The Road to the Cup ~ Wattys 2015

Say "Yes" to the Dress

We walked into the first dress shop and I think the staff almost lost their shit. Though to be fair, I had an unusually large entourage for wedding dress shopping.

"Which one of you is the bride?" Asked a woman who worked there. She was older and looked like she'd seen her fair share of brides and wedding dresses.

"She is... This time," Julia said pointing at me.

"Hi," I smiled.

"What's your name, dear?"

"Erin."

"Okay. I'm Elise. Are all of them with you?" She looked like she was really hoping for the answer would be no.

"Yes," I blushed. I'd tried to convince the team that they didn't all need to come, but they had insisted.

"Okay, right this way please," she led us into the salon. Julia, my mother, Cassie, Taylor, Geno, Marc and I sat down. Everyone else stood around the couches and chairs, as there wasn't enough room for all of us to sit. The woman cleared her throat and turned to the team, "Which one of you is the groom to be?"

"None of us," Sutter said.

"Sidney know it bad luck to see dress before wedding," Geno added.

"Oh," the woman was a bit overwhelmed. "Okay, well, umm, who did you bring with you?"

"My mom, my three bridesmaids and, uh, my team," I pointed at them, "well, minus the captain."

"Okay. And what were you looking for? Besides a wedding dress."

Everyone started answering at once.

"Traditional!"

"Sexy!"

"Girly!"

"Old-fashioned!"

"Hey!" I yelled, "it's my dress, so why don't y'all," I glared at the team, "shut up?" They grumbled and a few of them crossed their arms, but they refrained from making any more comments. I turned to Elise, "I'm open to any style, but I don't like bling very much."

"The ring on your finger says otherwise," Olli muttered and I twisted the huge engagement ring on my finger, blushing.

"Okay, why don't you come with me and I'll grab a few dresses and you can come back and show them?" Elise led me through the store, grabbed several dresses from various racks and took me to a dressing room.

The first dress had a sweetheart neckline and a lower waistline that spread out into a full, ruffled skirt. It was pretty, but I wasn't completely sold yet. I wanted to know what my entourage thought.

I stood in front of them on the little pedestal in front of a very large mirror, feeling like a doll on display. "Well? What do y'all think?" I asked, turning to face them.

"It's cute," Julia said.

"Yeah, I thought so, too," I nodded.

"It's very flattering," my mom added.

"Are you kidding?" Sutter demanded, "It looks like a cake!"

"It's a no," I hurriedly stepped off the pedestal and went back to the changing room to try on another dress. We all agreed that the second and third dresses had too much bling. I tried on a mermaid dress and almost tripped walking out to them. Julia, Cassie, and the guys laughed. Taylor tried really hard to frown and my mom just shook her head, "No mermaid dresses. I will not have my daughter stumbling down the aisle."

"Agreed," I huffed.

We didn't find any dresses there, so we moved to another bridal salon in a different part of Pittsburgh. "We could always take you to Kleinfeld's if you don't find anything in Pittsburgh," my mom suggested.