Dress Hunting for the Bride's and Groom's Maids: Trip 2

It doesn't seem like there's a lot of options for dresses in the stores these days. Everything seemed to look the same with one or two minor changes (single shoulder versus strapless; ribbon rose versus beading).

Here's a recap of Saturday's shopping excursion. Before heading out of the city we stopped by the Gunne Sax Outlet. It was about the time of year that new dresses come into the outlet and we wanted to have a wide selection. The black dresses didn't excite me - too plain and over our budget. A brown gown had texture, but was strapless and again over our budget. A quick pass and we were headed down the peninsula.

At Macy*s Serramonte, we didn't find much either. The majority of the dresses were in the Junior section for Prom and were daringly short. We did find a Petite option - dress on left below (it's the same color as the one in the middle, excuse the poor quality - store lighting wasn't that good and I was snapping shots of dresses with my iPhone.)

After making the rounds of the mall (nothing memorable in terms of dresses - the carp and turtles in the fountain were cool though), we headed over to Nordstrom Rack (screaming children oh my!), Marshall's, and then David's Bridal (or as Ames affectionately calls it The McWedding Store). We hopped back in River and headed back to the city.

At Stonestown Galleria we struck out at Macy*s; they no longer stock dresses in that location. After having horrible luck at Nordstrom's in Westfield Centre the night before and finding no dresses (I mean come on - what woman's clothes store doesn't carry evening dresses?) we almost skipped the Nordstrom's. Having braved David's Bridal, we decided to make a quick pass. Lo and behold the dress. Here's a pic of the dress snagged from the web at Dillards.com so that you can see the actual color of the dress:

Adrianna Papell Taffeta Halter Dress Source: Dillards

"This charcoal taffeta halter dress with side zipper features a ruched empire waist, a soutache-detailed skirt and crisscross treatment on the back. Of polyester/nylon; fully lined."

Ames tried on the blue dress to get an idea of size (they run close to true size) and ordered hers in charcoal. Nordstrom will ship dresses free to your house and permit you to return it within 30 days if it doesn't work out. Two dresses - one in blue and one in charcoal - are on hold for Moni to try (they'll be there until Tues) so that we can order and pay for 1 instead of 2 dresses. Helen and I just need to coordinate a trip to Macy*s Serramonte to try on the Petite dress. Fingers crossed that we find the right size.

We spent maybe 5 hours total searching before we found an option that might work. How long did you search for the ideal dress? Did you find it right away?