Bliss

So many months ago, I first told you about my dress. A quick synopsis - I never went dress shopping, my girlfriends coerced me into one David's Bridal dress that I didn't like, I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on a dress, but I love designer dresses.

Enter - Church Street Bridal and their shipment of dresses from Kleinfelds last January.

I was simply perusing the selection on my phone during my lunch break when I saw "the one."  I knew immediately it was my dress, and bought it online without ever having tried it on, or trying on any styles like it. Lucky for me, I LOVE my dress.

Finally! Here are the pictures from CSB's Facebook album that I totally fell in love with:

Front / Photo via Church Street Bridal 

Front Detail / Photo via Church Street Bridal (photo no longer online)

Back / Photo via Church Street Bridal (photo no longer online)

What's not to love here? This is a Monique Lhuillier Bliss dress (style 0915), originally marked at Kleinfelds at $4000.  Church Street Bridal got this baby to me for a mere $500, with $50 shipping.  I know it's from their original Bliss collection, not a current one, which is why Kleinfelds was getting rid of their samples - but it was in PERFECT condition.  No tears, stains, dirt or anything.  It even still had the tags still intact. This dress was as good as new, and I felt so beautiful in it. It's a size 20, and I typically wear between a 16/18 street size, so a size up was perfect. It fit more like a size 14 dress when I tried it on at home, but the place I get my alterations done is a godsend and worked some magic on my lovely dress.

I did almost all my fittings by myself (yep, like shopping alone - I prefer to try on dresses and have them fitted in front of psuedo-strangers alone as well.) My mom did come to the final fitting, but I haven't seen any pictures if she took any at all. Sadly, there are no pictures of me in the dress before the wedding, but here are a few of me in it the day of:

First bridal portrait of the day - courtesy of Bridesmaid Debbie

Posing with my parents - courtesy of Bridesmaid Debbie 

Overall, I am so happy that I trusted my gut and bought this dress impulsively online without ever seeing it in person or trying it on. I am also very, very lucky that it all worked out so easily and I had very little dress drama to contend with.

There you have it, guys. Sorry to keep you in the dark on my dress for so long, Mr. Ly does occasionally read the blog and I didn't want to chance him seeing it before the wedding day! Besides I wouldn't have had any pictures to show you beside the ones on the mannequin.

Anyone else get really lucky on their dress search?