Let me preface this by saying that everything that happened that led to the situation I'm in was not planned in advance. It was very spur of the moment.
My future mother in law has two boys (my fiance, and his twin brother). Since my fiance's brother is nowhere close to settling down, she's excited to the nth degree about our wedding, and all of the girly things that go along with it, like wedding dress shopping. We generally get along well (I say generally, because she is one of those people who likes to stir the pot, then when she's called on it, she turns it around into how the person who called her out is being mean to her or victimizing her in some way, and I don't have a whole lot of patience with it. I just try to make myself scare when she starts with this stuff though, so it works out). She said the only part of the wedding planning she really, really wanted to be a part of was dress shopping, since she didn't have a daughter to go prom dress shopping with, etc. I said of course she could come, and she has since reiterated how much she's looking forward to going.
Anyways, this past weekend, two of my aunts were in town from the west coast, and I'm pretty close to both of them (one of them is my godmother). They're both childless, so they're also pretty excited about our upcoming wedding. So, when I saw them on Sunday evening, they suggested hitting up a nearby bridal salon the next morning (one that was about an hour away from my future mother in law's house) to do some preliminary dress shopping. I agreed, and didn't think much of it. After all, it wasn't like I was really looking for a dress yet (our wedding is 18 months away), and I figured it would be a nice morning out with my aunts, who I don't get to see a lot.
So, I'm sure you can see where this is heading...after trying on about 12 - 15 dresses, I found a sample dress that I looooooved, it fit pretty perfectly, the color was right, etc. And it was only $300, and another bride was eyeing it up, so my aunts insisted that I buy it (and if I didn't, they were going to...one way or another, I was going home with this dress). (And this isn't the focus of this post- I realize the danger of finding a dress so far away from the wedding date, but I have pretty particular tastes, and I'm not really one to change my mind once I've decided I like something.)
Which leaves me in a position where I have, as far as I can see it, three options:
1. Make an appointment at the store where I bought the dress, and bring it in ahead of time (the consultant actually suggested this option and said they've done it several times)...they will then "pull it" for me and make it appear as if they put it in the room based on what styles I said I liked, and then act as if I was just finding it for the first time. Then, they'd act as if they were ringing me up for it and the whole shebang. Obviously, the level of deception involved in this makes me extremely uncomfortable, and this is my least favorite of the three options.
2. I can just fess up and tell her about the spontaneous bridal salon visit and the dress. I have no doubt that she will make things pretty unpleasant for me and my fiance if I tell her the whole truth. This is, after all, a woman who once justified a totally, totally inappropriate remark she made to us by saying "You're being mean to me, my dog almost died yesterday!!" when my fiance called her out on what she said. She (as I said above) has an unbelievable capacity for convincing herself that she's constantly being wronged.
3. I can set up a few appointments at salons closer to where she lives, let her have her moment, and then eventually tell her that I found a dress while out with my mom and sister (totally plausible, as my sister is getting married in about ten months). This is probably the least stressful/most satisfactory option - she has her moment, I still have my dress, and no one gets their feelings hurt. I do realize that this does come with the outside chance of me trying on a dress that I like better than the one I already have.
So...what would you do? Any suggestions? I don't want to hurt my future mother in law's feelings, but I don't like the idea of lying outright to her...As I said in the subject, I know this is a situation of my own making, and I'm not excusing my part in it, I'm just looking for advice as to how to resolve it. Thanks ladies!!