After trying on the gray-toned dress at David's, I became obsessed with finding other gray dresses! I started searching Pinterest and Google, screen-shotting and pinning pictures left and right. In my search, gray led to blue. I was hooked. Of course, everything I was finding was a one-of-a-kind or couture, high-end - aka pricey and hard to find. I thought it would be good to look at shops near me, and narrow it to the designers they carry. There is a cool boutique bridal shop that opened last year in my area called True North Bridal Studio. They specialize in unique, special dresses and carry a lot of smaller, independent designers. Just what you need when you're looking for an outside the box dress! The first designer I looked at was Rebecca Schoneveld, a small designer in Brooklyn, NY. She had this beautiful dress with a blue ombre look. That was it. I had to find this dress!

I reached out to the shop owner and made an appointment to try on the dress. Of course, I tried on other dress when I was there. I still had the same problem with things being too small and not fitting well, so excuse the cleavage in the photos.

This is the beautiful "Halo" gown by Elizabeth Dye. It looks dove gray in some photos, sometimes more blue, but in person is a deep teal. It's gorgeous and very unique. Sure to lead to some stunning pictures, but the strapless thing is not for me, and it's too much volume in the skirt for me.

This dress also had some unique beautiful detail. The skirt is actually a swiss dot. The combination is surprising, but works! But, I'm all boobs in this so it was a no go for me.

This dress was a top favorite. It has the style that I've been drawn toward with the V neck and somewhat fitted silhouette. This is another Rebecca Schoneveld design. I loved it, but the low back was a major con for me since I it would make undergarments near impossible. It was also a little too traditional for me, just plain ivory lace, so I'd have to really dress it up.

This one is another Elizabeth Dye. It's hard to tell from this photo, but the silhouette is more trumpet, fitted through the things, and then the lace overlay splits to reveal a candlelight colored silky material underneath. It was beautiful, but a little too fitted for me.

Another look at the two v-neck styles.

So the final dress is the one I went to try on, and I'm not going to show you photos because I think it may be "the one!" A couple cool things though: The dress is actually separates that you can mix and match. The skirt is a layer of ruffled tulle over a satiny skirt. The underlayer comes in ivory, blush, or a pale blue. The top is a simple satin strapless bodice that comes in the same colors. You can add a lace overlay in a tank or cap sleeve style, so you can really mix and match to create a variety of styles. An advantage to using smaller designers is that the options are often more customizable as everything is made to order, so it fits your size, taste and style to a T. I love the personal feel this gives.

If you're ever near the Hudson Valley of New York looking for wedding dresses, you should definitely call Katee and make an appointment at True North. She's great, and the studio is so cute. I'm hoping if I buy a dress there, I can get her to come decorate my home for me! Plus, you can explore the super-cute town of Hudson, N.Y., browse boutiques, have some great eats, and grab a drink at the bookstore (yep, you heard that right!).

Looks like it's a two-round knockout for me (fingers crossed). Now just to sell my mom on not wearing white!

How many try-ons did you have before finding the one?