Your Vote Counts

So MaryCatherineFullofGrace's wedding is in two weeks. Two weeks from Sunday to be exact. I have been so caught up in work that I have rather procrastinated finding a dress that would be worthy of the aide de camp role she has entrusted to me. As a bride, she's been very hands off and democratic: she has provided me color guidance preferences only and has left the rest to me. I just need to get to Atlanta on time with a dress.

Today I had to knuckle down and find the dress. I went to Macy's on Herald Square and scoured the dress emporium with stealth focus. I didn't account for the fact that Macy's decided to bestow its benevolence that weekend and hold some kind of mega sale. I also forgot that prom season is in full swing and gaggles of tweens would be vigorously hunting for their perfect formals. Visualize if you will. The line to the dressing rooms was like the merge entry ramp for the George Washington Bridge at rush hour. Even the dressing room attendant was so fed up with the onslaught that she resigned the mantle of order and allowed people to file into the dressing rooms with as many dresses as they could carry. Women teetered in line balancing unwieldly piles of silk and organza like Fifth Avenue Sherpas. Not for the faint of heart.

I had to remain vigilant. I had to leave with some semblance of apparel in hand. Failure was not an option.

I tried on 18 dresses. I started with cocktail length. I tried every varietal of the shade of green MCFoG prescribed, but I soon realized it was a truly crap color on me, giving me a distinctly jaundiced pallor. I moved into the smoky blues; an eminently better color, but Macy's offered limited selection. The supply of the dress we had earmarked on MCFoG's earlier visit was now depleted with a few errant size 4s remaining. I moved on to a longer length which offered more variety.

I waited in line. I wiggled into columns of gowns, all fruitless. By 4 pm, I was nearly at the end of my rope,convinced I would be walking down the aisle as part of my best friend's wedding ceremony in a sundress and flip flops from Old Navy. At that moment, I tried on a dress that seemed to meet all criteria. A slinky smoky blue silk charmeuse. Calvin Klein. Simple lines with some nice detail at the bodice. 50% off the original price of $325. There was one size left and it fit me like it had been tailored for me. I think this dress will do the trick.

Of course, the final decision falls entirely to MCFoG. If she vetoes it,I bought a second dress for her to consider--a silk pink runched column dress which looks downright beauty pageant on the hanger, but dynamite once wallpapered down the body. The runching looks dreadful in photographs, but it looks like deconstructed origami when worn. The pink is pale but this shade wasn't part of MCFoG's original palate. I figured if it got the big raspberry from the bride, it would be perfect for an industry ball at the Waldorf Astoria in December instead. After all, it was on sale.

I'm hoping MCFoG will weigh in on this. It's her wedding and I want her to make the call. But because I value your opinion, what do you think? Yes? No? Keep the tags on and get thee to Macy's return desk? Or is the Old Navy option looking like the better way to go? Let me hear from you.