An Ode to Cindy from Michigan

Searching for the right wedding dress is not a simple task. I have heard rumours of girls putting a dress on and just "knowing"... well it hasn't been that simple for me and there is one reason for that and one reason alone: THE INTERNET. I think the Internet may be the worst invention for weddings since the credit card - and this is not an exaggeration. Think about this for a minute - instead of being limited and therefore content with the selection available in your local stores every bride now settles into her computer chair and starts GOOGLING (another problem as the solution to everything is, "oh I'll figure that out, I'll just Google it). What happens when one starts Googling and surfing the web? Well one finds a beautiful dress and naturally "assumes" that it will not be difficult to find locally, regionally, provincially, nationally or internationally... therefore today's blog is my tale of trying to find the dress of my dreams (anyone up for a short jaunt to Korea or perhaps Peru?).

My initial discovery that this wasn't going to be as easy as I imagined came to light when I went to try on dresses for the first time with my mom and sister. We arrived at the bridal store picture in hand and were all set to start trying dresses on - SPECIFICALLY THE ONE I HAD FOUND ON THE INTERNET... but nope, I found out that while they may carry the designer of the dress they do not carry the actual dress itself... urgh and sigh. That being said I tried on a number of dresses, several of which were beautiful and left with a lot to think about. The problem was that I couldn't forget about the dress, THE dress that I had found on the Internet. I just kept wondering what it would look like... would it be similar, would I look awful, would it make my mom start to cry when she saw me wearing it, would I feel like a million bucks, would Brandon fall in love with me a little more when he saw it?

A Shopping We Will Go...

The good ole days (before finding out that dress shopping is not quite that simple)

Therefore, I printed off the listing of every store in Ontario carrying this designer and started phoning... from Thunder Bay to Renfrew, Ontario I called. Some stores were really helpful, some were plain rude, and others well... we will just leave it at that. Finally, I exhausted all of Ontario and was traumatized to realize that while all were willing to order the dress for me; none had the dress in stock so I could try it on before spending a nice car down payment to see what it looked like. Who buys a dress without trying it on?


My next step was to print off the listings for New York State and Pennsylvania - I assumed this would be a synch! So once more I started calling, I called about 60% of New York and about 40% of Pennsylvania and was about to give up my will to use a telephone (blackened finger tips from dialling, broken nails, inner ear damage, etc...; I am sure you can imagine the sorry state I was in), until... I hit upon a winner. Please find below a short re-creation of my conversation (please note that this is relatively accurate and not been altered for publication):

Marie: "Hi, do you have x* dress, by Maggie Sottero in stock?"


Wanda (sales girl): "Ummmm... let me go check" [puts phone down and I can hear ruffling of paper and things moving around], "no we don't have it, but has anyone told you about "Maggie on Tour?"


Marie: "Maggie on Tour? No, I have only called 120 dress stores why would anyone mention MAGGIE ON TOUR to me?


Wanda: "Well Sugar [yes I was called sugar, ironic no?] it works like this, you pay between $50 to $100 and Maggie sends the dress to the store in question for you to try on, if you like it order one in your size, colour etc... And basically Bob's your uncle [well he's actually my father, but who am I to criticize]".


Marie: "YEAH! Do they offer this in Canada?"


Wanda: "Errr no..."


Marie: "Figures - Pennsylvania here I come!" [not Hollywood, but it works anyway].

So I hang up the phone and begin to make plans for the great sojourn as I like to call it. We set a date to go and everything is just sailing along until Wanda calls back and says that the dress is backordered until sometime in 2015 (well that might be an exaggeration) and beyond that the sample size is about the right size for a Barbie (and Barbie I am not). So where does that leave me you ask? Basically back at square zero, but with a date set to go to Pennsylvania... what's a girl to do?


