I do not want to look like a meringue (The Dress Part 1)

I never dreamed about a big wedding. Probably because I never real thought that I would meet someone I would marry.
I have to admit that I was very lucky when we had our civil wedding, I had a simple dress (picture to the left) that I had bought at Etam years ago. I saw that dress in the display, it ended up being the only one there and my size. I bought it for 50€. It was simple yet beautiful: ivory linen, sheath with 3 flowers embroideries in a light pink on it. Of course linen wrinkles extremely quickly, but I loved that dress and it worked perfectly for our wedding and one friends saw the pictures they couldn't believe it wasn't an official wedding dress.
I was happy given how quick things went that I had something available right then and there.
The pearl necklace and earings my sister-in-law let me borrow me also worked perfectly with the outfit. I couldn't have been happier.

When we decided to have a formal wedding though, I knew I wanted a real wedding dress. The only thing I was sure of was that I didn't want to look like a meringue. I also wanted something that would look different from my first "wedding dress".
I have too many memories of friends of my parents marrying in puffy outfits that really did not flatter the bride. I have curves, I am not a size 0, and guess what? I am proud of it.

So when I had a friend visiting in August 07, with only a fall wedding date in mind, I went in to the only wedding shop I had seen: David's Bridal. I did not even know at the time that it was a chain, nor that appointments are usually required, that's how ignorant I was.
With no definite idea of what I wanted I pointed to some dresses on the magazine that I was curious to try and let the assistant do the rest.

I had a hard time putting my first dress on. What with the corset and the underskirt and all those zippers that I couldn't get a hang off. I felt a bit abandonned. Thankully my friend was there and I managed not to get out of the dressing room in underwear.
Here are the various dresses I tried in that shop, and as you will see I tried very different things from halter top to sleeveless, A-Line to mermaid and long to short.

The first wedding dress I tried, ever. It was nice but it was hard to put one and...
... the cathedral lenght trail is not exactly my cup of tea.
The second dress is, beside The One, my mom's favorite dress. She of course only saw the dresses on line. I wasn't too fond of the strapless idea though.
This one is probably one of the least flaterring dresses on my figured that I tried. I was curious about a halter top, but obviously that shape is not for me.
This one was quite cute, but being a petite size didn't help to make me look taller. It's also not the best lenght for a November wedding in the mountains as I was not planning to wear wool leggings!

I had fun in the last one. I think it's mainly because by the fifth dress I started feeling like a real bride and I really like the trumpet shape of the outfit.I didn't come out of this first visit with a dress but it helped me tremendously to understand what I was looking for and what shapes looked flattering on me.

Did your first dress shopping experience gave you an idea of what you were looking for? Or if you already knew what you wanted, did it changed it?