The Hockey Life

PART SIXTY-FIVE: SAY YES TO THE DRESS
The next week passed quickly. My guess was that it was because it was fun to get back to regular hockey with the team I loved dearly. That and Andrew Shaw and Brandon Saad were officially in the wedding party along with everyone else who had been talked to already by Patrick and I. With the wedding party officially selected, we both felt like we could get rolling on more wedding planning. I tended to be a procrastinator, but I knew that wouldn’t be acceptable for a wedding, especially not my own, which I had been dreaming about for years. I wanted everything to be perfect, and that couldn’t happen if I waited until the last minute to get things done. Because of that, I decided I would get ahead of schedule when it came to some things, including attire.
I had never been wedding dress shopping with anyone before - I had only seen it on TV shows - but I sure was excited to give it a try for the first time. There are so many aspects of a wedding that can be beautiful. The color scheme (which Patrick and I had decided to change to red and silver since the Blackhawks were such a huge part of both of our lives), the flowers, the venue, the tuxes and bridesmaid dresses were all things that would be looked at carefully and judged by not only me, but everyone attending the wedding. However, everyone knew that the wedding dress was the biggest, most important factor to the bride. It was definitely true for me. I had already looked at plenty of places online and studied different styles and brands of dresses, and I just wanted to put some on. I had an idea of what I wanted - beading and sparkle and a whole lot of dress - but I decided to have an open mind.
“You ready to try on some dresses?” Tess asked on the day of my first bridal appointment.
“You bet I am,” I answered. “Ready, Mom?” My mother, who had come to Chicago specifically for dress shopping, nodded. I grabbed my keys and we headed out the door. We picked up Carly from her apartment and headed to a shop downtown that I had found online. It had good reviews and supposedly had good prices, which my mom was glad to hear. She had graciously offered to buy my dress for me, but I told her I would gladly help her pay when I found an expensive dress, which was usually very typical of me. Either way, I would at least have some help, and that was a relief to me. I got paid well, but I had plenty of other wedding things to pay for besides the dress.
“Hey, we all made it!” Erica Kane laughed as she and her sisters piled out of their own car. They had flown in for the appointment and met us at the boutique. I hugged each of them and we headed into the shop, where we were greeted. The consultant who ended up helping us was a sweetheart. Her name was Mallorie. She looked to be only a couple years older than me, and she was extremely helpful. I introduced her to everyone in the bridal party and she asked me what I was looking for, which was a ball gown, preferably something with a lot of bling. Then she showed us where the different types of dresses were and she let me pick out a few that I wanted to try on. I found a bunch that I liked, even a few mermaid/trumpet styles that Carly had convinced me to try. However, there was one dress that really stood out to me, and I decided I would save it for last, once I got to the dressing room.
Even though I had watched a million episodes of a dozen different wedding shows, I felt like the experience of bridal shopping woul dbe nothing like it was on TV. However, I got into the dressing room and Mallorie was very personable and helped me into the first dress, which was one of Carly’s choices. It had a corset back, so she strapped me in, making it tight so it would show off my curves. I looked into the dressing room mirror and I was amazed at what I saw. I liked trumpet style dresses, I just had never imagined having one for my winter wonderland wedding. But this one was beautiful. It was strapless with a sweetheart neckline. There was elaborate beading that created flowers on the bust exclusively, and the res of the dress was plain white, but the bottom flared out in poofy tulle. Even though the flowers made me feel like it was a spring or summer dress, the fit was great. I actually was excited to go out and show everyone. Mallorie walked out with me and I got up on the pedestal in front of the couch my group had claimed.
“So, what do you guys think?” I asked, not satisfied with the silence that filled the room.
“It’s beautiful, Lena,” my mom said as she looked the dress up and down to take in its features.
“I know you don’t want a trumpet style, but you do look great in this dress, Lean,” Carly told me, clearly happy that I put on one of her choices first. Everyone else in the group seemed to agree that it looked great on me, but they didn’t say anything negative. I was so thankful that there was nobody in the group who would ruin a dress for me before I even gave an opinion. I had seen way too much of that on TV.
“So, what do you think?” Tess wondered.
“I love the way it fits me. I’m not a fan of the flowery design, though. But I’m up for trying on more dresses in this style,” I admitted. Tess agreed with me on the flowers before I went back to the dressing room to try on a second dress.
The next one was another strapless mermaid style. It had a sweetheart neckline, with sparkly silver beading that created a belt around the waist. From the very top, all the way down to where it flared out in tulle at the bottom, there were almost diagonal, think stripes of similar sparkly beading, and there was another “belt” right where it flared out at the bottom. I liked this one more than the first - it had the perfect amount of bling and sparkle without the flowers. I was surprised to say that it was a competitor, and luckily, almost everyone liked it more than the first one as well.
