Words can't express the thrill of watching your daughter pick her Wedding Dress

The birth of a daughter sets the world spinning from the minute the Doctor says "you have a daughter".  Tears of joy, Tears of horror - "oh my goodness what will I do with her hair".  (I was banned from doing hair when she turned 8 - my ponytail was never centred lol).  Having 2 boys first our house was filled with ninja turtles, mini sticks, trucks, these had to make room for barbies, ferbies, barrettes, hair ties, dresses, ruffles.  There were times I'm sure the boys had to try on her headbands, and I'm sure Donatello was dating Barbie at one point in time.  All these stages of their lives moved so fast.  Kindergarten graduation, grade 8 prom, 1st date, 1st kiss (I'm sure she waited for Jay), Captain Morgan made an appearance in her bedroom and then University.  The years flew by.  I thought I was prepared for everything and then came the day they bought a condo and my daughter moved out.  Another few days of tears of happiness and sadness

Life is fairly settled.  Andrew and I are heading off to the Carlson Christmas (without Jim as he is in Buffalo for the Bills game) on Sunday, November 30.  To say we are running a little late would be an understatement.  Just stopping at the LCBO when the phone goes.  It's Rachel.

"Hi Mom, can you pop into the Fyfe's on your way over?

No, sorry honey, we are running way too late.

Well I really think you should!!!

Not going to happen today, we are 30 minutes late already.  What's the big deal?  (oh oh)  Do we have to?

Yes you have to  - JAY PROPOSED TO ME WHEN WE WERE CUTTING DOWN OUR CHRISTMAS TREE"

Yes the trip through the LCBO  was filled with OMG, OMG, tears were flowing and Andrew was staying as far away from me as he could.  Yes Jim already knew, he had had lunch with Jay on the Wednesday and little sneak hadn't told me anything.  We pick up David at the Go Train and off we go.

Anyone who knows Rachel knows that when she has a project to organize, it gets organized and we all follow her lead.  Date was picked, venue was booked all before Christmas.  Cake, flowers, etc all started to fill up her calendar.  January 29 was booked for the DRESS.  So excited.  Rachel booked 2 appointments one for "Sash & Bustle" at 11 am and the famous Kleinfeld at the Bay.  2 totally different experiences.

Jay gladly left to spend the day with his dad.  

I pick up Rachel and Becky and Amy (Jay's mom and sister) and off we head.  Did I mention I was running just a little late :)

Sash and Bustle is a lovely intimate little shop in Leslieville.  Not much bigger than my kitchen and family room with around 100 dresses.  Room for 2 brides and their entourage.  Our consultant was Andrea Dineen one of 2 sisters who own this absolutely charming quaint little boutique filled with lovely little finishing touches.  

Andrea Dineen - absolutely lovely to work with.  She made Rachel's job very easy.  

oh my - tears flowed as I had my first glance at the gown she eventually picked.  

Basically the process works like this, try on 6 to 10 dresses, pick your top 3 or 4, try them on again, pick your top 2.  We then headed to lunch at Joy Bistro on Queen St, a little champagne and then we headed up to Kleinfeld at the Bay.  The New York Kleinfeld is used in the show "Say Yes to the Dress".  

Talk about 2 opposite ends of the spectrum.  Small and intimate to large and bright.  2 brides at a time at Sash and Bustle to what looked like 20 at Kleinfield (with the mirrors making it look like they were everywhere lol).   Dresses ranged from around $1,000 to $15,000++.  Rachel's consultant asked her a few questions before we got started, like her budget, what style she was thinking and then we went out to look through the 700 dresses (only 1/4 of the dresses they have).  

There was a dressing room the size of my family room and then a sitting area with a couch for her cheerleaders :)

Is it an omen, Six is her lucky number.

Klenfield had oodles of accessories to go with all their dresses.  

Drawers and drawers of bling.  Something for everyone.

2 totally different experiences.  Rachel walked out of here with a list of her 3 favourite dresses.  Now to decide.  A long day, exciting, emotional and a little tiring but we had a few hours left in us to go through my 300 pictures.  Yes there was one dress that Rachel kept going back to, zooming in - zooming out.  A quick dinner at Amsterdam Brewery another look at the pictures and she was off to bed by 10.  Did I say earlier how when my daughter has something to do she likes to just do it.  She was on the phone by 8 am trying to get an appointment back at Sash and Bustle to try on her favourite dress.  Even though it is totally the opposite of the dress she had been thinking about for the past year, we knew as soon as we saw her in this one, this was it.  It's first showing will be October 24, 2015 - can't wait.  

One more thing off the list.  Thank you Rachel for letting me share in this wonderful day.  I love you honey.  xoxoxoxo