If you’ve ever spent much time reading wedding blogs, magazines or forums you’ve heard about the wedding dress experience. The experience that when you find “your dress” you know it. You cry. You’re overcome with joy.

I didn’t have that.

I loved the dress, just didn’t cry. {PS I made that Mrs. hanger!}

I had a beautiful dress but I didn’t shed a tear, my mom didn’t shed a tear, we weren’t in an utter state of awe of anything in the sea of white and cream satin, taffeta and chiffon before us. That’s a little odd because I cry at the drop of a hat. Movies, tv shows, books, tender thoughts and my friend trying on wedding dresses can bring a tear to my eye.

When we first set foot on what is now our property, I had the “wedding dress experience.” (I’ve written about that before) So when I read another newlywed couple’s house finding experience it prompted me to start calling it the “home experience.”

Love at first sight.

I can’t take credit for the comparison because it actually came from our home’s previous owner. We spoke with them briefly after our home inspection and the wife mentioned that she’d never house hunted before. She met her husband after he’d bought the house so it was a nerve-wracking experience for her. She wondered aloud if it would be like wedding dress shopping, when you’d know it was “the one” the moment that you laid eyes on it.

When I get frustrated with things in the house, it’s much easier to get over because it’s ours. It’s our yard that needs mowed. It’s our gray bedroom. It’s our garage that gathers an inexplicable amount of leaves for not having any trees. It’s our closet where my wedding dress hangs. It’s our home, where our life happens.

I love looking at houses, it’s fun to see what the exteriors conceal. A couple weekends ago, my in-laws were visiting and my mother-in-law and I walked down the street to an open house for a cute blue home that was on the market. The house was built the same year as ours and had some similar features. We walked through and commented on the interesting features (old houses have some serious character) then we headed back down the street toward home. My home.

When we walked back inside our house after visiting a house with some similar features, I thought, “Wow. I love my home.”