We toyed with the idea of a quickie Vegas affair, complete with Johnny Cash as the official, and dreamed about a warm Hawaiian beach affair, but finally decided to go back to Acadia University, in Nova Scotia, where we first met. Close to both our families, it made the most sense.My sister got married this past fall, so I already have some idea of the craziness ahead of us. The planning and guest lists and budgets and attempts to retain sanity. And I know that I somehow want this whole thing to be simple and fun and have it just feel like us.
So in November, my Mom and one of my sisters made the trip out to Vancouver to help me look for "the dress". I've watched a bunch of those wedding dress shows (sometimes there's just nothing on TV, ok?) so I had a general idea of what would happen. What I didn't expect was how out of place I would feel. I've never been a huge shopper or fashion-type person. And now that I live in Whistler and spend most of my days either skiing, hiking or working from home, clothes are pretty far down on my list of priorities. As my cousin Kaitlyn put it, "Left to my own devices, I’d be a hoodie habitating jeans wearing hiking boot rockin’ [31] year old."
So back to the dress shopping. You know that scene in the Sex and the City episode where Miranda thinks it would be fun to have she and Carrie dress up in ridiculously-awful wedding dresses and Carrie ends up having a panic attack and breaking out in hives? That was basically how I felt. Things were tight where they shouldn't be, I couldn't breathe (one shop assistant told me that you're not supposed to feel comfortable in a wedding dress), and my Mom and sister were pretty alarmed to hear loud banging coming from the dressing room (I ended up kicking the walls trying to find my feet under all those fucking layers of crinoline and taffeta and whatever else people hide inside dresses).Finally I found this really simple dress with one shoulder (so eighties cool!) that just flows all the way down. I can breathe and walk and dance and it finally felt like me. And maybe this wedding will be alright after all. I hope...
