Say Yes To The Dress

Due to some windy and dark conditions in the mornings here, I have been running on the treadmill in the basement for the past 2 weeks. Something is just so dreary about going out in the dark of the morning, but when it is also windy, I just can't make myself do it.

I am completely exercise attention deficit disorder, though, and I cannot run on a treadmill without something to waste my brain on to make me forget what I am doing and to make me not think about how much I am sweating. I am a stinky sweater; let's just leave it at that.

Anyway, we really don't watch much TV around here. But when we do watch, it is always something on DVR. But I have seen every episode of Mythbusters, and although I crush on Les Stroud of Survivorman, I just can't get into that show while running. What Not To Wear has been in re-runs forever, and I needed something new to capture my attention. Then I saw it on the TV menu--Say Yes To The Dress.

Recently, I had heard someone talking about this show, but I had never seen it. It sounded great, so I told my magic DVR machine to record some episodes. After one episode, I was hooked. Luckily, as I have never seen it, there are plenty of "new" episodes for me. At first, I didn't know what it was about the show that captivated me so.

After the first 2 episodes though, I figured out why I am so enchanted by this show. Bridal gown shopping is something I never did. It never crossed my mind. What these girls are doing is insane--spending more on a dress that I spent on an entire wedding. I think it would have been fun to go around trying on dresses to find "the one." But that wasn't my story. Here's my story.

My cousin got married the year before I did. She bought a new dress for the outrageous (at least it seemed so at the time) price of $450. Big sleeves, lots of beading, and a long-ish train. I don't remember being in love with her dress, but at that point, every dress--church dress and prom dress--I had ever had was homemade by my excellent seamstress mother, and I was completely blown away that they had spent that much money on a dress. My aunt told me that if I wanted to borrow it when I got married, I was welcome to it. At that time, I had not met Mark and did not have plans to get married any time soon.

Well, about 2 weeks later, the new year at BYU started, and I met Mark that first week of school. I had no interest in dating him, because I thought for sure I was taller than he. But he sure was fun to hang out with, and really super funny in a super nerdy way that I completely fell in love with. Around Thanksgiving time, I figured out he was actually 1/4" taller than I, and we started dating, and by the end of the next summer, we got married.

I never even went dress shopping to see if there was a dress I liked. My cousin's dress was my size, she spent a lot of money on it, it had some killer sleeves, and it was free. It never even entered my mind to go see if I liked something better.

Perhaps it is just 18 years of fashion progression, but looking at the dress now, I sure wish I would have maybe looked around a little.

It got me thinking, though, that there really wasn't much I was too specific about insiting on for my wedding. The things I do remember caring about are:

1) No fake flowers on my headpiece. My dad bent a coathanger, and my mom and Grandma Henrichsen made my headpiece for about $3, and then we paid $20 for a florist to put real roses on it.

2) I did not want plastic columns between the layers of my cake, and I did not want bright frosting on the cake. I was so happy with the way the cake turned out looking like a lace cloth was laid across each layer. It really was so pretty.

3) I wanted to know what was in the presents while we were at the reception. Don't you always wonder what is in those fancy boxes when you go to a wedding? So my 2 grandmothers were the gift unwrappers. They unwrapped and displayed the gifts, and would sneak over and give us updates about anything cool they unwrapped. They told me that back in their day, people did that all the time. I don't know if that is true, or if they were just trying to make me feel better for being so curious.

4) No video cameras. This was in the early days of video cameras, when they were the size of a briefcase. But my family had one, and I hated it. I told my dad over and over all summer I did not want any video of the day. Pictures, yes, video, no. I think the only video my dad took was of me doing my hair that morning and saying, "TURN THAT THING OFF!"

Which reminds me, I also did not know that people had their hair done for their wedding day. I just got up in the morning and worked the same hot-roller magic that I did every day. Make-up? I never really touched the stuff until I was 32, and it didn't cross my mind to wear some on my wedding day. I didn't even own any.