The Bridesmaid Dress Debate

There are endless articles covering the negative side of buying bridesmaid dresses from China and from websites where designer copies are made for a fraction of the price.

So what do you do when you are on a budget and the average bridesmaid dress retails around the £200 mark?

I would like to make clear that I do not agree with people coping designers work and passing it off as a genuine piece and I also think that designer copies are disrespectful to the craftsmanship, skill and attention to detail that goes into each designer gown.

Everyday sites are shut down and brides are left out of pocket with alteration fee's to try and make the best out of what they have purchased or in the worst cases having to buy new dresses meaning they are paying full price plus the cost of the wasted dresses.

So what are the other options?

There are high street shops that sell a fantastic selection of bridesmaids dresses. 

Here is a selection from BHS Their dresses range from £36 for children up to around £120 for adults.

It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for bridal sample sales especially if you only have 1 or 2 bridesmaids.

When I was looking for dresses I kept getting tempted by sights such as 'lightinthebox' but was also scared off by reviews stating escalating postage costs and poorly fitting dresses. I ended up researching dress makers that rather than selling designer copies sold a small selection of there own bridesmaids dresses. I came across a business called 'littlepridebride' on ebay. All of the reviews were positive and I was able to both speak to the lady that fronted the business via telephone and frequent email conversation. 

The amount of communication and help I received put my mind at ease and I felt completely confident processing my order. 

The Order for 6 Bridesmaids dresses took around 5 weeks from start to finish. I was really happy with the quality and how the dresses looked. They had a heavy weight to them and were beautifully lined. There wasn't a wonky seam in sight. I also didn't have to worry about escalating postage costs as they were shipped to the UK office before being sent to me. My dresses averages out at £45 per dress.  

Here are the photo's of my Bridesmaids in their dresses.

Picture taken by Alex Lawrence Photography
http://alexlawrencephotography.com/

Here are some tips for if you're looking to buy your dresses online.

1) Do your research! review, review, review. 

2) Measure three times

3) Match your measurements to the nearest dress size rather than buying custom dresses. This will make them easier to alter. The only thing that I customised was the length for the taller ladies.

4) Factor in alteration costs 

5) If you have any doubts or niggles then DO NOT ORDER!

Decoration - To buy or to hire?

In the last few posts we have talked about where to buy wedding decoration and looking at the DIY options and if it's better to buy or to hire.
In this post I will go through how I decorated our hall and how much I spent on creating the final look. 

here's a few of my lovely helpers that made my vision a reality:)

We hired Chalton Village Hall for our wedding reception. Village Halls tend to be quite reasonable and cost as little as £15 per hour. Due to the low cost we decided to hire the hall the day before the wedding to give us plenty of time to make everything perfect.

I chose to purchase most of the decoration and hired just the tables and the wine coolers.

I really enjoyed setting up the hall the day before the wedding. It was fun seeing it all come together and I got to spend time and build memories with family and friends. I also have a lot of respect for the people that do this for a profession. 

I feel that picking a venue where I had to plan and organise every detail was both the most brave and refreshing thing that I could have done. The venue dictated the theme which was in-keeping with my original ideas. I started looking for inspiration and shopping around for key pieces around a year before the wedding. I had no idea whether I wanted to hire a decoration company or do it alone. I had never planned a wedding or even a party before so this was a new experience for me. 

I knew how many guests we were having which helped me to be able to plan how many tables we needed and how best to position them. We had 100 gusts and our hall was fairly small. We went for two long rows of trestle tables to allow clean lines and clear walking routes.

I now had the template to draw out my table plan inspiration. I knew I wanted vintage birdcages and that's where I started my research and found these...

I came across them in B&M and they only cost £2.97 each. To decorate them I used ribbon and Hessian string £1 each from Tiger and paper roses hand crafted in Thailand £1.85 for 50 eBay. I sold 12 of the 15 centrepieces for the same price as I paid. The remaining cages went into my memory box.

the most costly and time consuming item to purchase were the chair covers. I wanted Ivory cotton covers which worked out around £2-£3 each to hire. After lots of bidding and just missing out, I purchased 165 covers for £175 and went on to sell them for the same price! But be warned laundering 165 chair covers is a time consuming job and does add to the cost.

