Say Yes

The veil changed everything.

We weren't even wedding dress shopping.

We were looking for bridesmaid dresses, deciding on a color - hence a color theme, and maybe, just maybe, if there was time, thumbing through the wedding dresses for another day and a return trip.

And...well...just like always, one thing lead to another and we were so efficient on finding both the bridesmaid dress and a color they both loved that the next thing you know both of my daughters, the older and maid-of-honor, and the younger, bride-to-be, and myself were tromping around the bridal shop with our arms loaded with gowns which, by the way, when multiplied by five or six in an armload equal about two to three hundred pounds of satin and tulle.

 She tried on gowns that were lacy, gowns that were slim fitting, some gowns that were ivory, and lots that were white. Gowns that had beading, some that had embroidery, with straps and strapless, with and without trains. Some looked better on the hangers and some that we didn't like that much on the sales floor actually looked ten times better and wonderful when she put them on. We ooohed and ahhhed over lots of them. Some felt so soft and exquisite. Others felt stiff and uncomfortable but apparently these weren't the reactions she was waiting for.

"This is supposed to be like Say Yes to the Dress!!" she finally exclaimed after about a dozen gowns had been put on and then removed. She stared at us. "Nobody has cried at all yet. What are you people looking for?!!"

Daughter number one and I looked at one another, "I dunno," said my fellow audience member shrugging.

I shook my head. "I love lots of them. You look beautiful in all of them. I just haven't seen one that made me explode into tears yet."

She sighed taking another gown off of a hanger.

After an hour and a half or so we narrowed it down to five that we wanted her to try on a second time so we could give them another look. From there we whittled the possible candidates to three.

She was pretty in each one, any could have been her gown - but still I didn't choke up with the much anticipated tears. Even I started to wonder about my lack of emotion.

What kind of mother was I??!!

I cry at cell phone commercials, Kleenex tissue ads and anything with babies. Why wasn't I ready to run out into the street sobbing at the sight of my baby in a wedding gown? The price tags alone should have at least been cause for a little blubbering. But nada. Nothing.

She stood before us in a dress that we were pretty sure was going to be the one. It had everything she loved. It had a long train, a little gathering on the side, lots of crystal beading on the bodice and it was puffy at the bottom - it was everything she ever loved about the gowns Cinderella and Belle from Beauty and the Beast had worn. All the things that made her sigh as a child, and walk up and touch the television screen fantasizing about what it would be like to be a princess and own a gown just like the one she was wearing right now. In this bridal shop. In Little Falls.

We knew it would be the one she would pick. And it was the one she should pick.
It was perfect.
"I think this is the one," she announced a little hesitant chewing on her bottom lip. Then she walked over to study our faces. I tried to squint so she might think I was starting to tear up.  But she sighed and turned away. "That show is stupid," she mumbled. "This isn't anything like that."

"Do you want to try a couple of veils to see if there is anything you like?" asked the helpful attendant from the shop seeing someone should break the silence.
I said yes, that would be a good idea, besides we were accomplishing so much else. She came back with a couple of different styles and handed them to me.
I took one from the assortment and walked over to my daughter, in her perfect wedding dress, and put it in her hair. I draped it carefully along her sides and stood back to see how it looked.
And it happened.
The "Say Yes to the Dress" moment we'd both been waiting for.
I couldn't have said anything if I'd have wanted to. She smiled at me sweetly and then triumphantly.
I looked over at daughter number one - whose eyes were misting up as well. 
She looked at me and nodded, "It's her dress," she said whispering.
And we all said Yes.
To the Dress.
The dress she was married in two weeks ago.







Kirstin and Ben

  

The little brother









The sister