Wedding dress shopping in Phoenix

Am I too old to be a fairy princess on my wedding day? Probably. Am I still gonna be a fairy princess on my wedding day? Absolutely.

I took a quick break from looking at varying shades of white paint and decided to spend a day looking at varying shades of white dresses.

‘m a pretty indecisive person, so I figured I’d spend a few months absolutely agonizing over dresses, but honestly, the dress shopping process went way quicker than I thought it would.

I ended up booking a single 90-minute appointment at a single bridal showroom, tried on a handful of dresses, and ended up buying one that same day.

Honestly I was a little wary of the whole thing. I’m a little older than most first-time brides (I’ll be 37 on my wedding day) and I knew I wanted an experience that was a little more low-key than something I might have wanted if I was 10 or 15 years younger.

I knew I didn’t really want the whole big-group-of-friends-with-a-bottle-of-champagne experience. I wasn’t looking to get super dressed up and make a whole day out of it. I just wanted to hit up a single store and get some opinions from a few local friends to start, and then just go from there.

Surprisingly, I ended up finding my dress during my first appointment at my first dress store.

I thought I wanted a sparkly white floor-length gown with lots of chiffon, floral appliqués, a long train, and all of the glitter.

So, naturally, that was the first kind of dress I tried on…

…and I really did not love it.

I tried on a few more dresses including one that my stylist suggested — which was something I never in a million years would have picked off the rack and put on my body — and it was the clear winner with my two friends that were with me, and with all the long-distance friends I texted photos to.

Sorry, no photos of it!

I didn’t make the purchase on-site, but after deliberating with my two friends at the coffee shop next door, and continuing to deliberate during the drive back up to Flagstaff, I ended up calling the showroom to place an order for the dress over the phone.

When I made my appointment to go dress shopping back in August, things (and finances) were in an entirely different place than they are now. I hadn’t been furloughed at my day job, I hadn’t purchased a house, I wasn’t in the middle of a massive home renovation process.

I thought I’d have a bit more time to actually make dress shopping into a whole thing, but by the time it rolled around, I was so deep in home renovations that it was just one more appointment I had to squeeze into my calendar.

And while I didn’t have the “oh my god this is THE dress, cue the screaming” moment that a lot of other brides in the showroom had, I think that’s pretty fitting for me as a person, to be honest.

I meeannn, the only thing I’ve ever really been 100% certain about is marrying Ryan.

But, I do love the dress I picked out, everyone else loved the dress I picked out, and I’m glad this is one more huge task checked off my wedding planning list. I paid my deposit (50% of the dress’s cost) and went back to the showroom for measurements, and now I’ll be back down here to pick it up once it arrived and get started on the alterations.

I did a bit of last-minute panic preparation (aka: frantically scrolling Reddit) for the appointment. I honestly wasn’t sure what to wear or bring, and I read everything online from “no makeup so you don’t damage the dresses” to “full face of makeup so you can see what the dress will look like on the day.” I read bits about wearing nipple covers, no thongs (your stylist doesn’t want your ass in their face), the correct height heels, etc.

I opted for no makeup (because I typically don’t wear makeup), but since I stepped into the dresses I tried on from below I wouldn’t have damaged them anyway if I wore makeup. I also wore sandals to the showroom and ended up barefoot standing on raised platforms the entire 90 minutes. I picked nude panties which didn’t really matter because my stylist would hand me a dress, turn her back to me so I could step into the dress, and then once I was holding it up on my body, she zipped and clipped it from behind.

So if you’re overthinking it like I did, don’t overthink it.

I had a mostly good experience with Luv Bridal. I will say I lucked out with a private little dressing room and couch back in the corner so I was a little bit out of the spotlight. Some of the other brides were out like, full in the spotlight where the entire store could see them trying on dresses on the pedestals. Not my vibe, but I could see the appeal of it for some!

My stylist also didn’t take my measurements that day, so I had to make the five-hour round-trip two days later to have my measurements taken, Flagstaff problems.

But, she did pick out the dress I ended up buying that I more-than-likely wouldn’t have picked out myself, so, win for my stylist!

My dress will arrive in come April so I can get started on the alterations.