The Dress Search Part 1: Dress Distress

After pushing our wedding back a year, I decided I wouldn't start looking at dresses until the summer before my wedding. After seeing Melissa Sweet ads in bridal magazines, I knew I wanted to try on a few of her dresses. So, on a weekend trip to Dallas, my friend Bri and I went to the Priscilla of Boston salon. After trying on about 25 dresses, I fell for the Lia dress, the one in the magazine ads that drew me to the store.

Lia-- I love how simple it is!

However, I did not fall for the price of the Lia dress. It retails for over $3,000--throw in alterations and that was way more than I wanted to spend. So I kept looking. I tried. I tried REALLY hard to find a cheaper dress that I loved. I went to every bridal salon in Austin. And guess what I found? Monique Lhuillier's Amelie Dress, which retails for $6,400!

Amelie--very vintage glam!

Obviously, I have expensive taste in dresses. So what's a girl to do? I took to the internet, looking for used or sample Lia or Amelie dresses. I didn't have much luck. Amelie was hard to find and there were quite a few Lia dresses, but most were damaged or had been hemmed to be too short for me. Frustrated, I temporarily retired my search.