Dress Shopping

When Ashley and Lance decided to quickly get married before he deployed, I remember Lance feeling so guilty for taking away her dream of a big church wedding, with the dress, and reception. Jay told him he wasn't taking anything away, and he was giving her a future. He also said we'd give her that wedding, only it will be a vow renewal instead.

Traditional? No, but their entire romance hasn't been traditional. Their tiny private marriage ceremony wasn't traditional. But they were still blessed by God, and this ceremony will be blessed as well, we firmly believe that.

The church has been reserved, the reception hall has been reserved, the photographer has been reserved. She has also talked to someone about invitations, and talked to her hair stylist. Now the fun stuff starts.

A week or so ago, Ashley, Chelsea (who is her maid of honor) and I went shopping for her dress, and the attendants dresses. We had so much fun, and I did really good. I didn't cry, although I felt my eyes welling up a couple of times, because she looked so beautiful.

Ashley has always been a girl who knows what she likes and what she wants. She looked on the bridal shop's website and found a dress she liked. As new dresses were added to the site, she found she kept going back to the first dress. The same thing happened with the attendants dresses.

We went out for supper and then drove to the Bridal shop. We had a few minutes before her appointment, so she started looking at Mother-Of-The-Bride dresses, which of course had me laughing. I have not worn a dress in over 17 years...since Austin's baptism. I had fully intended to wear one of the beautiful chiffon pantsuits you see women sometimes wear. A dress? No. According Ashley, Yes. We'll see who wins that battle.

Ashley tried on the dress she liked online first. It was beautiful, and Ashley's face told us she thought so too. As I told Ashley when she asked what I thought of it: "It makes you look beautiful and sexy, in an elegant way". Her comment was "that works". LOL

She tried on several dresses after that, but her face never lit up as much as it did with the first dress. The lady helping her, said dresses look much different when your hair is up, but we had no hair ties, so she pinned it. Ashley has very thick, fine hair, and we laughed as the lady put pin after pin in her hair to try to get it to stay up. As you can see in the 2nd picture, it was up, sort of, with the help of over 20 bobby pins. haha

After she tried on dresses, they helped her try on different head pieces. First she tried on the tiara, and when she made the funny face you see in the picture, she said "Do I look like a princess Daddy?" She's such a nut. LOL


She had Chelsea try on the attendants dress that she saw on line, and when Chelsea came out of the dressing room, Ashley's face had the same smile she had when she tried on her first dress. Chelsea tried on others that were suggested, but again, Ashley's face was not the same.

In the end, she selected the first dress she tried on, and the first dress she had Chelsea try on. I told you, this is a girl who knows what she likes. :) Three words describe both dresses: simple, elegant, and feminine. All words that describe Ashley.

They were going to have her try on shoes, but in the words her Father would have loved to have heard, she said "I'm not going to get shoes here, we can get them cheaper someplace else."

In the end, the night really was all about the dress. In the picture on the right she has on "her" dress, and as you can see by her smile, she loved it and was genuinely happy, which made me genuinely happy (that and the fact that it was on sale hehehe).