Here

The dress           is in.
I got "the call" yesterday afternoon, which was both unexpected and perfect timing since my beloved Amber and Emma were already coming out to visit and I thought my madre would be free to join us.  She was.
I will admit, is was really fun to try it on.  I didn't think that it would be anything special (probably because the last time I was in dresses, none of them were mine), but it felt really good to put it on and have it my MY dress.  Suddenly I was making decisions and picking shoes and having opinions on things.  Before, during the trying-on stage, everything was so hypothetical that I felt pretty removed from what we were talking about.  Now, the dress was on, it was mine, the veil was on, it was mine, and the rest of the details seemed to just flow.
Yay.
Now, you know me (at least I hope you do...if you don't, thanks for reading this random person's blog) and how frugal I can be.  Alright, a downright tightwad.  And that's fine by me.  However, let's now call me a Naive tightwad. 
Throughout this Planning A Wedding experience, the cost factor has taken some getting used to.  But we have found a deal on everything (and I mean everything- have yet to pay full price for any big item) and considered decisions to death, thereby comforting ourselves that the money is being well spent.
But I went into getting the dress totally unprepared.  First of all, I didn't actually get the dress.  It has yet to be bustled and steamed, both of which cost extra money (I thought dresses came with bustles and steaming was part of the cost of the dress- pishaw).  Then, I thought I was escaping the usual necessities- alterations, hemming, slips, bras, etc. AND I had an in-store credit to cover the shoes I wanted.

HA.
I needed all of the above, except for the alterations/hemming due to paying a bit more for a higher heel. 
I could have laughed at myself. Silly Natalie. 
Of course.
I shall just take solace in the fact that everything will be the right length/in the right place on the big day so I won't have to worry about it.  Can I say the same about other details in limbo right now? No.  But that's okay.  :)