Lookin' Swell, Dolly

Two Saturdays ago I woke up, and like a little kid on Christmas, couldn't go back to sleep.  I peeked out the window, and saw the mail lady at the bottom of our complex, filling up all the mail boxes with bills, letters, and magazines.  I watched the process intently, waiting for her to close the boxes and get on her way.  Finally she was done; she climbed in her mail truck and started driving up the hill towards our house. I sprang out of bed, threw on a sweatshirt, and bolted for the door. The doorbell rang, and I gave it a solid three seconds before I ripped the door open, hoping not to seem too eager.  The mail carrier, dressed in her standard mail blues, handed me the box, and I clutched at it. On the inside, I was thinking "MY PRECIOOOOUUUS," but on the outside, I was all smiles. 

"Do you have a really cool doll in there?" she asked me. 

"Uh," I said, wondering why she thought my package would have a doll (of all things) in it.  Then I realized: the package had a Dolly Couture label on it.

I laughed.  "No, it's actually my wedding dress," I told her as I resisted the urge to run inside, slam the door and tear the box open (which is exactly what I did about ten seconds after she walked away).

Once inside, I kicked Mr. Goodlaff out of the bedroom and began to open the box.

But here, we must pause.

The One That (Finally) Was

I've told you all about the ones that weren't, but now it's time for me to show you the one that is!

Two months finally came and went and one Friday night I found myself on a plane bound for Burbank Airport.  It was a dual-purpose trip: first and foremost, it was a celebratory birthday visit in honor of Goodlaff Bridesmaid Sunrise. The second purpose was my much-anticipated trip to Dolly Couture to finally try on the dresses I fell in love with!

Saturday finally came and Bridesmaid Sunrise, Bridesmaid Cosmo, Sister Goodlaff, and I met in front of Dolly Couture's gorgeously-retro storefront:

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Playing Dress Up: Or, When Dress Help Comes from Unexpected Places

No amount of looking at pictures online was going to push me to finally make the decision to buy a short wedding dress--I had to see how that style would look on my body before I would know for sure.  In the two months between when I made my appointment at Dolly Couture, and when I actually went to see the dresses in person, Mama Goodlaff and our florist (Ingrid) went to see a concert together, and she was telling Ingrid about the neverending hunt for a tea-length wedding dress--Ingrid calls it a "Lucy" dress (as in, Lucille Ball).

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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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The Ones That Weren't, Part 3

It’s time to come clean about something: before I went shopping, I actually did have an idea on the kind of dress I wanted. 

The problem: I wasn’t really seeing it anywhere. 

A few years ago on Easter, I was looking at pictures in my cousin’s house (though, technically she’s my grandmother’s cousin, which makes her my cousin three times removed to the seventeenth power).  I was looking at family portraits and pictures of grandchildren when I came across her wedding portrait. There she was, a blushing bride of fifty some-odd years ago, in a short, tea length dress.  It made me stop in my tracks and forever changed my ideas on what a wedding dress should or could be.  It looked something like this:

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