Dress shopping: keep an open mind

Some might call me the anti-bride. I hate, err, dislike wedding gowns.White washes me out, they're too expensive and I don't want to look like a damn princess. And, as a 5-foot-tall frugalista, I take issue with the fact that wedding dresses are made for 8-foot-tall women who clearly don't have thousands in student loans to pay off.After stalking a dress on eBay last fall, I went to Unique Bridal in Auburn, to try it on. I thought that if I loved the dress, I'd buy the pre-worn version online and be done with it. I ended up hating the dress, but patiently tried on all the others the saleslady brought out for me since I was already there.
One dress stood out in the sea of poofy, beaded, lacy options. It was a cocktail-length chiffon dress. It didn't feel like a typical wedding dress, which I loved. But, it only had one strap (I hated) and had these huge chiffon roses on the chest and strap (I despised). Since it was my first time at a bridal shop, I decided to check out a few other places.After visiting a few consignment shops, I went to David's Bridal with friends. The shop's tea-length options were minimal. One dress appeared to be something my mother would have bought for my eight-year-old self. Katie, my maid of honor, was able to find one nice thing to say about it: "Most girls can't pull off vertical stripes."
Another tea length dress came to my dressing room as a size 18W. I really couldn't imagine how it would look since it hung like a heavy curtain on my size 4 frame.Shortly after the disappointing trip, I went Unique Bridal again to try on a lacy Alfred Angelo dress I had found on Pintrest. It was beautiful and it was on sale -- for $650. I could have made room in my budget, but I knew purchasing that dress would have been followed by intense buyers' remorse. I couldn't justify spending that kind of cash on a dress that I would wear only once and would ultimately end up dragging across a sandy beach in Traverse City.
Then, I asked to try on the cocktail-length chiffon dress again. I had been mentally comparing it to every other dress I tried on, even though I hated parts of it. I thought I might be able to ignore the asymmetrical design and poofy roses since I couldn't get it out of my mind.I still had reservations about the strap and roses, but the staff was helpful. They showed me how the dress could easily be altered to become a strapless dress and the roses were removable. We tucked the strap under my arm to hide the roses -- and then it happened.