custom dress

"I got married five years ago in a dress that I found two weeks before my wedding. I was 23 and living at home; the entire ordeal was essentially a party that my parents were throwing for themselves, but at which I would be the guest of honor. I served exactly no purpose throughout the planning process, but graciously elected to find my dress. It was the single responsibility I maintained. Two weeks before the wedding, my mom marched into my room with a thick-ass folder titled “Leandra’s wedding” and asked when she could see the dress. I had an idea of what I wanted: something delicate and light at the top that would explode into layers and layers of tulle around mid-thigh. I wanted to wear a leather jacket over the dress. There would be a flower crown (It was 2012! This was still a novel idea back then!), and so many gold necklaces. Technically, I did not have a dress yet. I told this to my mom, who proceeded to throw her folder at me, papers flying everywhere. “Fine! You deal with your wedding,” she shrieked, which seemed like such a disproportionate reaction to my response, but I recognize that she’d been busting her ass for months to plan this wedding when all I had to do was find a freaking dress, which I didn’t.