Stop. Cactus time.

So, a couple weeks before I found out that Saja bridal had come to Los Angeles, I made plans to tag along with the beau’s rugby team the weekend they played Las Vegas.*

That was this past weekend.

Vegas has a, how should I put this. A reputation.** Mention you’re going to Vegas and people regard you with a knowing grin. Yeah, Vegas. Sleaze and excess. I know where you’re going to be at 7:00am this Saturday, and it’s not going to be pretty.

This was not one of those weekends.

To be fair, we did visit the strip. We did stay out a little late on Friday night (1:30 a.m.-ish?). I did, technically, gamble (one dollar lost to the slot machines!). But we only stayed one night. At a Hampton Inn south of the airport. The Vegas “experience” it was not.

Which is fine with me, because I was happy just to wander around with my cameras taking pictures. I was equally delighted to be reminded of what I like most about Vegas:

  1. You can walk down the street while drinking booze.
  2. The booze. You can drink it in the street.

The booze. I has it.

So in the midst of the walking around and drinking and watching rugby, I had an appointment to try on dresses. Now, I don’t know about you guys, but to me, it seems like driving six hours just to check out a particular line of dresses should pretty much guarantee your absolute failure. Especially since I’d already tried on some light and airy Saja-esque dresses at Jenny Yoo, and they’d hated me. I was fully expecting to walk out of this store disappointed.

Turns out I was pleasantly surprised.

By the end of the first round, I had narrowed my favorites*** down to a mix of five Saja and Alix & Kelly dresses. By the end of the second round, I’d narrowed it down to two.

I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of myself wearing the two dresses in question. This wasn’t so much a store policy as it was a Saja policy. Which: Dear Saja, boooooo. So instead, here are some pictures from the Saja Wedding website of a dewy, stick-thin, Precious-Moments-eyes chick who does not remotely look like me wearing the dresses:

This was the one I’d liked the best before I even got inside the store. Love the v-shaped front and back. Can’t believe it actually worked on me.

Proof positive of why you should try on anything and everything: I pretty much ignored this dress online, thinking that the front was too boring and the back was too weird. Then I put it on, and it was awesome.

I really liked these dresses. I actually walked around the store looking in each mirror. And smiling. No, it wasn’t love, or a teary recognition of my dress destiny. But these are the first dresses I could actually see myself wearing. Here’s the thing, though. They are each $790. Which makes them:

  1. That much harder to choose between.
  2. Expensive as shit.

However! I love it when there’s a however. The first dress up there? Is available in a bridesmaid version. For about half the cost, and in way more color options. Now, since the Las Vegas store doesn’t currently carry Saja bridesmaid dresses, I couldn’t try it on. So here’s what I need to figure out:

  1. What kind of material the bridesmaid dresses are made of (it’s gotta be made out of a heavier, scratchier stuff than the chiffon of the bridal line).
  2. Whether that material is a dealbreaker.
  3. What drink I should have next.
  4. Whether I am relying on lists for humorous effect entirely too much in this post.

The part of me that’s tempted to throw money at problems to make them go away wants to just buy one of these dresses and be done with it. But the part of me that’s like AUGH BUDGET is busy tying the other part to a chair and duct-taping her mouth. Since it takes only four weeks for a Saja order to be fulfilled, time is on my side. I’m going to take that time and poke around some more. See how I really feel about it all.

Regardless of what happens, I feel a happy ending coming on.

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* Before Saja came to the Bella Bridesmaid in L.A., the closest stores that carried it were in the Bay Area and Las Vegas. Which… awesome. I get to choose between a five hour drive and a six hour drive!

** I understand this news will come as a surprise, but just hear me out.

*** I never even had favorites before! How exciting!