I managed to purchase 18 tablecloths for £46 which works out £2.55 per table cloth, which is half the price of the average selling price. I sold these for the same price.

I purchased my chair sashes from a higher company for £45 for 115 sashes. I then sold these for £35.

As you can see I saved quite a lot of money from buying and selling on. the preparation and set did take a lot of time, so do make sure you consider that when booking your hall and planning your final few days before your wedding. 

Here is the breakdown of my costs 
Chair covers        £175
Chair sashes        £45
Tablecloths         £46
Centre pieces       £50
Large Centre pieces £22
Burgundy Napkins    £40

Table hire          £57
Wine cooler hire    £9.50             Total amount £444.50 

Money from selling on items  £336.00 

The total spent on wedding decoration came to £108.50 

The hire company that I used and would highly recommend were Jaspers Luton. 

    


  

Task 4 Continued - Decoration - Where to buy

You have picked your theme, had a good look on Pinterest for inspiration and ideas and you have planned the layout of your venue.

Now for the FUN bit..... SHOPPING 

I had such a great time exploring both the high street and the internet looking for pieces that would make my decoration unique and personal to me. I found pieces in shops I would never expect and have probably never even thought about shopping in. 

I am now the proud owner of a glue gun, a button pot, Spray mount and endless amounts of ribbon, craft stamps and fabric.

It has been exciting seeing it all come together and I am very excited to see the end result.

I wanted to buy everything cheaper than it would cost to hire. I also wanted to buy pieces that I could get creative with to give my decoration that personal feel. 

Buying also gives you the opportunity for people to take bits home with them or for you to re-sell or re-use.

Here are a few pieces that I found whilst on my travels that I thought would be suitable for a good mix of wedding themes.

These Metal Pitchers make lovely centrepieces or can be used to decorate feature areas like fireplaces.
To personalise them add ribbon to the handles or a transfer on the front and fill with flowers.
available from DiscountUK Small £1.99 Large £3.99

The 3 above pictures are all from B&M. B&M always seem to hold bulk quantities so fantastic if you have lots of tables to decorate. Again all can be personalised and made to suit your chosen theme. The hollow heart would look lovely hanging from beams.




Oversized glasses have been a very popular choice over recent years. I came across these ones in The Range in Stevenage. They were a nice sturdy quality and would look lovely with various different things in them. Autumn leaves for a Fall wedding or mini baubels for a Christmas Wedding.  

   





Ikea is a fantastic place to pick up bulk products at very affordable prices with small vases from 65p and larger vases from £1. I also love the big paper decorations. They create a fun focus. 

Vase £1

I found these tin Beer coolers in 'The Works' £7.99
Fantastic for inside and outside use - welcome drinks - just fill with ice and beers :)

All you need is love - Asda £7 Great for decorating a card / cake table.












This was one of my Favourite finds from Wellpersonalised £12. They have a lovely affordable selection of products. Take a look at their fingerprint guestbook. 



Don't forget to look on Ebay and Amazon.
I managed to buy my cotton chair covers on ebay for less than the hire cost and I am currently searching for some fabric to sew my own napkins. I will keep you posted!!


And remember you can always get creative and personalise items to make them your own.

