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When Christi got engaged, I flew out to Phoenix for a few days and hit what felt like every dress shop in the area. Our days were filled with yards of white fluffy fabrics, shock from the stickers attached to them, lots of laughter and yes, just a few tears from Mom.
When Jess got engaged (the same summer as Christi) I asked her if she wanted to go to Atlanta to shop for a dress when I got home from Florida in a couple of months. We could have a girls weekend and hit as many dress shops as possible and try on as many dresses as the sales ladies would allow. Unfortunately for me, Jess is the take charge type and was chomping at the bit. Truth be told she probably had her dress picked out since she took her classes to become a certified wedding coordinator in college. On the 12 hour drive home from Florida she told me she made an appointment in Lebanon for the next morning, would I be able to come. I got home in the wee hours of the morning, slid into bed for a few hours then was back in the car and on the road to Lebanon bright and early in the morning. I knew my Jess. She had done her research, found the dress she liked, found out where they sold it and procured an appointment to try it on. I knew in my heart this was a one shot dress shopping deal and wild dogs couldn’t keep me from being there to see my Peepers the first time she put on her wedding gown.
Now Matt has finally popped the question to Kathleen and we have another dress shopping opportunity. I debated for about 30 seconds about asking Kathleen if she wanted to go to Atlanta to look at wedding dresses. She was thrilled. We set a date and Kathleen started getting appointments in various shops. As soon the word got out, our party started to grow. First, Stephie, (my neice, Matt’s tied at the hip cousin and Kathleen’s maid of honor) said she could fly in for the weekend, Kathleen’s sisters (Summer, Lindsey and Lauren) joined us, then her two aunts (Linda and Kathy) and her cousin (Annie), then her two nieces (Madison and Jordan), then her best friend and her daughter (Marybeth and Brooke). As we pulled out of the driveway we were a caravan of 14 women getting ready to take Atlanta by storm.
I wasn’t sure how herding this many cats would work out, but for those of you that know me, you know that cat herding has become one of my unwanted super skills. We herded in and out of dress stores; followed my annoying GPS as it did figure eights around an Atlanta subdivision; stalked shoppers in the Peachtree Mall for parking spaces; tried on a bazillion bridesmaid dresses finally finding the absolute perfect one; traipsed through the Coca-Cola Museum where Madison dared me to taste every flavor of Coke sold in the world. I did, she did—it was wonderful! At the end of the day we all piled in to our hotel room, broke out an assortment of snacks that only 14 women can come up with and watched one of the funniest movies I have seen in years.
The absolute best part of the entire weekend was that we all got to see Kathleen cover herself in all things lace and glitter. I feel so lucky to have been there as the young girl I have known for years found the perfect dress. I saw her face light up and knew that this was the dress that made her feel like a princess.
It was unanimous—we all said yes to Kathleen’s perfect dress.
