Nope, not odd at all! Sounds like you just want to make sure you try them all & don't miss out on what could be The Dress! I'd do the same.
And thanks for the info on Altier! I had an appt at Macy's yesterday (um, not good unless you really like big poofy bedazzled dresses). Then I went down to the NM store in Soho to check it out. The store was completely empty, except for the security guard & rude sales assistant and she acted like it was a big deal to let me look at the book of dresses they carry. I know it's by appt only but hadn't made one cuz I didn't know which dresses they have so when I asked when the next avail appt is the rude chick was like "you mean TODAY?!?" like I was asking the impossible of her (with NO ONE in the store, mind you). I said well if you had something today that'd be great or just the next avail. She said I could come back at 4:30 (I was there at noon) and I was like, um no. I made an appt for next week but I don't even want to go back b/c she was so rude - she even acted like I was asking a lot when I wanted her to write the time down on a card.
I really hope you don't have a similar experience with NM when you go (I know it'll be on an opposite coast, hopefully they'll have the opposite attitude as well!).
So I'm glad to hear that Altier has NM dresses too. How were they customer-service wise?