Have fun CREATING!! The Wedding Assistant x

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping <3
Last Saturday I took my lovely bridesmaids shopping for their dresses. I have 6 bridesmaids, 4 adults and 2 junior bridesmaids so wanted to try a selection of options to see what looks worked best. I wanted just a casual ideas shop where I could freely get the ladies to try on various styles and lengths so that I could see what look suited them to help narrow down my search.
I chose to take a look on the high street rather than a bridal shop to give me the freedom to basically be a nightmare... try on take off.... try shoe's...try different dresses... swap this swap that...take measurement's... be noisy... so yes high street it was...
I had a good look on-line to see the product ranges that different stores had to offer and found that BHS had a dedicated bridal department and had by far the strongest range of styles so that is where we began our search.
In my head I already knew the style of dress that I wanted so I started with that. I wanted a strapless full length chiffon dress that went to the floor. When they tried it on, it looked lovely but it didn't quite work for the look that I wanted to go for so I picked up a different style that I liked which was a deep V neck chiffon dress which was more of an empire cut.
As soon as they put on the dresses I knew that that was the dress that I wanted them to have and they all really liked it. They all looked really elegant and the shape complimented every one of them (although the dresses needed an extra few inches in the length).

Bridesmaid dresses £95 available in various colours

I then popped out of the changing room to get a pair of shoes for each of them so I could try shoe sizes on them and see what heel height we were looking for.
As I looked through the racks of shoes a strappy pair of gold sandals jumped out at me.... I had been searching for a pair of gold strappy sandals to suit all of the bridesmaids needs for months and had been struggling to find ANYTHING!! so when I saw them I grabbed each of the bridesmaids sizes and quickly got them to try them on. They Fitted and they had every size that I needed in stock. I thought that the sandals were meant to be and swiftly purchased them.

Shoes BHS £23

While I had all of the girls in one place I took all of their measurements so that If I saw any dresses on-line or in any shops then I had all of their measurements to hand to see how each size works out in relation to each companies size guide as a size 10 can vary greatly from one shop to the next.
So the adult bridesmaids were nice and easy...

now for my junior bridesmaids..   
My junior bridesmaids are age 10 and age 12 which is a difficult age to find bridesmaid dresses for. Looking around the shops, bridesmaid dresses either catered for very young or adult age groups.. nothing really in the middle.
The young dresses looked too young and princess like where as the older ones where obviously too big...
The older junior bridesmaid looked very pretty and elegant in the adult dress but they are just not made for a young girls frame. I also wanted them to either match the adults or match each other.
We all had a lovely time and it was very interesting to have a try on and see what styles work. It was funny to see that the dress I had in my mind was not what I wanted and what style would suit the younger girls best.
I now feel that I know exactly what I am looking for. Don't be put off if a shop doesn't have the colour that you would like as finding the style is more important. The bridesmaids tried on a variety of colours none of which were the colour that I was looking for.
I would strongly recommend BHS for their product / price range. The dresses are beautiful and if they had the colour in stock that I wanted and at the length that I needed I would have purchased them there and then.
For the younger ladies I think that a bridal shop would have been the best bet as the cater for the 'junior' age bracket.

We also had a look in;
Monsoon 
TK Maxx
House of Fraser 
Debenhams 

BHS have a 20% off event for card holders at the moment so take a look at their bridal section before it ends :)
http://www.bhs.co.uk/en/bhuk/category/wedding
  
How was your Bridesmaid shopping experience? Where did you go? and where would you recommend?
Share your story below..