Well the girl mopes for a few days, contemplates giving up, but then suddenly gets a renewed sense of direction. So I started making more calls and more calls. I started calling stores in Montreal to see if perhaps our neighbours to the East might open more doors for me, but alas... they did not. In fact I felt a little slammed shut on a few time; the worst phone call thus far was with one of those stores. The woman answered the phone with this huge string of French (still no idea what she said) and I trying to be polite said "parlez-vous Anglais?". To which her reply was another string of French, from which I discerned that no she does not speak English, nor why would she want to. Nonetheless, I gave it the old college try and started to explain in my own halted grade eleven French what I was looking for... to be fair there were a lot of ummms, errrs, and a few quietly mumbled swear words in the sentence as I tried to communicate in broken sentences. This lasted for about 3-4 minutes until the woman finally interrupted me and made a statement I will remember for the rest of my life: "this is going to take forever, what is it that you are looking for?" In perfect, unaccented English - SERIOUSLY!

Brandon and I during our recent Montreal trip...

see no hard feelings (well kind of!)

Obviously I didn't find what I was looking for at that store, nor did the rest of Quebec pan out, but I still had two things on my side - desperation and a picture from the Internet of a beautiful dress... (DARN YOU INTERNET!). So I again took a day off to ponder my situation and then felt a renewed sense of inspiration as I hadn't called ALL of New York State or Pennsylvania and there are a couple of other states close at hand, Michigan for example. There is still hope. 

So I began once more. However this time I was assisted by my delightful co-worker Denise who felt equally (?) determined to find this dress for me. So we began again and again and again. We kept the drive going and on the GO Train we started making more calls from our luxurious seat in the stair case practically sitting on top of each other (Denise was the scribe and I was the caller). She dictated phone numbers and we dialled and dialled. From Ann Arbour to the moon we kept searching until we struck gold with Cindy** from Michigan.


Now before I explain about striking gold I would like to detail the reason I did not call the designer directly to see if they could help - I couldn't get the telephone number. Apparently the way it works is the dress stores are the only ones really able to call designers directly as I guess (for reasons such as this) the designer does not want to be inundated with calls (some customer service!). I had heard about this legendary number in hushed whispers and Morse Code, but never actually had heard it - it was as mysterious as the Loch Ness Monster, but perhaps more elusive... until Cindy entered my life.


I explained my situation to Cindy and with Denise and I holding baited breaths along with the rest of our growing GO Train audience she repeated another sentence I will remember for the rest of my life, "ummm... I am not supposed to tell you this and don't tell anyone where you got it, but... call 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX and they can tell you who has the dress - JUST DON'T TELL ANYONE OR I WILL GET FIRED!" - She "deep throated" out the location of my future wedding dress! I love you Cindy!


EUREKA!


Obviously I accepted the number graciously and with trembling hands dialled. I was connected and within 5 minutes had the location of the dress. I called and they were delightful. So as a result of my family's great patience with my nuttiness (my dad Googled it and found a telephone number, but it is in Peru, so I think I would rather avoid calling that...), Denise's dedication, Mallory's willingness to drive to PA, Mom and Megan's efforts to find similar dresses, and my own Internet searches (cough, cough) and of course my forth coming long distance bill, I am heading to Pennsylvania to see the dress. Mind you, knowing my luck I will get there and it will be purple, size 30 and a pant suit, but we will cross that bridge when and if it comes.

How the men in my life felt about my search!

(FYI This is Amandeep (my sister's beau) and Brandon having their heads knocked in

by none other than my Dad... that's familial love if I have ever seen it before)

I guess I can thank the Internet for one thing... this story (but that is all we can thank the Internet for mind you). I will keep you posted on the search and our trip... hopefully I will return with a dress that makes me smile, my mom weep and Brandon fall in love with me a little more than he has already... keep your fingers crossed!

* Cannot provide dress name as do not want to ruin wedding day by virtue of the Googleability of the dress... ARRRRGGGGH THE INTERNET (eek now I sound like a Stratfordian Pirate...).
** Name has been altered to protect identity as per agreement made in desperation.