Mother of a soon to be Bride: "The" dress!

I have had an exciting holiday break with Alysse. Right before she came home for Christmas break her boyfriend proposed. After quickly asking if he had her fathers' permission, she excitedly exclaimed Yes! The date was set for October and I became the "Mother of a soon to be Bride!"

This entire break has been filled with organizing the wedding plans! She & I quickly decided the two items on our agenda for Christmas break was to find a venue and find a dress. It is amazing how much time can be spent on appointments and information gathering to accomplish theses two goals.

After years of collecting Bridal magazines and countless hours of watching "Say Yes to The Dress!" It was our turn to share in this special shopping spree! After a quick stop at a large Bridal store, we headed downtown for our appointment at a specialty Bridal shop. It was a fantastic experience from start to finish... All the dresses looked fabulous on her from the Kenneth Pool to the Modern Trousseau... each dress had an individual name! Once purchased the brides name is sewn into the dress in blue and a sketch of the dress is drawn by the designer and given to the bride. Wow!

Then it happened, they put her in "The" dress "The" perfect dress! It really was just like it is on those TV shows! I teared up and she exclaimed, "this is the dress, I LOVE it!" She was breathtaking... my baby, now a soon to be bride, beautiful beyond words. Then the price tag... we left without the dress.

More appointments were made and dress shops visited, but none of the dresses lived up to "The" dress. Alysse was a good sport, maintaining a great attitude... but as we looked back at the pics, and talked through the styles, we kept going back to "The" dress.

I have never experienced an attachment to any piece of clothing, it is just a dress. When I purchased my own wedding gown, I found it at a side-walk sale for $99.00, no alterations needed, and I gave it no more thought. I liked my dress. I remember really liking my veil. My sister-in-law wore my dress when she married my brother and my veil was worn by a total of three different brides. We sure got our $99.00 out of my purchase. Practical. That was who I was... Practical.

Now here I am 28 years later, drawn to such an impractical purchase. But... it really isn't just a dress it is "The" dress! No man, (no husband, or father of the bride) can truly understand I am sure. But a mother and daughter sharing this time together, we get it. She wants to look and feel stunning for her day, not just for her guest, but for her husband to be. It's not a dress, it's a memory... a moment.... And that is what I cherish now, the moments and the memories.

OK, OK now I am justifying this impractical purchase.

Amazing blessings came our way. A dear family friend DONATED the photography! The wedding was moved to a Sunday, a great savings! Another connection and tweaking got us an incredible savings on catering... and this list of some practical choices combined with incredible, surprising blessings continued. Monies were moved and subtracted from various columns in the wedding budget (I'll write another blog about this word...wedding budget, because it is really just a word) However, truly, the amount we were saving was well more than the extra amount we would need to pay for "The" dress.

Alysse and I had lunch at the Red Bowl today... a fabulous Chinese restaurant in Charlotte. She has a little less than a week left before she returns to Missouri for school. We have a contract in front of us for an incredible venue..(yet another soon to be written blog) Just for fun I always open my fortune cookie, it read: "Seize from every moment it's uniqueness, especially this week." We then headed down town to the speciality bridal shop. You guessed it... we ordered "The" dress! She must have thanked me a hundred times. We certainly did seize a wonderful moment. I am sure there will be many more wonderful, frustrating, exciting, practical and impractical moments as I live life this year as the mother of a soon to be Bride.