After that, we moved on to ball gowns. The first was another strapless one with a sweetheart neckline, two aspects that I was not willing to be flexible about. The top was plain white with a thick silver belt around the waist, and the bottom had lots of pretty ruffles. I definitely was fan of the style - I was a sucker for ball gowns, so they just felt more natural on me than mermaid or trumpet dresses did. When I came out and showed everyone the dress, they liked it a lot. Even Carly agreed that it looked more like a winter dress. It wasn’t the one, though, so I went back to the dressing room.
I tried on two more dresses - one a-line and one ball gown, and then I had one last dress to try on - my favorite pick. The one I had saved for last was hung up in the middle of the dressing room when I got back, and Mallorie laughed at the excited look I wore on my face.
“Are you ready for the last one?’ she wondered.
“Definitely. As far as I’m concerned, I saved the best for last,” I answered. Mallorie helped me into the dress and I smiled as soon as she zipped up the back. It was the typical strapless, sweetheart neckline, ball gown style that I had been looking for. The top was completely covered in beautiful, elaborate silver gems and beading. There was a thin silver belt on the waist to separate the bodice from the bottom, which was simple white tulle. I knew I loved it as soon as it was on me.
“How do you feel in it?” Mallorie questioned me.
“Amazing,” I told her. “It’s perfect.”
“It looks great on you,” she said, and I could tell she was being honest. “Let’s go show your bridal party,” she suggested, so I picked up the bottom of the big dress and we headed out. I could see faces light up as I walked out, and as soon as I stepped up on the pedestal, comments came flying at me.
“The top is amazing.”
“It makes you look so tiny!”
“It looks so elegant.”
“That dress is absolutely gorgeous, Lean.” The last comment was from Tess. I could just tell that she was as in love with the gown as I was, and she and my mom got up to look at it closer.
“Please tell me this is your dress,” Jackie encouraged me. I glanced over at Mallorie.
“I guess it’s time to pop the question. Are you saying yes to this dress?” she asked.
“Yes!” I answered, possibly too quickly and enthusiastically, but I didn’t care.
“I love it, Lena, but before you commit, what’s the damage going to be?” my mom asked. I checked the price tag. It was barely in the price range we had discussed.
“It’s $2200,” I told her.
“I can do that,” my mom decided, so I made my way over to her and gave her a huge hug.
“Thank you so much,” I mumbled into her dark hair.
“You’re welcome,” she replied.
There were some alterations that had to be done, and they would cost $200, which put the dress at a total of $2400, just $100 under the maximum budget that my mom had. I had already established that I would be buying the accessories, so we looked at some while we were still at the bridal store. I found a pin for my hair, since I had decided to go against wearing a veil. I picked out a faux fur shawl and a bracelet as well. As far as shoes went, I was going to get custom made red Blackhawks heels to go with the new color theme.
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“Did you get a dress today?” Patrick asked when I went to his apartment later in the day to hang out with him and his sisters.
“Yep,” I answered.
“It’s a beautiful dress,” Jessica commented.
“I wish I could see you in it,” Patrick said.
“You can, on our wedding day,” I taunted him, an evil smile on my face.
“Wow, I don’t have to wait very long at all!” he said, sarcasm strong in his voice.
“Oh, stop complaining!” I told him.
“But that’s what he does best!” Erica decided.
“Hey! That’s not true and you know it!”
“It is SO true.”
“Is not!”
“Is too!”
The bickering went on for a few more minutes, but eventually we found video games to play and the sibling rivalries came through in the form of bets, accusations of cheating, and other comments of that variety. We spent the rest of the day together, just hanging out in Pat’s apartment, until his sisters had to catch their flight back home. They had busy lives just like us, so they basically only came for the bridal appointment, which luckily was a success. Wedding dress shopping was fun, but I didn’t think it would be if I had to go to a bunch of different stores and keep trying different dresses without being able to choose one. I could easily be indecisive, but when it came to dress shopping, I usually knew if I had found the dress, even if I pondered other options for a while. That was how I had been in high school for prom and the other dances. I was glad I still had the ability to choose a dress rather quickly and easily. I knew I had plenty of other choices to make before the wedding, and I didn’t even want to think about them. As much as I was relieved that I had a dress, I still felt a huge weight on my shoulders. I went to bed that night praying that at least most of the rest of the wedding decisions would be as easy as finding a dress was so I could keep my sanity. That was one thing that was necessary for the wedding to happen, if anything.

Notes