Say Yes To The Dress

A few months back, I mentioned that one of my closest friends is now engaged and planning a June wedding. Angie and I met in college, and it was an instant connection that turned into a forever friendship. We have been through a lot together as friends, and I couldn't be more honored to be chosen as one of her bridesmaids. Although, I was kind of expecting it. We are besties, after all *grin*.

What I was not expecting, however, was that she would ask Brianna to be her flower girl. I don't know why, but it just never crossed my mind? I was elated when she did, though. Brianna is really the perfect age and personality for a flower girl. Plus, she was beyond herself with excitement when I explained what being a flower girl meant! 

Back at the end of January, Brianna, me, our friends Amy and Kendall (two other bridesmaids), and Angie all went dress shopping together. It was a random Thursday that Amy and Angie took off work, and  Kendall and I (who are both stay-at-home Mommies) got sitters for our babies. We had the best time! It was so fun being together on a winter weekday and doing something that we had been looking forward to for a while!

Side-note: As much as I was looking forward to spending the day with my friends, I did struggle a whole lot with thinking about trying on dresses. This was just 3 weeks after losing B3, and my heart was still reeling from that loss. When Angie first asked all of us to be in her wedding, I was about 8ish weeks pregnant. We all joked and laughed about how huge I would be at the wedding (I would have been 37+ weeks along), how I would waddle down the aisle, and how funny it would be if I went into labor at the wedding (not really, but it is fun to joke about that sort of thing). I had even looked at formal maternity dresses online. So, thinking about trying on a non-maternity formal dress was just hard. I was so so sad that I wouldn't be the pregnant bridesmaid, and my heart was just really grieving that fact. I did not end up trying on dresses this day . . . and still haven't, actually.

We started the day at a large dress shop, and Brianna couldn't wait to try on a few dresses! While Angie was trying on dresses, Brianna was as well. Every dress we put on Brianna, she would prance around in, twirl, dance, and just stare at herself in the mirror. It was too cute!

Angie tried on some gorgeous gowns! I won't put any photos of her in the dresses on here, but here is a glimpse of one of my favorite gowns that she tried on:

Brianna, still twirling :-)

Amy and Kendall were entertaining themselves with my camera while Angie was in between gowns and I was helping Brianna. Love these two, haha!

Hmmm, which headpiece looks best?

After the first dress shop, it was about lunchtime. We all headed over to On The Border for some grub!

My hair looks so awful in these pics. I was overdue for a haircut!

After lunch, we had an appointment at a dress shop that was a total bust. The shop looked like a glitter explosion, which is just not Angie's style. She did try on two GIGANTICALLY poofy gowns there, just for fun.

The next shop we hit up was much more what she was looking for. As we were waiting for the saleslady to help us, I snapped a few photos of us in the mirror. Love this one!

Angie tried on this beautiful gown:

Brianna was being very good for the most part, but she was getting tired of dress shopping and it was getting to be past naptime. I'm not one to constantly throw electronics and entertainment at my children, but she was in need of something to help her pass the time. Luckily, Kendall saved the day with her phone! Not sure why she was sitting like this, but it was cute!

I loved several of the dresses that Brianna tried on at this shop. However, they were a bit out of our budget. This dress was $260!

Once I saw how much it was, I was a little anxious for Brianna to get out of it! I mean, she is a toddler and I didn't want to tear the thing up!

Looking back at these photos, I had to laugh. Approximately 1/2 a second after I snapped this one, Brianna somersaulted head-first off of the little pedestal and rolled across the floor in this $260 dress!!! I was horrified! Looking at this photo though, you can totally see it in her eyes that she getting ready to do something crazy! Stinker!

Two more boutiques later, we were all exhausted. Dress shopping is not for the faint! So, we stopped by a local bakery and treated ourselves. Brianna chose this princess cookie:

YUM! Just what we needed after a long day of dress shopping!

Kendall, Amy, and I were serious about our sweet treats!

And Angie? Well, she only got these little poo-diddly cake balls! We were cracking up! I guess the bride really shouldn't be eating a cinnamon roll the size of Texas just a few months before her wedding, haha!

Love my friend so much, and I'm so glad that I got to share in this special day with her. Oh, and she did find "the dress" on our little excursion. She will look AMAZING at her wedding!