Wedding Dress Shopping

Wedding Dress Shopping can be the nicest experience where it all goes perfectly or the most frustrating experience where you are left feeling as though finding 'the' dress is just not going to happen!! But don't worry.. YOU WILL. 
I would say that my experience was a mixture of both.... 
The first time I went dress shopping was 15 months before the wedding.... It was more of just an ideas shop than a serious hunt for the perfect dress.
The first shop I went to was Expressions Bridal in Hitchin. The shop was recommended to me by a few friends. 
The shop had a lovely feel to it and the owner of the shop was extremely welcoming. We were given white gloves to wear which I found fantastic as it showed how much the store cared about the dresses. I was given discs to pop over every dress that I wanted to try. I gave a few to family members as I wanted to try a variety of styles as it was more for ideas.
The owner (Carole) was so helpful suggesting fits and styles to fit my shape and had a selection of shoes to try so that you could see how the dresses hung.
I really enjoyed my experience at expressions and would recommend the service that they provide.

After my first wedding dress experience I realised that the task of finding 'the dress may be a slightly longer process than I thought, but I was excited to get started and began doing my research...

I looked at what style of dress suited my shape, What material I wanted, the colour, and the size of the train.
I've worked in fashion retail for a long time so feel that I knew exactly the shape that I wanted but still visited websites for inspiration as I wanted to keep an open mind.
There's lots of information on-line and lots of pictures to give you guidance but overall you need to go with a style that you feel happy and comfortable with.

 (image from Pineterest)

I knew the material I wanted and decided on the colour.. So now the hunt for 'the dress' was on.

I put my ideal dress description into Google images and Pinterest and browsed for hours. I found that the dresses that caught my eye were all by the same designer so I narrowed down my search by looking at the designers websites. I was left with two dresses that I really liked and saved the images and the product details on my phone.

Later that day I met up with my friends for tea and cake and showed them the pictures of the dresses that I liked. Louise (one of my Bridesmaids) had seen the dress in the window of the wedding shop near where she lived so the next day without an appointment my Mother and I went to the shop to see if it was 'the dress' 

IT WAS!! The owner at Hammonds invited me in and allowed me to try on dresses without an appointment. The ladies must have spent a good hour and a half with me and again we tried on a variety of styles.. I then tried on 'the dress'. Before I looked in the mirror I looked down and just knew it was the one. I remember popping my head out of the changing room curtain and saying to my mum "I think this is the one' 

I really loved the dress but felt it was too early to buy.. 
The dress was a sample as the dress had been discontinued, and It fitted... but I left empty handed.

I then stopped looking 3 months but didn't stop thinking about the dress that id tried. My mum and I went to sample sales, shops in different counties and to other bridal shops that stocked the range.

My highlights were 

http://www.bradgatebrides.com/sale-gowns-bridal-sale-gowns-c-48_5.html

A wonderful shop that specialises in discounted dresses, really friendly staff and they hold dresses in a wide range of styles and sizes. I even got a follow up call from them a few months after when they had received something similar to what I wanted.

http://www.mignonette.com/
A Stunning shop where the owner was extremely helpful. The shop is beautiful and they hold a great selection of dresses. I could have easily spent all day there.
It was whilst I was trying on dresses in this store that the owner explained to me that I had already picked my dress in my heart and that I just had to go and buy it.
SO that's exactly what I did!! 

The bad bits.
We went to one 'discount wedding store' that I will not name. The owner  claimed that she could get me the dress that I wanted, in the size that I wanted without any trouble...
I knew that the dress that I had chosen was the last one in the country so I was a bit confused that she said she could get it.
Looking back... the quality of the gowns was not up to scratch. The materials were thin, The lace was not like I had seen in other stores and they didn't take much care over the gowns.
Its easy to get caught up in the moment of wedding dress shopping so if you feel that something is not right or too good to be true then you are probably right. 
The work that goes into a wedding dress, the structure of the bodice and the fit can not be copied. Fakes will never come close to an original. Do not waste your money on cheap copies unless your happy to throw money away.
If you want to save money on a dress then going to a Sample sale or a discount store is the way to go.

If you want to check the authenticity of a bridal shop, most designers list every shop they stock on their website.

Also please make sure when you go dress shopping that you remove fake tan and make up. Treat every dress as if its the one that you are buying.

I am buying my dress hoop and veil elsewhere. I will let you know how I get on.

If you would like any help on checking the authenticity of dresses or what sample sales / stores to visit then please comment below.

Please click on the follow button below to keep up to date with my posts.

Happy dress shopping 

The Wedding Assistant x