Dress shopping: what I've learned (From Brides Dorset)

Dress shopping: what I've learned

1:06pm Tuesday 13th April 2010 in Diary of a Bride By The Bride

So, I've bought the dress. It's been an entertaining experience and certainly not as straightforward as you might think. I've changed my mind several times (and who knows, maybe I will again!) - but here are some things I have learned.

• Knowing what you want isn't always a good thing

I had a clear picture in my head of what I wanted, which is quite hard to live up to.

• Sometimes, you do get what you pay for

By which I mean that there is a definite difference between a £800 dress and a £2000 made to your exact measurements (a la Stephanie Allin and Stewart Parvin) and sometimes there's no indication of what the extra money is for. You'll know if what you're getting is worth the money.

• You might find The More Than One There are at least three dresses I tried on that I would happily have bought under other circumstances (different wedding, different colour scheme, different vibe).

Don't get hung up on finding The One and worrying that because no-one is crying when you try it on it must not be right. Don't beat yourself up.

There might be more than one you like and that's okay. Choose the one that fits your day best.

• You'll know when it's time to decide.

Similarly, the point when you get a bit blase about putting on a new dress is the time to stop and think. Do you want any of the ones you've seen so far, and if not why not?

I think you CAN try on too many dresses. I bought mine in Evangaline Rose in Godalming and although there were dozens of beautiful dresses in there I'd love to have tried, I didn't, because I knew they weren't what I was after.

If you get to that point and you haven't found anything you like, it's probably worth taking a bit of time to work out what you're looking for before resuming the search.

• The people who run wedding dress shops really love it when you want to try the big dresses on

Really. It makes them happy.

So, without further ado, here are some of my could-have-been-the-ones.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE will someone buy this first one?

It's the Rachael, by Maggie Sottero and I absolutely love it. It's just that, in the end, our venue, wedding, and I were not quite "big" enough to carry it off.

But if you were having a grander affair than me (this is a dress that warrants low lighting and a polished dance floor) ... seriously, someone make my day and buy it. You can get it at Chameleon in Boscombe, and it would make their day too!

Then there was the Bardot by Stephanie Allin : the sequins on the bodice, while lovely , were not quite me. Luckily I couldn't find anywhere that stocked the Camilla near me (although I hear rumour there's a new shop in Lymington who stock Stephanie Allin, anyone know if it's true?) or I could have been resigned to a few months of eating gruel to pay for it.

(Bojangles Brides in Romsey - my favourite "trying things on" experience by far!) The dress that threw me completely: I was in Exeter, throwing cuation to the wind and trying on whatever the super-lovely ladies at Pirouette gave me, when they pulled out the kind of dress they imagined me in when they saw me (when they said that I had a sudden craving to work in a wedding dress shop. Imagine that being your job?).

It was this slinky lace number (in ivory, with the lace in dark gold/champagne). Woah. Threw me right off track. And to be honest, if H2B wasn't wearing a light grey suit it could well have been the one. But gold and grey don't really match, and I don't like it nearly so much in all white. Hey ho.

So if one of you fancies this... it's Sottero and Midgeley and you really don't have to have the gloves.

PS don't worry, none of this is much of a clue about what my ACTUAL dress looks like...