September 29th, 2007 was my first time putting on a wedding dress, talk about a surreal moment! I, for maybe the first time in my life, felt like a princess, an angel, or like someone right out of a fairy tale!

Mom and I ventured to Palmyra, PA to go gown shopping with my Aunt Diane and my Cousin Nikki. Nikki is going to be standing up for me on our special 10/11/08, so in talking about where to look for dresses, she suggested a few places nearby to both her and her Mom. Since I really had no idea what I was about to get myself into, she took over in making appointments at 3 different dress shops in the area. I guess I am just a bride with no clue, for I wasn’t even thinking an appointment would be needed. So I am glad that Nik took charge! Plus I am patting myself on the back for choosing Nik to stand up for me, for she already proved she is organized and capable of handling this situation where I would have shown up without even making an appointment!!!! Oye!!!!

The day was a great success, while neither of us purchased, we both do have a better idea of what we are looking for! I am not giving any of those details away, but I did find a few dresses that were so beautiful!

The first place we visited was Encore Boutique in Annville, PA.  This was a house that was made over into a boutique. They seemed to specialize in wedding attire. Arriving a bit early, we were able to get started and had the entire place to ourselves, which was a real nice thing. Being that this was the first place ever for dress shopping I had no clue what I was really looking for. A young girl, Laura, was assisting us and showing us the different styles of dresses and I was able to look through the dresses on my own and pick out any I would like to try on. Simple huh? Yeah well, it’s a lot of work and trying to “picture” what a dress will look like on you is very difficult. Ending up with approximately 12 dresses, I plunged right in….. Pictures were taken, oooooossss and aaaaahhhhhssss were cascading from my 3 audience members & Laura :). Laura aided me in the dressing room, which was so nice and you really did feel like a princess! I found a dress that I liked and that everyone really liked on me, but come on this was my first day of dress shopping and my first place, I couldn’t bring myself to purchase yet! The whole process was a fun experience!!! Let’s just say I am very very happy that was my first experience!

The second place we ventured to was The Cinderella Shop in Palmyra, PA. This was the complete opposite from Encore Boutique. A 2 floor “castle” filled with dresses and bling. While very nice, the tone and ambiance was completely at the other end of the spectrum from Encore Boutique. When I entered the building I was greeted by “The Wicked Godmother” who had me fill out a sheet asking for information that did not pertain to wedding dress shopping. Why do you need to know where I work? Work isn’t paying for my gown? Asking about the groom and just a whole bunch of silly unneeded questions. Once I filled out the questionnaire, “The Godmother” wanted all of us to sit on the couch so we could find out “What the bride wants”. We sit, like in the military fearing the wrath of “The Godmother”. She starts by asking if I have been anywhere else shopping today, I say yes. She asks where and look at Nik (for Nik is the one who is from the area and made the appointments), Nik replies with the name of the first place. She then asks if I saw a dress there that I liked, I replied yes, she asked which gown and they name of it along with the cost, I look at Nik who wrote all this information down for me. “The Godmother” holds up her hand before Nik can respond and says ” Wait a minute here, is she your mouthpiece”…. With this I should have gotten up and left the “joint” but wanted to try on my dresses, I have gotten a sliver of what it was like to be a bride at Encore Boutique and now I wanted more!!!!! I nicely replied that “no, she isn’t my mouthpiece but she has all the information written down for me”… We continue on with the “Interview” them gathering information from me in regards to what style dress I would like. One final thing was placed in my brain as well as my entourage, they were not to give an opinion unless I asked them for it. They were to be quiet and sit there until I asked for their opinions!!!!  I was then released from the interviewing process and was allowed to look at dresses ranging from sizes 4 to 8. Any other size I was not allowed to try on. Off I went….

