A day shopping in Beverly Hills

My sister got engaged this past March. Of course that means I am planning her wedding (though, sometimes my mom confuses this fact). It will be summer next year ('08), which means we have plenty of time for every detail. As sister of the bride, I also get to be part of the fun stuff, like bridal dress shopping. There are many great stores in San Francisco, but I thought there would be even more designer shops in Beverly Hills. So, we made a girls trip of it and my mom and sister flew down to meet me yesterday.

I circled around LAX a few times because they had to go to the bathroom (my sister has the smallest bladder in the world). We were late to the first shop, but she didn't seem to mind. We met with the designer. She was very small and quiet, but her designs were gorgeous. Before the day, we told my sister to wear a white bra (she usually wears brightly colored lumpy ones). She did this, but failed to figure out that these designers would be helping her into the dress, so she would also need some decent underware! She wore a bright pink thong and was quite embarrassed when she realized she would have to be nearly naked in front of the posh saleswomen. In the first store, my sister tried on a gorgeous design that had a scoop neck and a drop waist that hugged her curves, then modestly flared out. It looked fabulous on her (though, we soon learned that it was hard for my sister to look bad in any dress).

The second store we went to was a palace of imported bridal dresses. The minute we walked in, we were ready to leave and could tell that there weren't any styles we were interested in. The sales woman was very pushy, so my sister obliged her and tried on a few of the numbers. Some were definite no's and the others were OK, but we all agreed there was no comparison to the first store so we left and had lunch. The third store was beautiful and had a very nice, helpful saleswoman. My sister found two dresses that she liked. One was very structured and modern, the other very traditional, all lace. We discussed making a few alterations to make the dresses closer to what my sister wanted, and left considering both styles. Ultimately, they were both rejected, but they were definitely considerable. The 4th store we went to was more of a bridesmaid dress store, which meant that I got to try on a couple of dresses, too! It was good for my sister to get some ideas on some bridesmaid dress styles and colors. We left with color and fabric swatches, and one wedding gown choice for my sister. A very simple, modern dress with a unique back. The back had a sash that could be extended to drag on the floor as a short train, or pulled up, into a modern bustle.

The fifth and final store we went to was the highlight of the trip. My sister had seen a gown in a magazine and we had based our trip on the appointment at this store. She had seen an all lace gown, with lace cap sleeves. When she tried the dress on, however, it did not have any support and did not look very good on her. The sales woman suggested a similar dress that was more fitted and had a bodice inside for support. It did not have the sleeves she had fallen in love with, but we were assured it could be added. This modification made my sister's perfect dress.

We left for dinner with three choices: one from the first store, one from the 4th store and one from the 5th store. Surprisingly, the one from the 4th store was about one TENTH the price of the other two. Knowing my sister, she feels very uncomfortable and guilty about spending ghastly amounts of money on a dress for one night, so her choice was rather obvious. We finished up our day at Spago (Wolfgang Puck's Beverly Hills restaurant). Being a Berkeley "foodie", I expected to be disappointed with the food based on the price. Instead, we were all very impressed with the food and even agreed it was better than our local 5-Star Chez Panisse. We discussed this at length, only to realize later that at the table next to us, who was delivered special tasters from the Chef, was in fact a Chef from Chez Panisse! (I recognized him from my internship, and we overheard him mention it). Whoops!

After dinner, we stopped at a bar named Aphrodisiac to check out the selection. My sister and I have dreamed of opening up this very thing, so we popped our head in to judge how they had carried it out. Our consensus was of course, we would've done it better! But alas - hindsight...