On the Road to Wedded Bliss

SHERMAN OAKS — Fourteen times, Lanette Butler has been the minion to the princess, poofing satin and tulle dresses and bowing to the every wish of her highness.

In other words, she was a bridesmaid. Fourteen times. Smiling stiffly for photographs and paying $100 a dress or more, each time. Hideous dresses, too, such as the high-neck, lace fuchsia gown that turned Butler into “a walking doily.” Or the polyester lime-green dress that made her feel about as lovely as a salamander.

So a year or so ago, when Butler entered the royal ranks of bride-to-be-dom, she knew all the places to avoid, and just the place to go--Ventura Boulevard. From Woodland Hills to Studio City, there is a magical corridor where bridal shops reign.

“Some of those bridesmaid dresses I wore were pretty darn ugly,” said Butler, 38, of Encino. “Definitely not the fairy-tale feeling.”

The bridal shops along Ventura Boulevard beckoned, with displays of delicate lace blushers, satin shoes and sparkly silk gowns, and petticoats lush with tulle (a fine netting of silk). Inside, there is the sound of soft trumpets and the scent of lavender aromatherapy candles and chamomile tea. Store servants fawn, gingerly escorting the bride-to-be to a pedestal surrounded by mirrors and endlessly complimenting her beauty.

The store’s message is as clear as the crystal tiaras: We can turn you into a princess on the happiest, most important day of your life.

Bridal shops tend to run in clusters. Downtown L.A., San Fernando, the Westside--all have their devoted. For many, the lure of Ventura Boulevard is simply its location, the Valley’s most popular strip, familiar to local girls growing up and dreaming of weddings.

Boulevard bridal shop owners estimate that about half of their business comes from non-Angelenos. Young women who grew up in the Valley travel thousands of miles to come home and shop for their gowns.

*

Shayna Aberle, 21, lives in Illinois but decided, on a visit to her parents’ home in Simi Valley, to buy her custom-made dress at Brides by Liza in Sherman Oaks, near Van Nuys Boulevard. On a recent Tuesday afternoon, the bride could be seen gliding down the boulevard in her silk organza gown with beaded daisy flowers and a floor-length veil.

“I’m ready to go,” said Aberle calmly, after practicing walking in the dress, preparing for her daisy-themed wedding.

Across the street, at the elegant Bridal Suite, 28-year-old Jana James had yet again battled traffic from Orange County to admire and try on The Dress, flowing, with crystals decorating the satin bodice, a sheer neckline and 11 layers of tulle and crinoline, the same dress the Disney Co. used in ads to promote fairy-tale weddings at its Florida resort.

“I feel like a bride,” James said recently, beaming as she stood on a pedestal and stared into the mirrors. “I feel like a princess.”

Butler then entered the shop, giddy over her 150-guest wedding, less than a week away.

“Today is my first happy, happy day,” she announced. “Last week, I was very stressed, but then I decided, I could be stressed and not have fun, or I could have fun.”

Butler knew no one in the room except Bridal Suite owner Angelica Divinagracia, a den mother of brides, always reassuring and ready to rescue her girls from last-minute glitches.

But in this sorority house of sorts, Butler didn’t need to know anyone for support from brides past and present who bonded around the cream-colored, angel-patterned couch, the high-pitched excitement of women discussing The Big Day mingling with soft background music of trumpets and violins.

“Could you die?” James asked.

“I could die,” Butler said.

The women chatted about chocolate cakes with bridal lace frosting, string quartet selections and first dances, the beauty of scattered rose petals and hand-tied bouquets and the hunt for the perfect gown.

As Butler disappeared to try on her gown for the last time before she’s wearing it for real, James and her mother, Lynda Bowman, recalled the day when they found it.

James, a blue-eyed, blond teacher who’s getting married July 10 in Newport Beach, had heard of the dress stores along Ventura Boulevard, specifically Bridal Suite, an upscale, full-service boutique whose clients, sometimes celebrities, pay on average $2,500 for a gown. Some pay close to $5,000.

James had tried on the dreamy tulle dress before, and loved it, but it wasn’t until her older brother saw it that she knew.

“I turned around, and his eyes were welled up with tears,” James said. “I realized that this is the dress.”

“It is the dress,” Bowman said. “She’s glowing, she’s so happy. Ever since she was a little girl, she’s wanted to grow up and have a big wedding. She wanted to look like a princess.”

Bowman’s eyes got watery. “She is a princess.”

*

The other princess, Butler, paraded out in her sleeveless gown, Victorian yet modern, the fabric a striped damask in antique gold with Australian pearls and beads, handmade by Suzanne Neville, a London designer carried almost exclusively in the United States at Bridal Suite.

The women gasped and gushed.

“Beautiful,” Divinagracia said.

“You look stunning,” Bowman said.

“It’s so perfect for you,” James said. “You’re so tiny.”

As the women continued chattering about how beautiful everyone looked, Butler became quiet, looking as if she would cry.

“I think I’ve delayed getting married because of my dad,” she said.

Her father died 15 years ago from lung cancer. Growing up as “daddy’s girl,” Butler used to tell her father that she and her husband would move into his house after they married.

“I’m having a hard time because he won’t be walking me down the aisle,” Butler said. “I don’t want to be a sobbing fool.”

The women offered hugs, comfort and reassurance that her father would be there in spirit.

“It’s funny how a dress can bring up all these feelings,” Butler said, brightening as she sashayed before the mirror.

“No more ugly bridesmaid dresses,” Butler said, laughing.

“This dress has a fairy-tale feeling. I feel like a princess here. I’m going to have to come back after the wedding, I like this feeling so much.”