I found the dress! I’d post a picture of it, but the only person who reads this blog anymore is Jay, and he’s the one person who absolutely can’t see the picture. So. I won’t say anything about the dress. I will say that House of Brides should be called House of Pushy Saleswomen. But whatever; they had a ton of dresses, and I found the right one in about 2 hours.
Still, I hadn’t really anticipated that the saleswoman would want to be in the dressing room with me. Have you ever stood in your underwear in front of a total stranger? We got her to leave us alone for a while, but I think she realized that we were taking photos, and then she watched us like a hawk (stupid flash gave us away).
We brought a digital camera, and once we got the saleswoman to leave us alone, we started snapping pictures. I anticipated that we were not really supposed to take pictures, but I guess the MOH (maid of honor) didn’t realize that we were hiding the camera whenever the saleswoman barged in, so she mentioned something about the camera in front of the her, and we got a lecture about the competitiveness of the bridal industry, etc. I don’t really understand what that has to do with taking pictures, but once we agreed to buy a dress, we were allowed to take pictures again.
Then the saleswoman was trying to sell me on a veil. No wonder, really, since they cost $300 or something. I was actually pretty proud of myself. I firmly but politely declined the veil, and even though she persisted, I didn’t give her veil/burka comparison speech or the schpiel about women as property. I just said “no thank you.” Of course, she probably deserved a crazy rant, and maybe it would have made her think twice about trying to sell me more crap.
Towards the end, she told me she was going to sign me up for a free 10 x 13 engagement photo, which was their “gift” to me for buying a dress from them. She practically forced me to fill out the card for the free photo, but then she seemed a little pissed when I checked the box that said I already have a photographer (obviously, they were trying to sell me their photography services). Nevermind the fact that she hadn’t asked me if I had a photographer, and the free photo was “their gift to me” (a phrase she repeated at least 10 times).
When I finally got out of there, I had only committed to buy a dress. No veil, no shoes, no purse, no jewelry. I think it helped that it was 8:30 by the time we got out of there, and I think the saleswoman wanted to go home. Or it could be that she could tell that my mom was about to punch her in the face. Whichever.