dress shopping: bridal edition

Big sister is getting married! And well, we spent this past weekend perusing some of Toronto's most trafficked bridal shops with the hope that she'd say yes to the dress. For those who are going on this search in the near future, here's some advice: there's a lot of shit out there, be prepared to filter through the ugly.

We went to five different places:

1. David's Bridal - we went here specifically to try on Vera Wang's White label. While the dresses look beautiful in magazines and such, the quality left something to be desired. Big sister wasn't in love with anything she tried on and Muti (our gma, the matriarch of the family) was horrified by the less-than-acceptable fabrics and thoughtless raw edges. The experience was also not what we expected. Our bridal associate was more interested in getting us out before 8:45pm than anything else and we left feeling completely underwhelmed.

2. MRS Bridal Boutique - by FAR the best experience we had at any of the stores. This boutique just opened in the davenport/avenue area and if able, I would move in and live there permanently. The shop is beautiful, charming, and exceeded all of my expectations. The selection is a bit slim (they just opened after all), but the dresses they do have are absolutely beautiful, and the personal attention to detail and amazingly friendly service cannot be beat.

3. Jealous Bridesmaids - a complete waste of time for us. Though they asked us to take off our shoes upon entering, the sample dresses were mostly dirty and the sales associate was distracted and completely impersonal. I was very underwhelmed and actually even a bit annoyed by the experience we had here.

4. Ferre Sposa - a small-ish store PACKED with dresses. The associate was awesome and brought dresses that big sister didn't necessarily pick herself (actually, one of these dresses was the one...) and was great about offering an opinion without forcing it down our throats.

5. Becker's Bridal - This is kind of a staple in Toronto bridal fashion culture. The place was bustling with brides-to-be looting the racks looking for their version of perfect. Though the store is beautiful and they have a ton of beautiful dresses (my personal favourites were found here), the experience was a bit rushed and crowded.

To be honest, everything around weddings gives me anxiety (largely because of how expensive everything can get), but we had a wonderful time boutique hopping and making big sister step out of her comfort zone to try on different silhouettes. It was a successful day and I was just happy to be a part of it!

ox