The Odyssey to get my dream gown

Nothing symbolizes a wedding more than a white wedding gown. Many American girls were taught to fantasize about this one-of-a-kind dress since kindergarten. Parents volunteer to let their kids be a flower girl at a wedding---just so that their baby can get the taste of wearing a dress that matches the wedding gown. With all the sparkling beads, sequins, and pearls sewn on so-called French laces and Italian silk, this ultimate dress represents a Cinderella fantasy, marital bliss and above-all………you’re ready (?!!)………an incredible amount of abuse by the wedding industry.

Believe me! I totally fell for some of those fairy-tale stories about the wedding and the ultimate gown. I started dreaming about a church wedding ever since I was a kid. I remembered watching Maria in “the Sound of Music” walking down the long aisle to wed the Captain Von Trapp, with the ringing of the bells and hundreds of guests watching. Who wouldn’t love a dress that has the magic to transform an ugly duck like me into a beautiful swan? Thanks to all the high expectations harbored by prospective brides like me, the bridal industry tries to carve into stone that the rule of physics dictates that you can’t plan a wedding in a couple of months. They make you believe that all those gorgeous details you dream about require an incredible amount of work and craftsmanship. They want you to believe that a gown must be made-to-order instead of getting it off-the-rack because it has to be made just for a lucky bride like YOU. The gown is exceptionally pricey compared with other apparel because it is hand-crafted by skilled-seamstresses at a kingdom far, far away in the East, named China! They tell you that shipping it along takes months, as if we are still living in the medieval times of Marco Polo. This nonsense has successfully brainwashed so many, that I had been told that my Number One mission after the engagement was to shop for my dream gown! It is never, never too early to order your gown.

Less than two weeks after Brad proposed, we drove to that big southern city where his parents live. While Brad attended a conference, his mother and I (let’s call her “Tina” from now on) marched to a big trunk show held in one of the most expensive bridal salons in town. Tina warned me that the gown might be more than we want to pay for, but it never hurts to look and get an idea of what I’d like. After browsing through websites of David’s Bridal and some online bridal discount store, I thought that I already had a glimpse of this sneaky industry. A plain satin with red sash at David’s cost $300 to $400. To me, it looked just like one of my cocktail dresses except that it is dyed white  I bought that dress at a sale for only $40.

If I thought $300 was a rip-off, I certainly underestimated the bridal designer’s “generosity.” The bridal salon was filled with young ladies who recently got engaged during the holiday season. The shop owner is a grey-hair lady in a very well tailored tea-length suit. Talking with a pronounced southern-accent, she gently stretched out her carefully manicured fingers and asked to see my engagement ring. She went on making some compliments on the ring setting and then carefully inquired about our budget for the gown. I felt like we were being gauged. “As much as it takes to make the young lady happy” said Tina diplomatically, “and we have set a date for the end of October.” I was just amazed at how quickly Tina came up with a date that is two months ahead of our actual wedding. Tina later explained to me that you can’t tell them the actual date that is months and months away because they won’t feel the rush to make the dress.
_:mad: