MR. LLAMA - TIME TO GO AWAY AGAIN!
So ... as I like to do, I gave my consultant a fake budget, told her I was specifically there to give Guindon a try, but typically love lace slim-cut dresses, and decided to have some fun--while trying not to fall too hard in love with anything I found, lest I be unable to find a used one.
First, I tried on the two Alvina Valenta's I had loved at Randy to the Rescue:
The reason for my aforementioned 'two trips' to this store was because on one weekend, they were having a Hayley Paige trunk show with her new collection. In addition to Guindon, I really wanted to try on her just-released 'sister' dress, Keaton, to compare the two:
However, when I put on this dress, I knew I was taking a gamble. Because this was part of her trunk show, this dress would not be available in stores for another 4-5 months. Which meant that the chances of me finding it used, or as a sample, were slim-to-none. So, I kind of wasn't allowed to fall in love with this dress. Crap.
Finally, it was time to try on Guindon. I kept looking at it, hanging in the dressing room. It took up so much space!! This was just silly. I was looking forward to checking it off my 'list,' when this happened:
I had thought that the sister dress, Keaton, might be the best of both worlds - that fitted look, with the whimsy of the stripes. But I would later realize that somehow, Keaton was more 'expected' of me. Guindon's more traditional shape was exactly the opposite of what everyone (including myself!) would expect me to wear. So to me, this felt more out of the box. Also, there was something about Guindon that was more Vogue-spread, fashion with a capital "F." Keaton felt more "bridal."
I didn't want to take it off.
When I went home that day, it was the first time I felt fear - what if I COULDN'T find this dress used? I really had not planned on expanding my dress budget.
(For reference - I had decided that I would like to spend ~$2,000 total on all attire for myself. So that would include shoes, veil, belt, hairpieces - whatever it entailed. This dress was $3,500.)
This was still pretty early in the planning process, and we had toyed with the idea of including stripes in our theming for the wedding, but not made any definitive decisions. Sitting on the couch that night after Bella Bianca, it suddenly dawned on me how perfect this dress was! It went perfectly with the stripes idea! It was all coming together in my head, and I knew I had to start the hunt for this dress.
PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com: Nothing.
OnceWed.com: Nothing. (Didn't even have Hayley Paige listed!)
BravoBride.com: Nothing
I couldn't find this dress anywhere. I figured I'd head over to the classifieds section and boards on my go-to wedding website, Weddingbee, and see if there'd been any discussion about this dress. In fact, there had (there had been a poll - this dress is a little polarizing!) so on a whim, I asked if anyone knew of a bride who wanted to sell their Guindon on the thread.
And then I waited.