My dress

I knew from the start that I did not want a poofy dress - they just were not me. The majority of the dresses at the local bridal shops over here were massive dresses with pick-up skirts (not to my taste). Again - thank goodness for the internet!

I fell in love with lace dresses, and one in particular: the Melissa Sweet Hallie.



It was this girl's Knot bio that really did it for me: djrs. When I was back in Toronto for a visit we went dress shopping and I tried on over 30 dresses but could not get the Melissa Sweet dress out of my head. We went to Pearl Bridal House in Missisauga, which stock Melissa Sweet dresses and other high-end designers, "just to see" as it wasn't too far out of the way. I knew it was a rather high-end store and was worried that they would be a bit snobby but the assistant was very warm and funny (thank goodness). She brought me lots of non-poofy dresses to try on, which were all lovely. At the end of the visit, I asked if I could just try on the Hallie dress, just to see how it looked, as she hadn't brought it out. I tried it, loved it, and so too did my Mom, sister and one BM.

So the torture began. I knew that I couldn't afford the dress, even with the discount at the trunk show a week later. I cursed myself for even having gone in to try it on. We kept looking at dresses around Toronto but nothing clicked. When I got back to England my stalking of Ebay, pre-owned wedding dress websites and the Knot dress message board began.

I found a girl on the Knot who was selling her used dress and matching the veil. We emailed back and forth regarding price, shipping, dry cleaning, etc. She was very helpful and sent over lots of pictures of the dress and veil from multiple angles. She also agreed to ship the items via the US postal service instead of UPS or FedEx, as their brokerage/duty fees are significantly greater. After a lot of back and forth with myself, I decided just to do it. When I pushed the button to pay her through PayPal, I felt so excited but so sick. This girl could completely take my money and run...

But she didn't. The dress arrived to my parents' in a large box, the dress wrapped up safely in bubble wrap. My Mom called me at work and I got kind of veklemp during her call I was so relieved. My all-male team at work didn't really seem to understand the excitement...:) My sister (who is pretty much the same size as me) tried it on and says it's pretty near perfect on her. She said the dress may need some taking in around the waist but I can deal with that...

It was a rather big leap of faith for someone as risk averse as I am...but I'm so glad it worked out in the end. I guess there are honest, nice people still left in the world.

I cannot wait to see it in a few weeks' time when we're back to Canada for a visit...