A Dress Like No Other

"Looks more like a bra than a dress!"

"Who would wear that on their wedding day?"

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Ok, ok I expected this. But let me give you a little back story. Let's go back to three months ago.

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"Megan come on, we've been here all day! Just choose a dress already!" Addie yells at me.

"Addie, it's my wedding dress. It has to be perfect. You only get married once," I say to my cousin.

"Or twice..." Maddie adds. And I can't help but laugh, neither can any of our other friends. Maddie is one of my dearest friends, but she has been married four times. Which would be so bad if she wasn’t 24. She was only married a year at a time to the same man. They were all very nice good men. But she always found a problem with them... or a new man. Oh well, she is still a very happy outgoing person. And as long as she's happy, what do I care.

Now Addie has been dating Tom for six years! We are all waiting for them to "tie the knot". But I guess it's ok if they want to wait, she is only 22. My best friend Courtney is a different story. She has been between two guys forever! She can never choose! Poor guys, she just keeps stringing them along. One of them, John, says he will only wait till she's 25. Which is in about a year. Very generous if you ask me.

Then there's my sister Isabella who is only 16. My only junior bridesmaid. But, she has been just as buzzy as the rest of us, if not more. With a new boyfriend every month I wouldn't be surprised if she's married before the rest of us. The only truly "taken" one in our group is my older cousin Faith. She has been married to her best friend for three years. They have been friends since they were 17. They are both 29 now and just had their first baby! I'm so happy for her!

Well, those are five out of my six bridesmaids. My sixth bridesmaid is my fiancee's sister Jenna. She is actually married to my older cousin Marven. My fiancee Lorenzo and I actually set them up a few years after we met. They are now expecting their first baby! My mom is with us too at the Bridal Boutique. She is trying to help me find the perfect dress.

Lorenzo and I met when we were both 18. We both enlisted in the army and ended up in the same spot at the same time, and never left each other's side. However, we didn't start dating till we were 19. We both loved the army and wanted to make a career out of it, but it sadly didn't work out that way. There was a bombing at our base camp. We were both got hit and were so close to death that they had to airlift us out of the camp to the nearest hospital in...Oh wait I can't tell you that, haha. Aneways, we were both unconscious for days. But when we finally came too I looked over and saw that we were sharing a room. He was already awake.

He looked over at me and said "Oh Megan! Thank God you're ok!" he tried to get up and come over to me but he was too weak.

All I could say was "Uh-huh," I was weaker than him.

I'll never forget when he looked down and started fidgeting with his sheets before saying, "Megan, we've known each other for a long time. Right?" I was too weak to talk so I just nodded my head slightly. 

"Yeah, yeah so I -Ah, I wanted to do this differently but... Well we almost died so I guess now's as good a time as any," he said before letting out a shaky breath. "Megan Rosa Farrair, I can't wait any longer for you to be my wife. Will you marry me?"

I swear my heart stopped when he asked me that. I tried to run over to him and scream YES! Of course I will marry you! But I still can speak, let alone move more than my head. So I just nodded, smiling as tears ran down my cheeks.

He suddenly found the strength to come over to me and sit on my bed. "Baby, don't cry," he said while wiping my tears. "We don't have to get married now-" but I cut him off with a kiss.

"I love you so much, of course I want to marry you," I say, finding enough strength to use my voice. He put his forehead to mine "Oh, thank God. I thought you were upset," he said before kissing me.

And then we set the date. Sorry, that was a bit off topic. But I love telling our story. Aneways, back to the Bridal Boutique.

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"Oh, we know you've been married more than once Maddie," Faith says laughing.

"Hey! You're-" Maddie starts but I cut her off. "Girls, girls we need to focus. What do you think about this dress?" I ask, showing off the 100th wedding dress I've tried on.

"That's gorgeous!" Maddie says.

"It's not you," Courtny says.

"Lorenzon will love it," Faith says laughing.

"It’s last season," Addie says.

"I love the design!" Jenna says.

"You look like an old lady," my sister says.

