The Definition of Girl Time

What better place to catch up with friends, be girly, and look for wedding dresses than New York City. Two of my bridesmaids, my future sister-in-law, and I did all of the above this Saturday and had a great time!

The day's meeting place was RK Bridal, a retail store in the famous NY Garment District. I had looked at their website, but my first real taste of RK was Dana's description over the phone. "It's crazy! There are so many dresses! It's crazy in here."

It wasn't just the dresses that made it crazy inside RK as I discovered when I arrived. When Selene and I got there, a couple minutes past 11 a.m., it was already packed with brides-to-be. Selene added my name to the list for a changing room and we were on the second page! And I thought we were getting there on the early side! We ended up waiting an hour and a half for our turn at a changing room, but the time was definitely not a waste. Ingrid, Dana, Selene, and I browsed bridesmaids dresses, and scoured the wracks for the 5 best dresses for me to try on. I have to say it was a huge help having three other people to look through dresses, hold stuff, and of course give their opinions. Since RK was so busy, I was only allowed 5 dresses to try on. We put together a good handful of lacy, affordable gowns and sat down to watch other brides and judge... I mean, watch and chat, of course!

I almost squealed with surprise and excitement when my name was finally called. All four of us headed to the dressing room to put down our coats and I climbed into the first dress (Dessy Destinations 1021): a sweat heart topped, flowy lace dress. It felt great on and surprisingly comfortable. Out in front of the mirror, we all took a close look. The ruching across the middle was popular with the girls, as was the flow of the lace in the skirt. However, the slanted seam the connecting the skirt to the bodice, was a slight sticking point. The dress very much fit my vision of what I was looking for, so the seam did not bother me so much.

The second, third and fourth dresses we not as exciting. Ingrid liked the second one (as did I) but it was a little too princess for me, the third one had sequins the made it itchy, and the fourth would have been near perfect if it wasn't so heavy! Plus it had a seam in the same spot as dress 1, but unlike the first dress, it constricted the movement of my legs.

The last dress was also by Dessy Destinations (number 1016). It felt great on! It was comfortable and easy to wear, but still had the support and shape I was looking for. What's more the lace was a unique pattern. The real sticking point, however, was how plain the cut of the dress was. The woman helping us, Nicole, got a brown sash to add to it, which helped a lot, but the front would have to be cut (to create a sweat heart neckline) and cap sleeves would have to be added (which was true of all the dresses I tried on). That said, the dress was so affordable, making those changes would be a definite possibility.

I'm definitely looking forward to going back and trying on my two favorites again.

After the dress shopping, Selene, Dana, Ingrid, and I went for high tea and then went our own ways. Between, the dresses, the chatting, and the tea it was a perfect girly day!