The Ultimate Girl Adventure

I suppose I should start off by saying that I have a guilty pleasure, which is a fondness for the television show Say Yes to the Dress. As I'm a girl, such might make sense, but given how I'm the type of person who'd rather watch a horror flick than a rom com, such a feminine show for me may strike those who know me as odd. So, imagine my delight when one of my close friends, who I affectionately refer to as Goose (and she the same with me) said she was wanting to go wedding dress shopping, and wanted me to go along. Suddenly, I'm no longer watching that bridal show, but I'm living it with my Goose.

We only hit up two stores (she'd been to others with another member of the bridal party), but that's alright, because only two were needed. One of the other bridesmaids was going to meet up with us too, but she was at the mercy of the HSR.

The first store was a no-go, but it wasn't dedicated solely to bridal, so that didn't surprise me much. The second store was Rainbow Bridal, down on King Street in downtown Hamilton. We didn't have an appointment, but the employees didn't mind. They told us how the store was organized, and left us to explore the racks. We each pulled dresses, and hoped that the other party member would be able to show up before all the fun was over.

We're looking through dresses, and there was one I saw, and pulled it because the sash caught my eye. Seeing how it was a wine-red sash, and red is one of the wedding colours, I couldn't help but pull it, especially since its price was about a tenth of the budget. Looking at it further, we noticed that the sash had beading. Even better!

While my favourite Goose was trying on her dresses, I couldn't help but torment a certain guy in my life. Ladies, if you ever want to put your man in a panic, just send him a text that goes something like this: "Hey babe, guess what I'm doing right now? I'm out shopping for wedding dresses." And you'll likely get a response that goes something like (and I quote): "...no offense, but I hope to god it's not for you." And when you say, "no you idiot, I'm in my friend's bridal party, and we're shopping for her dress," don't be surprised if the next thing he says is, "just don't go getting any funny ideas now..." A cruel thing to do, I know, texting the boyfriend and saying that you're out shopping for wedding dresses, but the panicked response is so damn funny and worth it.

So back to that dress with the red sash. It was the first dress that Goose tried on. The fit was almost perfect, just about a size too small. And then we found out that the sash doesn't have to be red, but that you can choose pretty much any colour under the rainbow. Also, we learned that it would be easy to alter (the bride's going to be wearing boots, and she'd like to be able to hike up the front, and only the front, of the dress enough to show them off). But, you can't just settle on the first dress you try. So she tried on a few more while we waited for the last third of our trio to arrive (hoping that she didn't get herself lost in the process).

Our last musketeer arrived in time to see which dress was selected, and how it was going to be altered... And to hear the awesome, way under budget grand-total for the dress. Goose chose the very first one she put on in that store: the one with the beaded red sash that I pulled from the rack (yeah, I'll be milking that one for a long while).

I have to say, it really was the ultimate girl adventure. There's just something about being in a room filled to the brim with white dresses that fills a person with so much happiness and positivity. I'm glad I was asked to experience it... But I don't think dear Goose would have had it any other way.