Wedding Dress Shopping in Austin!

I arrived in Austin around 1pm on Monday and was excited to head out dress shopping with my wonderful Aunt Laura, beautiful cousin Leslie, and her awesome BFF (since they were 2) Amy.

Dress Shopping Day 2

The first place we visited shall remain nameless--not only because it was not impressive, but mostly because I have no idea what its name is!  We walked around for maybe 10 minutes looking at the options by size before deciding to leave.  I'm pretty sure Leslie walked out completely overwhelmed and unsure what she really wanted.

The next place also shall remain nameless--only because I didn't catch the name--but was a nicer setup.  It reminded me of David's Bridal, to give a mental picture.  At first we were all a bit overwhelmed but soon Leslie found dresses she wanted to try on.  All in all it was a fun experience--especially when Leslie walked out with a belt on her head--but nothing really felt like the one.  She looked absolutely beautiful in everything but none of us felt any of them were it.

Fast-forward to Tuesday.  We decided to bring along champagne to our first appointment at Signature Bridal in Beecave, TX.  (If you go there, ask for Rachel.  She is AMAZINGLY AWESOME and sweet.  So sweet, we wanted to take her with us to the next appointment at a different place).  When Leslie came out in the first dress, we all teared up.  It was beautiful and we all thought it might be the one.  Then she came out in the second and explained that this one had a cut she preferred over the previous dress.  She tried on a few more--we toasted with our champagne--and finally she found one that she thought might be it.  That dress was gorgeous and she kept in on for a bit before deciding to try on the very last dress she'd picked. 

Leslie, the Bride :)

This last dress, interestingly enough, was one that Amy and I had found while perusing the options and requested that Leslie try it on too.  In fact, it was the first dress we suggested.  When Leslie came out, everything was different.  She looked absolutely delighted, happy, perfect.  We could all tell that this dress was THE ONE!  I won't give anything away but this dress combined the various elements she loved in each of the other dresses that were maybes.  I took a gazillion pictures and in each, it's obvious that this dress was meant for Leslie.  It's so her that my mom even said it's what she envisioned.  It's romantic and fun.  Leslie wore it for a looooooong time before agreeing to take it off.  She had to take it off to make it to our next appointment.

We made it to Blush in time for her appointment (by the way, they do NOT allow you to bring champagne there) and had a lot of fun watching her try on a variety of different styles.  She even tried on one with a fun skirt to humor me :).  I apparently love fun, ruffly, poofy skirts.  There was one point, where she started to second-guess the original dress.  We busted out our phones to show her pictures of the dress from earlier, and her face immediately lit up.  It was so cool!  Nothing can compare to that perfect dress.

It was such an honor to help Leslie pick out her dress and to be able to get a preview of how perfect she's going to look on her wedding day.  I am so honored to be her matron-of-honor. :)  I love you, Les!