Shoppnig for the Little White Dress

Hive, I don't think I have adequately conveyed how much I love Mink Mink, Marc's niece and our flower girl.  She is one of the sweetest, cutest, charming little girls I have ever met.  I'm tempted to tell you a dozen stories about times she's had us howling with laughter or delighted us with her thoughtfulness.  She's only four years old and I'm already imagining what an amazing person she is going to be.

Two weeks ago, Marc's mother, sister, and I went shopping for a dress for Marc's mother to wear for the wedding.  Marc's sister brought around her two children, who are both going to be part of the wedding party.  The Minis were complete angels during the shopping trip, possibly due to the entertainment provided by the ipad.  When we finished, with two outfits purchased for Marc's mother, we headed home.  There was a bridal shop on the way and we decided to stop in for a quick visit to see if there were any flower girl dresses for Mini Mink to wear.

It's prom season here, so the shop was full of teenagers looking at party dresses.  A sales person showed us to the flower girl dresses in the back of the store and I quickly picked out two that I thought would work with our colors.  Mini Mink made a beeline for the jewelry as we headed for the dressing room and declared that she'd also like to wear earrings and a tiara.  At four years old, she is already quite a little shopper.

We put the first dress on her and she clasped her hands over her heart in delight.  It was adorable, but not the kind of dress I wanted for her.

Mini Mink didn't really like the dress after a few minutes and decided to slip it off...while we were in front of the huge mirrors along with the prom shoppers.  That was an interesting moment.

The second dress was more like what I had imaged for Mink Mink.  It was cream, had some pouf, and the cutest little ruffles on the cap sleeve and hem.  When Mini Mink saw herself in the mirrors, she started dancing.  The pictures I have of her were taken mid bops and twirls.  The sight of her doing this with the teenagers trying to be sophisticated in their slinky dresses nearby was hilarious. By the way, what in the world has happened to prom dresses?  High slits, plunging necklines, and almost no back coverage seemed to be the standard.

Back to the dancing Mini Mink, the dress was a tad expensive for the materials (just over $150 for polyester), so I suggested that we keep looking to see if we could find something else.  We got Mini Mink dressed and she suddenly burst into tears.  I thought she was tired, but through her sobs she said "I want to take it hooooome.  I felt like a princess!"  My heart almost broke in two.  We explained that even if the dress was perfect, this was the kind of store where you can't take things home right away.  Poor thing.  She was asleep as soon as she was in the car.


I made a second attempt at finding a dress for Mini Mink last weekend, when I headed to my favorite source for special occasion dresses, the stores run by the J. Crew headquarters in Lynchburg, VA.  There were plenty of flower girl dresses at the store that day, but only one that was ivory and looked like it would fit Mini Mink.  It was a sample dress and didn't have a size, so I held it up against other dresses in Mini Mink's size and was pretty sure it would fit.  I decided that the price ($40 for a silk taffeta dress from the higher end "Collection" line that J. Crew makes) was worth the risk.

Once I got home, I added a sash using the grosgrain ribbon that I used on some of my DIY projects and sent some pictures to Marc's mother and sister.

This was all coming together so easily!  Too easily, it turns out.  The dress is too big.  Mink Mink liked it, but I think it was hard for her to love it because it didn't fit properly.

Now, we have a decision to make.  Do we take this dress to a seamstress to fix it or do we tuck it away for Mini Mink to grow into and continue searching for a dress?