Wedding Dress Found

Our bride-to-be finally finds a dress for her Big Day.

By Sara Cardace

Phew.  I was really starting to worry that I just don't have the time or energy necessary to find a cute dress that wasn't ridiculously off the deep end in terms of price. And then--voila! I went to The Bridal Garden with my fashion-editor friend Lauren and found one just like that.


I can't speak highly enough of the experience we had there. It was a bit intimidating at first: We walked into the little room--it couldn't have been more than 20x20--and there were about ten different girls in various stages of wriggling in and out of dresses, surrounded by wall-to-wall racks jam-packed with options. Thankfully the dresses were organized by style (strapless or sleeved) and size, so it wasn't too much of a free-for-all.

Lauren and I dove right in and were surprised to find about ten dresses we thought were worthy of a further look. (Don't get me wrong, there were some serious clunkers, but to each his own...) We retreated back to a screened-off area by the windows and set to trying them on. We quickly narrowed it down to two--a strapless, plush champagne number with a tiny bit of beading on the bodice and a huge flouncy train (Lauren said it must have felt like wearing a down comforter, and she wasn't far off) and a structured, princess-y ivory a-line dress that was much simpler. The funny thing about gown-shopping is that it's really hard to tell in advance what you're going to look good in--I never, ever would have thought I'd wear something like that second dress, but when I put it on it may have been the most flattering dress I'd ever worn. My arms looked pin-thin! My waist tiny! It was demure and classy and, I think, somewhat unexpected for someone like me. I was sold.

Long story short, I decided to buy it on the spot. I had some questions about alterations--the dress isn't perfect; I'm going to want to soften the a-line waaaay down and possibly cap or remove the sleeves, and there's a lame bow on the back that definitely has to go--but the woman manning the showroom happened to be a seamstress and she showed me how they wouldn't be too huge a deal. I was still hesitant since I've heard how much alterations can jack up the price of the dress, and that's when she mentioned the discount. Discount? The dress was already slashed down to $1000! For no reason I could fathom, she whipped out her calculator and took it down to $800. At that price it was a no-brainer, alterations be damned. (And in case you're wondering, I actually don't know who made the dress--it came, like many samples, without a tag. But no matter. It's gorgeously made and clearly the work of someone who knows what they're doing...)

Also, the Bridal Garden is a completely charitable organization and the proceeds from dresses sold goes toward after school programs and education efforts for kids. Even better!

Now, does anyone know of a good seamstress for me to use? I'm thinking of heading to Jersey, if no for other reason than that I'm looking forward to stashing the dress at my parents' house as soon as possible. Urban closets were not made for the housing of flouncy wedding dresses and mine is already looking hopelessly cramped...