Sunday, January 07, 2007

With this dress...

This weekend I've been sorting photos from our wedding. And I have to say, damn, we all looked fine! I sort of laugh when I think back to me choosing my wedding dress. I went to the bridal salons surrounded by a gaggle of girls - which was way too much fun. I stared at photo after photo of weddng dresses on the internet. I logged on to bridal message boards. In short, something quite odd happened to me - I became obsessed with "the dress".

But I also agonized over the whole concept - I was so conflicted about wanting a traditional white dress - and about spending so much money on something that I would only be wearing for a day. I was pretty happy when I found a floor sample that fit me, looked great - and was 70% off to boot. It assuaged my guilt about "buying in" to the whole fancy gown deal.

Yesterday I took it to The Bride's Project, whose tag line is "Finding a cost-conscious option for brides, while helping children with cancer". Basically, people (and some salons) donate their wedding dresses, which are then resold to brides who don't mind wearing something that's been used. Or not. Some of the dresses are new... All of the dresses are a steal of a deal.

And all the proceeds go to support Camp Quality, which helps kids affected by cancer go camping, or else to the Canadian Cancer Society or the Breast Cancer Foundation. So the whole thing is totally awesome.

My only regret... has nothing to do with giving away the dress. I loved it, but I do not feel sad that it's gone. Nope, my only regret is that I didn't know about the Bride's Project in time to go shopping there in the first place.

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