After gathering about 10 to 12 dresses, I was approached by ” A Wicked Step Sister” (Yes this really was The Cinderella Shop, how appropriate)… She asked me if I had any clue of what kind of dress I wanted, guess 10 to 12 dresses on your second time ever trying on dresses is TOO much for this place. I said yes, however, they have some styles here that the first place did not have that interest me, so I would like to try them on. Arriving at the dressing room, Nikki was appointed as my “Laura” (remember Laura from Encore Boutique, difference being, Laura worked for Encore and aided and was there for me. Nik on the other hand is my cousin, my attendee, not a Wicked Step Sister)… We did fine and Nik did a great job helping me!!!

I came across a dress that brought tears to my eyes as it did both my Aunt and cousin. I even went back and retried the dress on later. At this stage is where the guilt trip is laid on rather thick. I found a dress I liked, a dress that brought tears to my eyes, and once a veil and tiara were placed on my head adding those final touches, I looked like a bride should look, breathtakingly beautiful…. Enter sales pitch… “The Wicked Step Sister” proceeds to fill me in on how their “One Time Try On Sale” works….. The tag on the dress has two prices on it, 1st price being the “On The Rack” price for example $800.00, 2nd price being “Order Price” for example $1600.00, however the “One Time Try On Sale” cuts the “On The Rack” price in half, making the dress $400.00. HOWEVER, I have to purchase the dress that day! If I leave and come back in a week I pay $800.00, if the dress is sold, I can then see if they can order, however their are no guarantees they can get the dress and then it would be the $1600.00. Talk about making you feel like you aren’t meant to have that dress… the dress that brought tears to my eyes!!! I couldn’t bare to purchase that dress from them, and I won’t be returning to purchase that dress from them. I still don’t see how they get business from brides, females who are about to partake in the most memorable day of their lives (so far), and they just pressure you into feeling overwhelmed and defeated!

This is just a summary of the happenings, we weren’t permitted to take photos or use cell phones because of the interference they would cause with the computer systems, they took out all tags and information about their dresses so we could not write anything down for future use, not to mention my Aunt and Mom sat awkwardly on the couch biting their tongues in fear of speaking out of line!!!

After that experience, I was feeling rather overwhelmed and worn thin with dress looking. We had missed our third appointment and because of the type of place the third place was if we missed our appointment we were not guaranteed the availability to try on dresses. We decided to go forth to the third place anyway to maybe look for Nik. Nik did see a couple things at Encore Boutique (the first place) and the second place did not carry bridesmaid dresses, so she didn’t even have the ability to look there. The third place, although I don’t recall the name, was a little different… it was part of a crafty store. Meaning, the front part of the store was on the crafty side of things, kinda like a Coventry Corners type place. There was a hallway that lead to the back of the store and there low and behold was a bridal shop… odd as it may sound, the people were very friendly and helpful! Nik found a couple dresses to try on, and we started to get an idea of what we like for her as well as colors. While initially I was hoping and thinking that copper would be the color of Nik’s gown, I have come to realize that copper is a hard color for most to wear and pull off successfully. So copper is out and we are now leaning towards another elegant color.. not giving that away yet though 🙂

It was a good day and taking the good with the bad, it gave us all a start on what we (Nik and I) may like and now when we go again this up and coming weekend, we’ll have a better idea of what we’re looking for.

Encore Boutique was great and I am very thankful that we went their first and that we had a good experience with Laura. The Cinderella Shop, well I can understand why they named it that and I don’t think it is because you as the purchaser is to feel like a princess, it is they as a place depicts the characters in the fairytale. Although I must say they did give us some pointers and I was happy being able to try on more dresses. The third place, was unique yet nice because it was laid back and Nik was able to try on some gowns which aided us as well.

So there ya have it, my first wedding dress shopping experience. I must say that being at The Cinderella Shop and dealing with what we dealt with was somewhat unpleasant, but it makes for a great story and a great memory… I would have hated for my first time out to be dull and just a day of trying on dresses. I can at least always say I had “The Wicked Godmother” and “The Wicked Step Sister” at my first day gown shopping!