The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Sixty-Five - Say Yes To the Dress

PART SIXTY-FIVE: SAY YES TO THE DRESS

The next week passed quickly. My guess was that it was because it was fun to get back to regular hockey with the team I loved dearly. That and Andrew Shaw and Brandon Saad were officially in the wedding party along with everyone else who had been talked to already by Patrick and I. With the wedding party officially selected, we both felt like we could get rolling on more wedding planning. I tended to be a procrastinator, but I knew that wouldn’t be acceptable for a wedding, especially not my own, which I had been dreaming about for years. I wanted everything to be perfect, and that couldn’t happen if I waited until the last minute to get things done. Because of that, I decided I would get ahead of schedule when it came to some things, including attire.

I had never been wedding dress shopping with anyone before - I had only seen it on TV shows - but I sure was excited to give it a try for the first time. There are so many aspects of a wedding that can be beautiful. The color scheme (which Patrick and I had decided to change to red and silver since the Blackhawks were such a huge part of both of our lives), the flowers, the venue, the tuxes and bridesmaid dresses were all things that would be looked at carefully and judged by not only me, but everyone attending the wedding. However, everyone knew that the wedding dress was the biggest, most important factor to the bride. It was definitely true for me. I had already looked at plenty of places online and studied different styles and brands of dresses, and I just wanted to put some on. I had an idea of what I wanted - beading and sparkle and a whole lot of dress - but I decided to have an open mind.

“You ready to try on some dresses?” Tess asked on the day of my first bridal appointment.

“You bet I am,” I answered. “Ready, Mom?” My mother, who had come to Chicago specifically for dress shopping, nodded. I grabbed my keys and we headed out the door. We picked up Carly from her apartment and headed to a shop downtown that I had found online. It had good reviews and supposedly had good prices, which my mom was glad to hear. She had graciously offered to buy my dress for me, but I told her I would gladly help her pay when I found an expensive dress, which was usually very typical of me. Either way, I would at least have some help, and that was a relief to me. I got paid well, but I had plenty of other wedding things to pay for besides the dress.

“Hey, we all made it!” Erica Kane laughed as she and her sisters piled out of their own car. They had flown in for the appointment and met us at the boutique. I hugged each of them and we headed into the shop, where we were greeted. The consultant who ended up helping us was a sweetheart. Her name was Mallorie. She looked to be only a couple years older than me, and she was extremely helpful. I introduced her to everyone in the bridal party and she asked me what I was looking for, which was a ball gown, preferably something with a lot of bling. Then she showed us where the different types of dresses were and she let me pick out a few that I wanted to try on. I found a bunch that I liked, even a few mermaid/trumpet styles that Carly had convinced me to try. However, there was one dress that really stood out to me, and I decided I would save it for last, once I got to the dressing room.

Even though I had watched a million episodes of a dozen different wedding shows, I felt like the experience of bridal shopping woul dbe nothing like it was on TV. However, I got into the dressing room and Mallorie was very personable and helped me into the first dress, which was one of Carly’s choices. It had a corset back, so she strapped me in, making it tight so it would show off my curves. I looked into the dressing room mirror and I was amazed at what I saw. I liked trumpet style dresses, I just had never imagined having one for my winter wonderland wedding. But this one was beautiful. It was strapless with a sweetheart neckline. There was elaborate beading that created flowers on the bust exclusively, and the res of the dress was plain white, but the bottom flared out in poofy tulle. Even though the flowers made me feel like it was a spring or summer dress, the fit was great. I actually was excited to go out and show everyone. Mallorie walked out with me and I got up on the pedestal in front of the couch my group had claimed.