The Wedding Assistant 

On The Road - Wedding Ring Shopping

Yesterday was my 6 year anniversary. To celebrate we went shopping for our wedding rings.
We both went with a clear idea of what we wanted. I wanted a white gold wedding band quite plain and engraved. My Fiancé also wanted a plain wedding band engraved.
I really liked the idea of matching rings and I wanted mine to be quite classic.
We went to a large town centre that had a wide range of jewellery shops so we could have a look at as many different options as possible. We decided not to rule anywhere out and to just wonder into every jewellers that we passed.
We started by going to F Hinds. The majority of the stock was displayed in the window so you had to shop from outside.
We walked into the store and asked to take a look at the wedding rings as we had trouble spotting them. The response from the sales assistant was welcoming but lacking any kind of service. She explained that the rings were on the bottom row... We gave up and moved onto the next jewellery shop.
The next Jewellery shop was Goldsmiths. We had a warm welcome and the team member gave us her full attention. She encouraged us to try on different styles and suggested different rings that would sit nicely with my engagement ring. They had a really good product range on display and catered for a wide range of budgets.I enjoyed the experience but wanted to visit other places so we said thank you and went carried on shopping.
The next shop we went to was H Samuel. A team member introduced herself and showed us the range of rings on offer. They had a good selection from lower budget to premium rings, which is something that I was not expecting. I used to visit H Samuel for little stud earrings when I first got my ears pierced and wrongly associated it with just that. 
The service was very informative and I liked that the team member had enough confidence and product knowledge to give her own opinions. This was my favourite experience so far and we both left feeling really happy.
On to the next shop... Ernst Jones. My approach was delayed and the service I received was very minimal... I feel that even if my dream ring was there I would of thought twice about buying it as the experience and care was not what I expected...
We looked across the way and there was another H Samuel which was a lot larger than the other one so we popped in to take a look at the product range. We were greeted and given a warm welcome. The lady took us over to the wedding rings and asked lots of questions to try and see what it was that we wanted. She was full of suggestions and ideas and you could tell she really enjoyed her job and the products. We tried on a lot more rings on and finalised our ideals. The lady was really friendly and the whole process was a really happy experience.. I would recommend them to anyone looking for wedding rings as they really do cater for all budgets from the very small to premium and the personal touches can be introduced along the way.

When you are shopping for rings be sure to set your budget before you go and stick to it.. It is very easy to get caught up in the moment and over spend.
We had a 10 minute break after visiting each store to make sure that we discussing our options and had some time to reflect.
Consider what look you are going for, what metal your engagement ring is, what shape your engagement ring is and any engravings or personal touches you would like to add.
Have a look at each retailer on-line so that you have an idea of what each store stocks and the price ranges they cover.  
Do not panic if the ring you want in your mind doesn't look right in reality... I wanted a plain white gold band and ended up getting a completely different ring which is also the exact opposite to my fiancés. I would compare the feeling to wedding dress shopping... you will try on a ring, fall in love and then you will stop looking!! Just keep looking until you get that feeling.
Make a day out of ring shopping. It's a personal day and should just be about the two of you. 

Please share you wedding ring experience below. It would be lovely to hear a few more stories.

Have a nice day 

The Wedding Assistant x    
   

Stylish ways to keep warm / dry / cool on your wedding day

1) keep warm - If you are having a Autumn / winter wedding here are a few ideas on how to keep warm.

I Love this cape by Gilly Gray. I the feather detail is beautiful.
£160 from Notonthehighstreet.com

 This shrug is from a great website. They specialise in discounted wedding dresses.
Samples Worn Once or New 
this shrug is a brand new real feather discounted shrug priced at £99
http://swoonweddinggowns.co.uk/feather-bolero-i3444.html 

BHS Have a wonderful selection for affordable items.
This shrug is priced at just £39.99
http://www.bhs.co.uk/









This long sleeve shrug is from Etsy which is a great place to pick up unique pieces and one off bits and bobs. Priced at £62.59
http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/62215970





2) keeping dry
There are lots of pretty umbrellas about. You can get personalised one's, lace, and all different colours and styles.
Here's a few of my favourite picks...


Ivory Victorian lace umbrella £18.95 from http://www.umbrellas4life.com/











Personalised umbrella £13 from http://www.tiptopweddingshop.co.uk/











3) Keeping cool 

Fan Ebay £4.99 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ivory-Handmade






 Feather Fan Amazon £3.99 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pams-Feather-Fan

Mini Post

Just a mini mini post to remind every bride 2 be to remember that Pinterest is a great place to create mood boards and gain inspiration.
I have spent the last 20 minutes looking through DIY pew ideas.
I love looking through the imagination that has gone in to DIY wedding projects-
Remember : Grow your own - Sew your own - Collect your own
If it goes wrong the first time try again :) 
Thank you for all for taking the time to read my posts.
The Wedding Assistant 
.

