November
CAMDEN KENT
"I love you so much, Cam, but...this one makes you look like you're wearing a cupcake, and not in a good way," Lucy shamelessly pointed out, and it made me laugh the same way it made Molly and Gemma laugh. Anne was the only one who tried to needlessly defend me.
"No, it's definitely too much," I fluffed out the already puffy skirt.
"That's alright," the sales associate chuckled and reached her hand out to me, "let's try one of the others."
Happily, I stepped off of the low podium to follow her back into the dressing room that really was as big as a room. She helped me by undoing the buttons looped together down my back, and I carefully stepped out of the gown to stand there in basic white lingerie.
I already knew I wasn't really going to like the next one I shimmied into as I realized that it was more of a mermaid style than I originally thought. It looked different on the hanger, but I really only picked it for the beading detail.
Either way, I walked out to show everyone, shaking my head with a scrunched-up nose from the effort it took to step normally. The last thing I wanted, on my own wedding day, was to feel like I couldn't walk.
"You don't like it?" Molly pouted. "But your curves look insane."
"It's kind of hard to walk in," I inspected myself in the mirror. It did look good on me, I'll admit that, but Gemma confirmed my thoughts and said that I shouldn't wear anything that I don't feel completely comfortable in.
So, for the fifth time, the sales associate took me back to the dressing room where two dresses remained. I would have felt bad for taking up all her time if I wasn't about to pay so much for a dress that I'll wear once. Actually, if Harry wasn't about to pay so much for a dress that I'll wear once.
I did have all my savings still in my account so I was planning to buy something for just a few hundred pounds, but he insisted on paying when he shoved me out of the house with his credit card earlier.
"Oh, wow," the associate said, and it honestly seemed like she was just speaking a subconscious thought out loud with the way she mumbled it. She didn't gasp and go over the top with a reaction like she did with all the other ones that I didn't like.
"Yeah?" I turned to her and saw that her carefully executed brows were raised as she nodded.
"This is the best one so far, certainly," she confirmed.
I inhaled as I gave myself a good, long, hard look in the well-lit mirror. The neckline was rather conservative where it stopped just below my collarbones, but the back was completely exposed to just before the base of my spine. Knowing that I'm always cold, the long sleeves were practical, but also made beautifully with lace embroidered in the mesh fabric.
The ivory material naturally cinched at my waist to give it the right shape, but the skirt otherwise flowed out just a bit by my sides, and the train landed maybe an extra three feet behind me as the associate spread it out for me to see the full picture.
My head lulled to the side as the two of us stood in complete silence, and I started to smile at the same time that my eyes started to water. It wasn't so much as a reaction to how I looked, I don't think, but maybe it was just hitting me that I was even in a bridal store for myself.
As a kid, I didn't really ever picture a wedding because I didn't want to get married. From what I understood, marriage was just an excuse to have one person to mutually hate for the rest of your life. A husband was a cheater, and a liar, and used a wife for convenience. I wanted no part of it, and now all I wanted was to take this gorgeous dress off and go home to my fiancé because I missed him after three hours.
