Well...Hello, Dolly!

I found Dolly Couture by a happy accident.  Cruising around on Weddingbee one day, I was reading a post by the now-Mrs. Daschund on her wedding invitations, thinking to myself: "this is one ridiculously talented bride--I must see more!" Looking through her archives, I saw her post on  "the one" (her wedding dress), and being in somewhat of a dress quandary myself, I clicked to "read more."

The extended post displayed this picture: 

 

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Um.  Hi. Can you say, "Omigod, this is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for, please, please, please let there be more where this came from"?

You know, I don't even think I read the rest of her blog post.  I just remember that couldn't type in the URL fast enough:  www.dollycouture.com opened, the pictures loaded, and as I clicked through dress after dress I felt a little warming feeling in my heart.  I didn't want to be the girl who cried dress, but a small part of me knew I had found it--the place I would buy my wedding dress. 

A sampling, just for kicks:

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I had searched and searched for a short wedding dress; I tried on dresses I knew weren't it; I had considered massively altering a dress to make it what I wanted.  When I saw Dolly Couture, everything I could have ever wanted in a wedding dress was right there on the screen in front of me.  Picture after picture (on her website and on Facebook) only helped to solidify my conviction that I wanted a short wedding dress, and I could have happily worn almost any of those dresses down the aisle to marry Mr. Goodlaff. 

I had one small hesitation: buying a wedding gown off the Internet, sight unseen, seemed crazy.  More than crazy--more like massively insane. 

So, I did what any self-respecting girl would do: I visited her web page and Facebook everyday for three weeks, perusing the pictures (real brides in Dolly Couture dresses!), longingly wishing to be able to try them on, and trying to get up the courage to pull the trigger and order a dress. 

Stalking pays off!  In the weeks I spent ogling her dresses, she announced she would be opening a store.  A store!  A brick and mortar store where I could touch and try on all of these gowns!  I was thrilled.  I was planning on being in Los Angeles after her opening, so I emailed the store for an appointment that would coincide with my trip.  Contact was made, an appointment was set, and all I had to do was patiently wait for nearly two months to go by before I could see the gowns in person.  Gah!

I swear, those were the longest two months of my life...