I went dress shopping for the first time yesterday......... SQUEEE!

I fell in love with the very first dress I tried on. My love of the dress was that it was exactly what I wanted for a beach wedding dress.......except that it was missing all the adornments (very plain) not sure If I want to spend money to bling it out or dress it up, but I still have months to find the "ONE"

So my questions to the ladies who have their dresses how did you know that it was the "ONE" for you?

Great question! I'm still deciding. I started looking last year and have been a few times this year but nothing has really made me swoon.

The ones I automatically love are way out of my price range and the ones that are "maybe's" are ones that look nice on me but don't exactly make me super excited.

I guess I'm destined to be one of those brides that doesn't "love" their dress. I'm just torn between what I like in regular clothes - retro/vintage and the general feel of the wedding "whimsical/romantic" so I think that's why I'm so torn and why all of the "maybe's" are evenly split between those 2 categories. *sigh*

Pixiedust: I thought with your Disney wedding you'd definitely have to go for a "Cinderella dress"... :)  Have you decided against ballgown style?

As for knowing if it is "the dress" I don't know... When I tried on mine I really did like it, the price was excellent and I think I was just so relieved that I wouldn't have to keep looking anymore - I hate trying on fancy clothes...lol.

I thought I knew what I wanted: tight, long, little cap-sleeves -I am slim with NO hips so when I actually tried on those types of dresses I looked like a little boy! The dress I bought was from David's Bridal. http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?langId=-1&catalogId=10051&sto reId=10052&catentryId=6097269

it was maybe the 4th or 5th dress I tried on... the train is perfect for an outdoor wedding, not too long. It's simple but elegant. The strapless top makes my non-existant chest look better (lol) and its slim at the waist, slightly A-line so I look like I have hips! The bottom has 3 layers of lace, which sounds weird but it's really pretty. :) I loved it and kept wanting to try it on again and again! Every dress I tried on I would critique, this was the only dress that there was NOTHING I wanted to change.

Honestly I thought I was never going to find "the one" because I liked so many dresses!  I figured I would just pick one that I liked well enough and be done.  Then I put on my dress and fell in love!  I was so surprised that I felt that way because I thought that I would end up with a dress with ruching or lace but I fell in love with a tulle gown!

My dress is the first one I tried on. I knew instantly, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't because of the excitement of trying on wedding dresses. I tried on about 5 more and then went back the first (my dress). I just felt like a bride and I felt the most beautiful in it.

I had tried on so many dresses, but either wasn't completely sold on them or they were out of my price range. I knew I wanted something different and funky. The moment one of my bridesmaids pointed out my dress, I knew it was the one!

Keep on going, the dress is out there! My advice is don't try on too many in one trip, or else you will get overwhelmed!!

I knew my dress when I seen it because it was very casual and light. I can't wait to recieve it....tomorrow at 7:30pm can't come fast enough.

When I tried it on... it left me speechless..... I was just floored and didn't want to take it off or stop staring at it on from every angle! lol

Soon2B - Actually I purposely wanted to go against ballgowns because I'm petite and didn't want to be swallowed up by a dress. Plus, with where we're getting married, it seemed to me that a ballgown and princess fluff was too expected.

I ended up getting my dress last week after a VERY lengthy dress hunting journey (almost two years, about a dozen stores from the Valley all the way down to the OC and I think almost 80 gowns tried on). I didn't get a "the one" feeling when I first tried it on. As a matter a fact, I probably ignored it on the website. If it wasn't on the mannequin, I wouldn't have even looked it's way. I knew it was pretty and I liked the way it looked (the material) but was apprehensive because of the cost and the shape (I really didn't think I could pull off a mermaid style). I ended up going to two more shops, saw that same dress, tried it on and sort of decided that it was the best out of all the ones I had tried on and since I was coming up on my own "must-buy-a-dress-now-deadline", I bit the bullet and ordered the gown at the first store I  had seen it in. I'm beyond relieved to have that ordeal overwith! lol