The Wedding Journey Continues: Bridesmaid Dress Shopping

Little did we know that when we welcomed Rachel into our arms 26 years ago that it would open up the door to a group of giggly squealing little girls who have turned into the most amazing young ladies.  Beautiful, Charming, Funny, Sweet and oh so confident - what a generation of women this generation is.  

The day starts off bright and early.  I was expected to be there by 8:50, hello it's Saturday.  Mom wasn't involved in scheduling, My camera and I were just along for the ride.  And what a wonderful ride it was.  We started off at Rachel's with latte's and a light breakfast (berries, yogurt and muffins - yum).  My arrival time of 8:50 was with a strict admonition from my daughter of "DON'T BE LATE".  Seriously I never push the limit.  All I know is I had to beat Annie there :).  Which I successfully did.  

Rachel has known Annie since the Aurora United Church's nursery school program and then proceeded through kindergarten to Grade 12 together.  Annie went off to Michigan to school while luckily for me Rachel stayed in Ontario.  In 2012 we traveled down to Michigan to celebrate Annie's wedding to a lovely young man (Jordan) she met in school and today before we went off bridesmaid dress shopping the girls had a little baby shower for her.  So exciting for everyone and so enjoyable being a part of this little celebration.  

Our first stop is "Best for Bride" on Dundas St in Etobicoke.  Shoes off, slippers on and off we go downstairs where there are wall to wall dresses.  The young lady asks Rachel if she is looking for anything specific re designer, dress and colour.  (FYI - the dress and the colour are not in this blog you will have to wait for wedding day pictures for that.)  Rachel then picks through designer colours to find the exact shade she was looking for and off the girls go.  

Like seriously, how fun, pick a dress and put it on.  The girls were off and running.  

 The Top 3 dresses were picked and then each girl had a chance trying them on.  All the dresses were way to large so the clothes pins came in handy.  You also had to picture it in the colour you wanted as there were only certain colours in each style.

  Yes I had to try a MOB (mother of the bride) dress on and no this isn't THE ONE.  But it was fun, now if it was a spring wedding - maybe LOL.  

  

 LOL, do females ever get together without taking a foot picture.  

 Off to a quick lunch at Magic Oven. (best pizza everywhere thank goodness I wasn't trying any more dresses on :))  Everyone was a little hungry, it's hard work trying on dresses.  I should have known better too, here I am expecting them to order a light white pinot, but nope - pints of beer all around lol.

The next and last stop was "Jealous Bridesmaids" on Bloor Street.  Kathleen had to head off to work so we were down to 5 models.

Dress off, dresses passed around and dresses on.  Annie and Rachel were tough judges, with lots of laughs and critiquing.

The list was whittled down and off the girls went back to Rachel's.  I headed home for a nap, this is hard work.  I gave them my memory card and I am sure there was a fair bit of laughter as they went through all the dresses over a bottle or two of champagne.

Thank you ladies for letting me be a part of your day.  Thank you ladies (Annie, Amy, Bre, Claire, Elise, Kathleen and Stephanie) for being such good friends to Rachel.  Laughter, hugs and so much positive energy from 8 beautiful successful young ladies - it made my day.