With that I turn to my mom "Well Mom, with all those mixed reviews yours will be the tie breaker. What do you think?" I ask posing.

"I think you look beautiful in all the dresses, dear," my mom says.

"Well that doesn't help," I say laughing along with everyone else. "At least you guys look great," I say, admiring my girls in their bridesmaids dresses. They are blood red, my favorite color. In a fashionable pencil style. "I'm going to look for one more dress then I'm calling it quits. I'll come back tomorrow. Shyelbe said that they are getting new shipments," I say before walking back to the dress racks.

This is hopeless I think as I look through the same dresses over again. They are all the same high neck, puffy design. I haven't looked at the lower neck dresses because of my fear. That's another story but I'll summarize it. When I was 12 almost 13 I was diagnosed with a heart defect called Atrial Septal Defect (ASD). Long story short there was a 35 millimeter hole in my heart and I need open heart surgery. So I did but now I have this lovely six inch scare down the middle of my chest.

Give me a sign I think to God. Give me a sign to choose a dress that shows my insecurity, not hide it. As I put down the dress I was holding and picked up the next it was just the sign I was looking for. Mixed up in the high neck dresses was a beautiful low neck dress. It only went down in the very middle of the chest not exposing anything else. It was curvy to the hips and then poofed out at the skirt. I think the dress style was called ballgown. FEEL LIKE A PRINCESS. It said on the tag. Oh, I plan too, I thought. I quickly slipped into the dressing room not letting my girls see the dress before I tried it on.

"Ok Ladies, what do you think?" I asked more nervously than I've ever been in my life.

"Hugh!" they all gasped. Crap, I thought. Is that good or bad?

They all just stared for a long while. I could feel myself start to tremble as I tried to hold in my tears. I must look horrible, ugly, and most definitely not like a princess.

I’m going to run back into the dressing room and tear this stupid dress off! They can see I'm about to cry, I don't want them to see. Especially not my mom. But I was frozen as my sister came up to me and put a hand on my arm and said "Your scare is the prettiest part of you. It tells your story. I'm glad you're showing it off. The world deserves to see it." At this point I know I'm crying like a baby as I bend down to hug her.

Everyone else agrees with my sister. I am feeling on top of the world and I can't wait to wear it for everyone to see. Which is probably why I didn't pay attention to my mom's careful words, "Let's hope everyone at the wedding feels the same as us."

Got all that? Ok, let's fast forward back to today.

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"How Inappropriate!"

"Who would wear such a thing?"

Ok, this is my wedding. I am walking down the aisle on MY wedding day and these freaking people have the audacity to be saying these things? This stops NOW.

I walk calmly the rest of the way with my father on my arm to the end of the aisal. I give Lorenzo a sly smile as I see he can't keep his eyes off me. I turn around and give my dad a kiss before going up on stage past my handsome groom to the minister.

"Can I borrow this?" I ask the minister, pointing to the microphone in his hand.

"Uh.. Of course, you are the bride after all," he says, handing it to me.

"I knew I liked you," I said to him before bringing the microphone to my lips and facing the audience.

"First of all thank you all for coming, Lorenzo and I are so happy you all could make it. However, I don't thank you for your cruel comments towards my dress," I pause as I hear a few low gasps escape some mouths.

"Yes, shocking I know. But I am willing to give the majority of you the benefit of the doubt and hope you don't know what happened to me," with no one giving me any input I decide to continue. "When I was 12 I found out I had a 35 millimeter HOLE IN MY HEART! I was going to DIE if I didn't haveOPEN HEART SURGERY," I wait as I hear many loud gasps. "I am wearing this dress because I wouldn't be here if it weren't for this scare," I say pointing down at my scare.

"So, if you would all kindly keep your opinions to yourself, I'd like to get married now," I said, handing the microphone back to the minister. As I walk to my groom I hear some cheers and see some stund faces.

"You are so cool," Lorenzo says, kissing my hand as I get to him.

"Haha!" I laughed to myself. "I know," I said jokingly.

"Good," he said, kissing me before I become Mrs. Megan Rosa Romano.