So, one piece of planning I failed to follow up on was how the final acquirement of my dress went! As you may or may not remember, I purchased my dress used from bride I found here on Weddingbee last summer. Last time I wrote, I was one week out from picking up my dress!
Mr. Llama - time to go away now!!
Part of our contract stated that she would send me a picture of the dress after the wedding took place - just to prove that it wasn't in horrible condition or anything. I assumed that she would send me a picture on Sunday, before packaging it up, but she actually sent me a photo at around midnight on the night of her wedding! Which was such a lovely surprise.
The next day, I received another text depicting the dress "in transit" (also part of our contract), which was the impetus for me to send another chunk of money via PayPal to my Seller:
It turned out that the very next day was what worked best for both of us. The final payment was to be paid to the Transporter in cash upon 'delivery' of the dress, so off I went with an envelope of cash and a fast pulse to go pick up my dress! Finally! The whole thing took about 30 seconds - since parking is a pain in the neck where she lives, she had already come down to the lobby with the dress, I simply put on my hazards, she gave me the dress, and I handed her the cash! Voila! There was part of me that thought I should really do a closer examination of the dress before handing off the cash, but honestly - I knew everything was going to be fine at that point.
I got home, and of course immediately put it on to see how it looked! I don't have a great full length mirror, but I sent this photo to my mom and nearest and dearest lady friends to show them the final success of my long dress purchase story:
It was such a surreal feeling...less than 48 hours before, this dress was on another bride at her own wedding. Now, it was in my hands, and all mine! The fit was pretty damn good - would need some taking in in the bust and taking up in the hem, but truly minimal stuff.
My quest was over! We had signed the contract about 5 months prior, and the wait was finally done - no more mystery. I had gotten my dream dress for half the price. The risk was SO worth it.
Oh, and did I mention that right around this time, I was contacted by another bride on Weddingbee, asking if I was interested in selling my dress? ;) Well, I sure was! (Actually - by two people! So I'm optimistic that ONE of them will work out.) So now I get to experience this from the other side. I'm a pro now, right??
And so, the story continues...