The Little White Dress

The search has begun for THE dress. The dress to end all dresses. The one time in your life you can really look like a fairy-tale princess and instead of furrowing brows of bemusement, you get nods of approval and the occasional gasp of awe. 

They say you know THE DRESS as soon as you put it on, but as with THE ONE, I don't really believe in that stuff. Odds are, I'll probably get too frustrated with the many choices and limited budget and end up picking something that "will do." In all honestly, my dream dress would be a flowing Elie Saab number with floral appliques or a Reem Acra beaded cap sleeve dream....But alas, the thousands-of-dollars price tag is enough for me to know it is not for this lifetime, so anything else would probably simply have to "do."

Luckily for me, I'm skipping the next few rungs of the dress ladder down past those poofy bridal gowns synonymous with tying the knot. I really have no interest in looking like a fairy-tale princess. I'd rather use this as an excuse to buy a pretty dress I could wear again. Also, I find those bridal salons to be quite intimidating. So, I have started the dress hunt at a little Montreal boutique called Boutique 1861, where pretty abounds. This is my kinda place! Retro-inspired pieces, lovely special-occasion dresses that aren't your typical taffeta gowns reminiscent of traditional prom dresses, and a collection of little white dresses that could make for very unique and affordable wedding dresses.

Here are just some of the dresses I ended up trying on. What do you guys think?