Dress Shopping

Kristi models one fo the many beautiful dresses seen, however, this is NOT the one! (She also realizes she needs to do some tanning before the wedding!)

On Saturday, January 26, Kristi, her mom Vicki, Connie (her maid of honor) and Mary Beth (her cousin & bridesmaid) set off for an adventure in dress shopping. The day began at Your Special Day bridal shop in Fairview Heights, Illinois. After discussing what she wanted in a dress, Kristi was sent to the dressing room, while salesperson Mia, and the other girls began bringing dresses. Dress after dress was tried on. All were beautiful dresses, but Connie brought one in that moved Kristi to tears, it was so beautiful! They say you'll know it when you see it...well, that was certainly true! Kristi asked for a veil to try on with the dress, and was moved to tears! The dress became known as "the crying dress" after that! She tried on a few more...then hesitantly kept her appointment at David's Bridal. She should have cancelled it. We won't go into all the details, let's just say it was not a pleasant experience over there.

Connie went on to visit her mom, while Mary Beth, Vicki and Kristi went to Olga's for a much needed 2 p.m. lunch!! They reminisced about the dresses tried on that day, and other things. Mary was the photographer for the day, and Kristi enjoyed a review of the photos from the day. After lunch, Kristi & her mom checked out a few things in the mall. Then, Kristi decided to go back to Your Special Day just to look at the dress again. She ended up trying it on again, and had a discussion with the owner about the alterations that would need to be made. Then the owner mentioned something to Kristi about "buying off the rack"...this was news to Kristi's ears! Always a bargain shopper, she saw the opportunity to get the dress of her dreams at a discount! SOLD! It now has a special place of honor on the bed in the upstairs guest bedroom at Kristi's house! Yes, she goes up to check on it on a regular basis...and is still loving it! Kristi plans to use the beads from her mom's veil to make her own headpiece, with the assistance of her cousin (and bead shop owner), Hanna.

Actually, this was not Kristi's first experience trying on dresses...a few weeks earlier, she tried on the dress worn by her Grandma Milkert. It was a beautiful dress, which has been well preserved, but it didn't quite fit right. Kristi plans to display the wedding dresses worn by her Grandma, her mom and John's mom, Joan, at the wedding reception.

Grandma Milkert's wedding dress