I knew I wanted champagne. I was in my late 30’s and it was my first wedding. My husband and I had been together for four years and I just didn’t feel white was a color that was for me. I looked at cream or off-white dresses online and that is when I saw a champagne colored dress and I fell in love with that color. It wasn’t the dress I wanted though, but it was the color. So it was decided (well by me mostly but I like to believe my husband also had a little bit of a say) that our colors were going to be champagne and amethyst. It was to be a Victorian Western themed wedding.
A few days later, my husband and I went to the thrift store to browse around and see if there was anything good worth getting. As I was walking up to the door, I saw a dress in the window. It was the exact color I was looking for. I got excited to show my husband the color I was wanting for my dress and he opened up the door and I stepped in. I had thought to just show him the color but when I saw the dress my breath stopped. It wasn’t just a dress, it was a wedding dress. And it was perfect! The correct color and it had the little buttons down the train that gave it a definite Victorian look. It had little clear beads around the bodice and a V-shaped waistline just like I wanted. The only thing it was missing was the laced up back I was also wanting. I had been looking online for dresses for days and knew each part of the dress I wanted. I could not believe my luck. But it was at a thrift store! Who buys their wedding dress at a thrift store? I asked the clerk what she knew about the dress. She said a lady brought it in and had it custom made for her wedding but it was never worn because they never got married. I decided to try it on. It was a bit small through the shoulders but otherwise fit me perfectly. My husband thought it was beautiful so we talked about getting a seamstress to adjust the top of the dress and add the loops in the back to lace it up. They only wanted $200 for the dress. I knew I didn’t want to spend more than $500 for a dress, so this was a very attractive offer. But I wanted to think it over to make sure, after all this was my wedding dress. I asked the clerk to hold it for me overnight and she agreed.
My husband and I went home and later that night I found $200 on the dresser sitting out. I asked my husband what it was for and he said, “For your wedding dress. I really think you should go back and get it.” That cinched it for me. Not only was it as close to perfect as it was going to get unless I had one custom made myself, but my husband loved it on me and that meant more than anything else. It was just meant to be.
The other wonderful thing about the dress is our town has a Victorian Christmas event every year. I had the train turned into a bustle, had a matching bonnet made and wear it to the Victorian event, so it has paid for itself over and over again. The thing I realized was that one should always keep your eyes wide open, you will never know when or where perfect can be found.