All I Said Was That Dress Is To Die For.

A normal night at my normal job. I've seen a million faces...and I've rocked them all. And I've seen a lot of newlyweds cross our lobby's threshold. I throw out the necessary pleasantries, the Congratulations!, the That's A Beautiful Dress, the You Guys Look Phenomenal. But here's the secret; I don't always mean it. That's not always obvious because I am a professional. The truth is that I very quickly go back to the fantasy where I am in a Charles Bukowski novel where I am kicking the ass of Eddie the bartender just because I don't like the look of his face.

Last night, however, I was stopped in my tracks. A young newlywed couple entered my line of vision and I was simply stunned by the awesome beauty of, get this, a wedding dress. I told them what I tell all newlyweds, except this time I meant it. The guy was handsome enough, the bride was typically pretty, but the dress owned my brain for the rest of the evening. They checked in and proceeded to the elevator, accompanied by her parents who took pictures of the happy couple at the elevator doors.

As mom and dad came back by on their way back to the parking lot, I heard myself ask a question I never thought I'd ask.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

"Yes?" she replied as she and her husband stopped and came over to my belldesk.

"I have a question. Her wedding dress is absolutely beautiful. Who's the designer?"

I'm standing next to F., my friend and coworker. A Marine, young and tough. And I'm letting him hear me ask about a beautiful wedding dress. And I'm not embarrassed at all.

Mom says, "I don't know, but she got it at David's Bridal. It is nice, huh?"

"Well, it's that black trim. I've never seen that before but it works brilliantly!"

"I agree," she answers. "As soon as she saw it, she knew it was 'the one.'"

"Thanks, and congrats to everyone. Have a nice night," I say. She replies in kind and leaves the hotel with Dad.

Since then, I told F. how much I like it. I described it to a few other workmates, and I told my wife about it today. She might have been getting a bit worried about this cowboy of hers until I found a picture of it online and showed it to her. She was a touch mesmerized by it, too.

My masculinity in check, this just proves that I have nice taste. I know beauty when I see it. And I simply must tell everyone I know when I see it.

(Here's the link to the dress on the David's Bridal website. The default color is apple, but select the black color link below the picture to see what I saw. You may agree with me.)