30+ dresses before THE one

First stop, David's Bridal; didn't find much.  Basically it was a learning experience for me, I learned what I liked best on my body, color, style, and material.  My mom and sister were with me, that was a huge help!

Next stop, Occasions Bridal Boutique; shady!  We can't take pictures?!  You can't tell me who the designer is and this dress cost HOW much?  Yeaaa, didn't fly with my momma!  I did find one though that I was in love with I liked best so far, but wasn't sold.  I didn't get THAT feeling!  Went to Occasions TWICE before realizing, this isn't it.  Brought my future MIL and SIL on the second go 'round, and my mom was there both times, of course :)

Next up, Serendipity; not impressed.  I heard so many great things about these dresses that Serendipity has, guess they just weren't for me?  Bridesmaid Shannon was with me, along with momma (she doesn't miss anything, literally!).  I did find a few that I liked only certain detail on the dress, if I could've taken the dress apart and made it into what I wanted, it would've been perfect!

--  After leaving Serendipity and having tried on sooo many dresses, I was exhausted.  I called Jason crying.my.eyes.out.  He reassured me, whatever dress I wear, I will be beautiful and it's not worth getting worked up about.  GOD love him! --

Last stop (thank the LORD), Katherine's Bridal Boutique; get comfy - of course I couldn't have a great experience when actually purchasing my dress!  Here we go...

After venting to girlfriend Brandy about the dress scenarios, she sent me a link to the collection where she found her dress, almost four years ago!  I found a store that sold their collection, made an appointment, made SURE momma could be there, along with Amber (MOH).  I had a good feeling about this trip, I hadn't got that feeling yet.

Walked in, told Shana (lovely lady who helped me) what I want in my dress; by this point in time, I KNEW what I wanted, damn, done tried on millions of dresses!  She pulls a few dresses, the first one I put on I got "THE" feeling, I knew it was it!  I cried, I actually pictured myself for the first time ever walking down the aisle with my dress and for the first time out of all those other dresses I put on, I thought "Jason would love this on me!" 

In the meantime, another bride was trying on dresses as well, her friends were talking to momma and Amber, asking when I was getting married and vise versa; other bride was getting married Nov 17th.  I had tried on about 5-7 dresses at this point and had on the first dress that I tried on that I knew was the one!  Other bride and I had similiar taste in dresses, she had this dress on (NOT even anything I would've liked or wanted) so my mom asked that I try that dress on JUST to make sure the first dress I tried on was the one.  What the hell?  What's 1 more dress to try on?

Me - Can I try that dress on, Shana?
Women helping other bride - NO, you cannot try that dress on, she's buying that dress!!!
Me - What, she's going to WALK out of the store with this dress?!
Kathleen (other worker) - well, it just fits her perfectly so we don't want it to stretch or anything.
Me - WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?  I'M FAT?!  Shana, come over here please and take this dress off of me.
Shana - I'm so sorry, you wouldn't have liked that dress anyway, plus she's getting married in April so she needs the dress right away.
Me - That's not the point, I KNOW I wouldn't have liked that dress, it's just the point and that was so rude and disrespectful!  NOT to mention, other bride is getting married ONE and a HALF months after me, NOT April, don't lie to me.

We left, immediately, and I lost it before I made it down the steps, bawled my eyes out; I was upset, frustrated, disrespected, mad and more exhausted then ever now!  Am I EVER going to find my dress?!

Momma being the best she is says "WE'RE going back in there, let's go eat and we'll go back!"  She knew how bad I wanted that dress.  Going back in, her goal was to get the dress I loved for the price of the dress they wouldn't let me try on because that dress was $200 less!

We go back, walking in like we're real big and bad, ha!  Momma walks up to Katherine (owner) and let's her know that we need to talk to her.  MIND YOU - Katherine sat there through all the drama and did not say not ONE word - ignorant right?  And she's the owner?!  Katherine asked me what happened, I gave her the run down and told her exactly how I felt about her staff, but that Shana was nothing but excellent! 

Katherine asks that I put the dress back on that I loved and she was going to do something for us, regarding the price of the dress.  She came back, took $100 off the dress and said she'd do the alterations for $250 rather than $400!  I still wasn't sure at that point.

In the meantime, Kathleen (b*tch that was rude) came to apologize to me, she went on for a good 5 minutes, I didn't pay her no mind, literally, I said not one word.  Go somewhere b*tch!

Shana was walking back and forth between us and Katherine trying to negotiate the price of the dress - was I there to buy a car or a wedding dress?  HA.  She comes back in...

Shana - Do you want THIS dress?
Me - THIS dress, like this one right here that is on me right now?
Momma - Is that possible, can that even be done?  Diana are you sure you don't want one ordered for you?
Amber - (looking confused) What?!  Can they do that?!
Shana - Yes, do you want this dress?
Me - How much?
Shana - How much do you want it for?
Me - I offered her $500 less than what the dress was going for.
Shana - Be right back.
Momma - DIANA, she's not going to go for that, there's no way!
Shana - Okay, it's yours!
Momma - THAT'S my girl (hugging me, Shana and Amber)!
Me - I get it from my momma (smiling ear to ear).
Amber - (crying) OMG OMG!

Not only did I get the dress for $500 less than the original price, but I got the alterations for $200, rather than $400, after she told us $250!!  And all alterations will be done, ALL of them!  YAY!  It was a great feeling!  Even though we had to go through all the drama we did, I have my dress, literally - yes, it is at my parents house!  Shana told me that I could leave it there until I go in for alterations, but I made SURE I was taking it with me, I will be DAMN sure NOBODY is trying MY dress on!  HA!

Shew - praise the LORD that I finallyyyy got my dress :)  It was worth ALL of the tears!  Now, I'll stop watching Say Yes To The Dress, that show makes my mind go crazy, but there is no going back now, I am too much in LOVE :)