Well, I'm going to start off by saying, I was absolutely dreading going shopping for my wedding dress. I had many reasons for feeling this way... 1) I currently live out of the US, in a place where there is NO chance of finding a wedding dress. So I had to wait until I came home for Thanksgiving to shop for my dress. Since it's only 5 months until the big day, that pretty much limited my options to what was actually in the store that I could take home that day. No ordering. So I was not looking forward to seeing all the beautiful dresses that I had no chance of getting, since they were purchased only through ordering. 2) limited budget. Although my FI & I are paying for the actual wedding, my dad was determined to pay for the dress itself. But that also meant capping the spending to $700. Further limiting my choices. 3) My mom. Although I haven't lived at home for quite a while, my mom's opinion still matters to me. Unfortunately my mom is a hard-core conservative-don't show your boobs-strapless is of the devil- mom. Now I am not one to EVER change what I want to please someone else, but still, I wanted my mom to at least not-hate my dress. I knew if would be hard though. To make a long- story short. First place. First dress I tried on. Absolute perfection. Everything I wanted....off the shoulders, simple, keyhole back, lightweight, elegant....blah blah blah I'm freakin in love with this dress. Best part, $600, no alterations needed, & my mom cried she loved it so much. Now just gotta find some fabulous shoes;)