Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress

Let’s get this over with straight up: I am buying  a wedding dress without ever trying it on. Actually, as I mentioned in a previous post, I have only tried on ONE dress since being engaged.

Well, Dani, don’t Koreans get married? Yes, of course they do. Can’t you try on dresses in Korea? The answer is simply, no. Have you ever seen a Korean woman? 99.9% of them are the size of one of my thighs, no joke! I have a hard enough time trying to find shirts large enough for my chest, let alone pants that fit my hips, let alone a wedding dress! Korea is one of the slimmest countries in the world, with just over 3% of the population obese. This is changing (with the spread of western fast food chains and Pizza Huts), but still. You are lucky if you can find a pant size in this country above an 8, most stores don’t carry anything larger than a 6. 

This leaves me (a size 12-14) in quite a predicament. Do I leave one of the most important decisions of my wedding day to the three weeks before the wedding? Heck no. 

Enter my solution: Vietnam.

After scouring the internet for weeks, I finally found a small wedding boutique in Ho Chi Minh City that is making my dress. The co-owner, Quyen, is FANTASTIC and spends half of her time living in Rhode Island and the other half in Vietnam. Her sister runs the operation when she’s not there. We’ve been talking for the past 6 months about the dress, and I am happy to say that I JUST put the order in to have it made last week!

Dani, are you friggin’ nuts? Have you gone bat-poop crazy? No, I haven’t. I actually feel REALLY good about my decision. Like I said, I am a tomboy and as such I was never swayed one way or the other when it came to dresses. I knew an A-line dress would look the best on my figure, and so I spent some time researching fabrics and styles. Quyen came up with some sketches and BAM! Dress decided. 

The best part of this whole situation is that my mother will be flying to Vietnam to meet me in January! The two of us are going to spend a week getting adjustments made and enjoying southern Vietnam. After that, we’ll head to Thailand to meet up with Matt and continue our vacation chillin’ on the beaches in southern Thailand. Am I super excited? YES. Almost 4  weeks to go before I try on my wedding dress!

My mom will take the dress back with her to the States and unfortunately I won’t see it again (only through Skype) until the end of July. Oh well, you can’t have it all! Flexibility is key when planning a wedding like the one we’re having. I am just so blessed to have found Quyen in Vietnam and for my mother to make the big trip (by herself, on three different flights!) to be with me and support me. 

When Quyen sends me a picture of the dress I’ll be sure to post! :)