The story of the dress

Well, yes, this is a view of the "mother of the bride" dress that I wore for Mary Beth and Jon's wedding a couple of weeks ago. This is a photo I took soon after I bought it. It has been a point of a lot of emotion for me over the last week and I thought the good ole blog was a good place for me to vent some of that.

For those of you that are closest to me, you know that my weight has been a point of concern for me for years. I have made efforts at losing it, especially this summer when I knew the wedding was coming in October. I even delayed purchasing this dress in hopes that a lower dress size would eventually be what I would be hunting for! I even convinced the doctor that I needed to make a change in medication that I thought might be making me be resistant to losing weight. Faithful workouts to the fitness center and watching my diet helped to lose a few pounds and maybe an inch or two. I did feel better and had more energy, but the BIG weight loss just didn't happen.

My shopping for the perfect "M.O.B." dress took me to several dress shops to find a lot of dresses that all seemed to look a lot alike: matronly looking dresses with sheer jackets over them. Just not my kind of dress. I decided to go to Rogers and look one day and Mary Beth met me. She pulled dresses while I tried them on in the dressing room. It was a fun afternoon while I played the role that she is usually in! (how many hours have I spent outside of dressing rooms waiting on those girls???) She found this coppery skirt with a separate top that we both liked a lot but they didn't have the top in my size....but Mary Beth found out they could order it. So it was done!

The next plan was to get some "spanx" that the girls said they are getting now. Sort of funny because they are the ones that really do not need them. With their cute little figures, they have not a clue about having to suck in and hold in parts that won't hold in any longer! So...I bought a pair that fit from below my bra down almost to my knees, thinking that should cover the vital parts!

I got home and took them out of the package to show them to Steve. I held up the little pantyhose looking thing that was about 5 inches wide and 10 inches long, looking like it could fit a doll. He asks the honest question (that he's so good at and that always get him in trouble!) and said "Did you buy the right size?" Of course I did. Believe it or not, he's still alive today.

Anyway, back to the reason for this blog....I got dressed on wedding day feeling like I looked pretty good. I was rushed as most moms are on that day after getting everyone else ready and you put yourself last and all. But, I really did feel like it was a good choice for me and that it was a "different" dress and the color was a good choice with my haircolor, etc....and so off I went.

Last week I got the photos back from Celia Kay. When Steve and I started going through them I thought I was going to be sick! Either the lighting hit the skirt funny or the spanx were not doing their JOB, but whatever the deal was (it couldn't be that I am just simply overweight!), most of the photos that show me full length were not flattering at all. I know I'm often very hard on myself, as most of us are. But truly, the photos of me look terrible! I'm having her work on them as we speak! I've checked with those closest to me and they have assured me I didn't look like the photos in real life...if I did then they are forever fired from "I promise to tell you if you will promise to tell me" duty. That's what people that love you do. But no one did.

So...I suppose I have had enough days now to just think that I looked okay and it must have been the sunlight or the spanx or something else.

The important thing is that I have learned that I have a lot of people that really love me and whether I'm perfect or plump, they still love me. That's all that matters in life.