The Hunt for "THAT" Dress

Mom and I went dress shopping together last weekend. We went to Lillians in Centerville. That place is alot bigger than it looks. The lady who helped me was super nice and not one bit pushy, just very helpful. I probably tried on about 10 dresses, 2 of which I re-tried on at the end. There is no doubt that ALL of their dresses are very pretty.........HOWEVER........I dont think I am convinced that they have MY dress.

Maybe I have watched that show "Say Yes to the Dress" one too many times. I just picture myself putting on the dress and having the waterworks of tears start up because its THE dress. Ya know what I mean? And I just havent had that happen yet.

My maid of honor (who by the way, is 9+ months pregnant with her first baby) and I are hitting the Cincinnati bridal district on Saturday in hopes of finding "the one". All the while praying that she doesnt go into labor during our hunt. I have appointments at 2 different stores, and there is a third that I would still like to browse while we are there. Of course, I will blog about our experience next week :-)

At least I have a good idea of what I am looking for. Lots of bling (would you expect anything less ;-), strapless, white, pickups, and most likely A-line. Seems simple right?

I actually fell in LOVE with a dress I found online, but I cant seem to find anyplace that has it, of course. One of the places in Cincinnati usually carries that dress, but when I asked if they had it in stock, they told me the sample had been sold, and if I would like for them to bring in another sample dress, it would cost me a whopping 300 big ones. WHAT?? Yeah. Oh, but they would put that money towards the dress IF I bought it. And if I dont like it, then they would put that credit towards another dress. And if I dont want a dress at their store, then I am out $300. In the words of my other best friend and bridesmaid, Nikki......."Homey don't think so!!" LOL

So for now, the hunt for "THAT" dress continues.....

Shady Photographer

Wow, I just realized how long its been since my last post. But you know how it goes, you get caught up in everyday life and forget to write in your journal from time to time. So tonight is the night for me to catch up a bit....

As you know we are spending alot of time searching for the perfect photographer. We have thus far interviewed 5 different people. Now, some of you may think that is over kill, but I happen to think that its very necessary. The pictures will last a lifetime and they are at the top of the list of importance.

This blog in particular is about 2 photographers that we met with. Our experience was an interesting one.....

A few weeks ago we met with.....we'll call him Mat.....on a Wednesday night at Panera. His personality was a tad dry, but his pictures were fantastic! He seemed to have that "eye" for those special moments. He even did an engagement session as part of your package that included a montage put to music. And his prices were spot on. He showed us a paper that we would fill out that was VERY detailed - basically listing all of the specific shots that we would want on the wedding day, so they would not miss any. After meeting this guy, we were not crazy about the dry personality, but we knew his ability and pricing would be hard to beat.

We asked him if he had ever done a wedding at Country Club of the North (which is where our reception is) and he said yes, that he would send me the link that night so I could check it out.

Later that night, just as he said he would, he emailed me a link of photos to the wedding he did at the country club. All very nice pictures.

While I was on the computer that night, I decided to look at more pictures from the photographer that we had scheduled a meeting with the very next day - we will call him Rex. So I went to his website and poked around, and found something very peculiar. Rex had the very same wedding pictures posted on his website that Mat had emailed me a link to on HIS website. HMMMMM.......I'm no einstein but I am pretty darn sure that NO wedding has 2 separate photography companies shooting. The pictures were exactly the same, and each guy had his own watermark on the photos. So who was telling the truth? Who actually shot those pictures?

I decided to send an email to Rex - the guy we hadnt met in person yet. I wanted to see what he had to say about it! I of course mentioned no names, just the fact that someone else was claiming those pictures were his. Rex returned my email the very next day with a pretty clear answer.

You see, Rex has been in the business for 30+ years. Mat? 4 years. Apparently, Mat used to work for Rex's studio. Mat photographed that wedding while working for Rex, so technically, the photos belonged to Rex, but Mat has since gone off on his own and decided to take those pictures with him and now watermark them with his new company logo. Pretty bold right?

Something else he decided to take with him? Remember that very detailed paperwork that Mat showed us that we would fill out so that he wouldnt miss any of the photos that we wanted? That also belonged to Rex. Word for word, it was the same document. We found this out during our face to face meeting with Rex. I did not mention anything to him about Mat using this also.

Mike and I decided not to use Mat's services, even though he is an obviously talented photographer. There is something to be said about someone who is shady about things like that. I have alot of respect for a man who has been in business for himself for over 30 years, and not alot of respect for someone who tried to rip him off. We just decided that if Mat was going to NOT disclose any of those details to us upon our very first meeting with him, who's to say he wouldnt be quite shady with us in other contract and pricing details? Its just not worth the hassle.

So the hunt continues. I have about 3-4 more photographers that I have found online and I am interested in meeting with, then I have promised Mike we will make our decision. As you can imagine, he is pretty tired of this search :-)

Until next time..... :-)