during one wedding. As she stepped up, her dress started to come down…thankfully she realized what was happening in time to step back down the stairs without fully revealing all of her glory to my husband…the only one facing her at the time!