The W day dress

 On the journey to find my wedding dress I had been told that you WILL find THE perfect dress, from the moment you try it on you will just “know”. But what did this “knowing” involve? That you cry uncontrollable, your mother swoons and faints or you become overcome and want to part with thousands of pounds. I just didn’t think I would ever experience this.

I really wanted to find a lace vintage style dress, the satin diamante puffy creations just weren’t for me, I wanted something quietly sophisticated and more traditionally vintage.  I researched a few designers that created vintage inspired dresses. The first one I found was Justin Alexander. The glamorous new collection oozes vintage charm, with timelessly beautiful dresses.

 

Then I found on my travels Lyn Ashworth; the dresses are captivatingly understated with amazing silhouettes. Accented with elegant lace and vintage style brooches. Mori lee, which create feminine dresses with amazing embellishment however some dresses were on the puffy side. Lastly Pronovious who’s lacework is second to none but are a bit pricey.

 

If all these modern designers failed me I located The Vintage Wedding Fair which sells over 400 vintage dresses from various eras. So I would find myself an original dress to love which was just as appealing.

So my maid of honour and I hot footed it to these chosen boutiques. I initially tried on Tea length dresses channelling my inner Audrey Hepburn. Although at being only 5ft 3, I felt these actually accentuated my height deficiency. After rattling through 15 dresses I thought I would never find it. The first dress that made me draw breath was Justin Alexander’s 8530, however I had to add an embellished belt as the long length meant my waist needed accentuating. The vintage styling made me feel very elegant. Although returning a week later the dress did not hit the same high notes and no motherly tears were shed. It was back to the drawing board. I was beginning to feel that I would never find a modern dress to fit my vintage styling and began looking more into the original vintage route.

However, in another boutique my mother found a Pronovious Sample sale that I had looked at the previous week. From the moment I tried on their Menorca dress, I had this peculiar magical feeling of this being the dress for me. I didn’t want to take it off it was so beautiful and when my mother burst into tears it sealed the deal. As it was a sample it was £600 reduced from £1800, a steal! We took it out there and then before another bride got her mitts on it. I have now refused to look at any other dresses as I can’t afford to change my mind (I have seen brides end up with 3 dresses eek!) but every time I look at it it’s just as beautiful.

So my message to other brides is, keep calm, everybody is different and that perfect dress is out there for you. But I’m afraid I’m just as ambiguous as all the rest in saying “when you find the one for you, you will just Know”. Damn!