i had my first wedding dress shopping experience yesterday at david's bridal in lynnwood, wa. dresses were unbelievably affordable at $299-$499 for the ones i liked, and i quickly realized that i am anti-beads and anti-lace, at least for what they offered. i may not be able to say the same for a $5000 designer gown. some very typical monochromatic, strapless bridesmaid dresses made for a nice photo, rather than nice dresses in and of themselves. i have yet to blog about what i think about BM dresses but i'll save that for later.


pushing my way through the racks yesterday also re-enforced my notion that gowns look hideous on the hanger and i need to do my homework and a) research the stores in my area b) see what lines they carry c) visit those designers websites so i can make sure i d) try on my favorite dresses that i may not have noticed all limp on the rack. after reading a few things at the knot, i'm excited that a few girls said the best store they went to was the bridal garden in kirkland - which means it's right where i live and don't have to venture downtown! i do bridal looks very promising in the wallingford area of seattle (again, yay! not downtown), and i adore everything in the maggie sottero line they carry.

the third noteable seattle-area bridal store seems to be marcellas la boutique downtown which carries lazaro and vera wang. june 1st they're having a trunk show where you can meet project runway's austin scarlett.

i love the vintage, old world feel his pieces have (i would love to be a stepford wife in that top left photo - and to explain the bottom left photo - it was a USPS uniform concept - i love would love to deliver mail as little blue riding hood), but i'm not as enthused about his line of bridal gowns with kenneth pool.