Task 3 continued - Reception venue ideas

I just wanted to take some time to share with you some affordable venues around the Beds and Herts area.
When your looking at venues you should view them as a blank canvas. Most wedding venues are a big empty room and its the decoration that gives them the WOW factor.
You can make an empty space beautiful with just a little imagination. If you put Village Hall wedding into google you will see exactly what I mean.
A lot of the venues below are in lovely grounds and even if you wanted to extend a venue you could always enquire to see if the grounds are suitable for a Marquee, or you could use party tents and gazebos to host the welcome drinks and give people and extra space to use.

This image is from google images. 



Venue: Woburn Village Hall 
Capacity:120 
Cost: £300 
http://www.woburnvillagehall.org.uk/Hire%20the%20Hall.html


Venue: Unity Hall 
Capacity: 80
Cost: £15 per hour 

We Went to view Unity Hall and I instantly fell in love with it.
It had such a welcoming feel and it was all nicely enclosed with grounds outside. It has a Kitchen, cloakroom and lots of parking.
As soon as I walked into the main hall I instantly decorated it in my mind.  

http://bartonunityhall.wix.com/home



Venue: Stanbridge and  Tilsworth community hall
Capacity: 150 
Cost: on application 

http://www.iloveleightonbuzzard.com/community/venues-for-functions/function-venues/756-stanbridge-and-tilsworth-community-hall.html



Venue: Millbrook Village Hall 
Capacity: 80 
Cost: price on application

http://www.millbrookvillagehall.co.uk/Millbrook_Village_Hall/Welcome.html



Venue Pirton Village Hall
Capacity 120 
Cost on application 

http://www.pirton.org.uk/VH%20Brochure%20aug07%20zigzag.pdf

We wanted to have an empty space from the start. Somewhere that we could make ours and the freedom aspect was really important.
We have hired our hall for 3 days so that we had a full day to set up, a day for the wedding, then the next morning to clear up.

I hope this gives you a bit of inspiration.

The Wedding Assistant 

Task 3 - The Venue 

The Budget has been set..
The number of guests has been estimated..
So now for the fun bit.. The Venue.
When I was searching for venues we came up against numerous barriers. Websites that show no prices, Venues that only allow wedding packages, venues with a minimum spend and venues where you are tied to using their caterers and suppliers.
We found that although wedding packages are stress free and reliable, the premium cost was always there. We often needed a few items from a few different levels of package options which meant we would be paying more than what we wanted and paying for bits that we just did not require.
Going off the wedding radar..
Instead off doing a 'Wedding Venue Search' we did a venue and function room search which came back with a whole host of exciting results..
We had a few things on our check list;

• A large open space
• A pretty venue
• A room big enough for 100 people
• the freedom to be able to create our own day.

We searched through town and village halls, old schools, various function rooms, hotels, sports grounds. A whole variety of places.

you will find the hire price will dramatically drop. You don't have to have a venue with a Kitchen or a bar as outside caterers can provide an outdoor Kitchen, and a mobile bar can be brought in. 

The Venue that we decided on which my Fiancé found is a Tudor barn which is used as a community village hall. It is set in a small field and holds 100 people. It came at an attractive price too at just £15 an hour. The cost allows us enough money in our budget to be able to add lots of personal finishing touches that will really make our day special. We also had enough room in our budget to hire the hall for the entire day before. I cant wait to get a team of family and friends together to help me decorate and create a beautiful room to host our reception.

We were also able to provide all of our own welcome drinks and Champagne for the toast which is a huge saving in itself!!

I love the fact that we are so hands on with what we can have and the flexibility to create our own day is exactly what we were looking for.

if your able to and want to spend extra time and have more control over your wedding then don't be scared to go off the radar and 'DIYing' it. 

If you want a package option they are fabulous for a pretty stress free option.

What ever you decide to do, make sure its right for you.

And don't be afraid to book it. You find once its booked that you stop looking around at other venues and fall more in love with the one that you have picked.    

If you would like any more advice on anything above then please comment below or email the-wedding-assistant@outlook.com 

Have fun 

The Wedding Assistant