Detailing
"Sam, you look amazing!" Carly gasped as Sam stood in front of the full-length mirror by the dressing rooms of the wedding gown shop. "That dress is beautiful! It's breath-taking, it's stunning, it's-"
"I hate it," Sam said, frowning at her reflection.
"What? Sam, what's wrong with it?" Carly asked.
"I dunno…it has too much lace," Sam said, picking at the sleeves. "And it's a little poofy. And-"
"Okay, no worries," Carly said. "We still have some dresses for you to try on."
"Can't we just give up?" Sam moaned. "I'm fine getting married in sweats at this point"
"Look, I know we haven't been having the best luck finding your wedding dress-"
"Carly, we've been to fifteen dress shops," Sam pointed out. "I've tried on almost two hundred dresses; that's more than I ever planned on wearing! Let's just face it, this is hopeless!"
"Sam, we're gonna find the perfect dress, trust me!" Carly said. "It has to be out there."
"It's not," Sam groaned.
"It is," Carly said firmly. "And as your best friend and Maid of Honor, I'm not going to rest until we find it. Now don't worry, I've done my research on dress shopping and this is actually totally normal; some brides try on five hundred dresses before they find the one they want."
"Five hundred-I'm marrying Freddie in two months!" Sam exclaimed. "I won't have time to try on five hundred dresses!"
"Sam, relax," Carly said, putting a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Everything is going to be fine."
…..
"Well that was a disaster."
"Hey," Freddie said, looking up from the video game he was playing as Carly walked into his apartment. "Where's Sam?"
"She's de-stressing from dress shopping at Tub of Chicken," Carly said, rolling her eyes. "Although I'm the one who should be drowning out my frustrations in chicken right now."
"So she still hasn't found a dress?" Freddie asked.
"No," Carly sighed. "Your fiancé happens to be extremely picky."
"You don't have to tell me, Carls," Freddie chuckled.
"I just don't get it," Carly said. "Sure, Sam's always been particular about barbecue sauces and ice cream toppings, but never things like fashion. I figured she's have found a dress ages ago! This is starting to really take forever; even I'm getting sick of shopping."
"I've never been so grateful to that myth that it's bad luck for the groom to see the dress," Freddie said, leaning back happily in his seat.
"That's right, Benson, live it up," Carly mumbled.
Just then the apartment door opened and Sam walked in carrying a large bucket of chicken.
"Hey, princess," Freddie smiled, getting up to greet his fiancé with a hello kiss.
"Hey," Sam sighed, collapsing onto the sofa. "Man…what a day. I hate dress shopping."
"She's all yours," Carly said to Freddie as she got to her feet. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sam. Remember, we're going to some dress shops in Olympia, so we have to leave early."
"This is torture," Sam said as Carly left the apartment. "This actually qualifies as cruel, inhumane torture."
"There's not a chance you're being a bit dramatic?" Freddie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Dude…"
"Shutting up," Freddie said quickly. He put an arm around her. "Well, if it helps, you know that no matter what you wear to the wedding, I'd still think you're the most beautiful woman alive. You don't need to have some big, fancy dress to make me think that."
"Thanks," Sam said, giving him a small smile. "But I just wanted to find the dress that really made me feel perfect."
"But you're already-"
"Yes, baby, we get it, you're very smooth with the compliments," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "But that's not what I'm talking about. I know you'll still think I'm hot and sexy no matter what dress I wear. And I love you for that. But you always hear all this hype about brides finding that one dress that really just feels like it was made for you and you only. I just…I sort of want that. I mean I'm going through all this wedding planning chiz, after all, can't I at least get that out of all this?"
"Wow Sam, that's nice," Freddie said.
"You can say it's sort of lame," Sam told him. "I won't hit you or anything."
"No I'm serious," Freddie said. "You deserve to have a wedding dress that makes you feel as amazing as you know I'll think you look in it."
"Yeah, well, I just wish I'd hurry up and find it already," Sam mumbled. "I mean there's only two months until the wedding. Once I do find a dress, it's gonna be another three weeks until they make all my adjustments on it...this is a nightmare."
Freddie reached for Sam's hand and brought it up to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on her knuckles. He looked down at the sparkling engagement ring that she was wearing and smiled.
"Hey…did I ever tell you how long it took me to find the perfect engagement ring for me to propose to you with?"
Sam shook her head. "No. How long did it take?"
"Four months."
"Four months?" Sam exclaimed. "Are you serious?"
"Yup," Freddie grinned. "You remember all those business trips I suddenly went on a few weeks before I proposed to you? They weren't really business trips. I just needed to go to about eighty different jewelers to find the ring that would convince you to spend the rest of your life with me."
"But baby, you-you know that I would've said yes even if you proposed to me with some gumball machine ring," Sam said. "I mean I might've been a little upset if you didn't save me the gumball, but-"
"Well believe it or not, Sam, when you're looking for an engagement ring, you don't exactly have confident thoughts going around in your mind," Freddie chuckled. "You're too busy bracing yourself for a possible rejection. But anyway, I spent four whole months looking for that ring, but no matter where I went, I just couldn't seem to find a ring that I could really see myself holding up to you on one knee. Sure, there were a lot of nice rings at these places, but-but none of them really clicked for me. Until I went all the way to Canada and found that beauty. The second I saw that ring I knew that's what I wanted to propose to you with. I knew that was the ring to give to the woman I love."
"I can't believe you spent four months shopping for this, though," Sam said, looking down at her ring. "That must've been real stressful."
"Eh, well, it wasn't exactly a walk in the park," Freddie admitted. "But it was worth it. It was definitely worth it."
…
"Alright, so here's the itinerary for today," Carly said to Sam through the dressing room door the next day while Sam was getting on her fourth dress of the day. "We finish up in here, go grab a quick lunch while we go over a few more minor wedding planning details, then we go to the next shop and we stay there for two hours tops before we-"
She was cut off as the dressing room door opened and Sam stepped out wearing an elegant wedding dress with a tasteful lace pattern all around.
"Wow…" Carly said softly as Sam examined herself in the mirror.
As Sam stared at her reflection, she realized she felt natural in the dress; not uncomfortable and awkward as she had with the previous dresses. She almost looked as though she had a glowing aura around her, and Sam saw her mouth curl into a huge smile as she thought about how Freddie would react when he saw her in the dress.
She truly felt like a princess in the dress.
"This is the dress," Sam said softly, looking over at Carly. "This is it."
"Really?" Carly grinned.
Sam nodded. "This is the dress I'm gonna marry Freddie in. I love it."
"You're positive?" Carly asked.
Sam took another look at herself in the mirror.
"Yes," she said firmly. "This is the dress. This is my wedding dress."
