Finding "The Dress"

Dress hunting, for me, was the most exciting part and therefore the part I started with. I did a google search for wedding dress shops on or near Oxford Street in London and headed down with one of my bridesmaids. Unfortunately I encountered yet another barrier - all the dress shops require you to make an appointment. Being the kind of person who hates it when shop assistants ask if I need any help I wanted to wander in, look at the dresses and then try some on. The thought of having to make an appointment and then have the undivided attention of the sales assistant severely put me off.

So I started in Debenhams and Monsoon where you can look at and try on wedding dresses just like any other clothes. Sadly though, the dresses there, whilst beautiful, were all of a simple design and not really what I was after. Fortunately at this point my bridesmaid stepped in and booked some appointments for me.

I had an appointment later the same day at Berketex bride. Here we hit another snag, the lady wanted to know what kind of dress I wanted and I had no clue. Of course I had looked through all the magazines at the pretty dresses but what I had found was that I really liked them all. When I had a stab at describing what I thought I liked best she told me those features were never all found in one dress. I clearly wasn't expressing myself properly because I had seen all those features in one dress, in several dresses in fact, in her shop and I told her so. In the end we settled for me looking through their racks of dresses and choosing the ones I wanted to try on. She then ushered me into a (huge) changing room with the dresses, drew the curtains and left to get me some shoes. When she came back she seemed slightly cross and said she had expected me to get ready while she was gone. Clearly she had been hoping for a psychic customer, or one who happily strips down to their underwear the minute they are left alone in a changing room. Anyway, based on what I said I liked she then brought me some more dresses of her suggestion and we started to develop a picture of what I definitely didn't want. Eventually I found a dress which I thought was perfect and she wrote down all the details for me, including the price (£1000).

The responses I got when I told people the price of the dress I had found were very varied and interesting. My fiance thought it was a bit expensive, his mother thought it was a lot but could be justified on such a special dress. My mother nearly fainted, some of my friends thought it was absolutely fine and the price you have to pay to get a decent wedding dress these days. (Indeed, I could have easily spent far more than that!)

Anyway I decided I should probably shop around a bit more so I (a little more prepared this time) booked several appointments at other bridal shops in the same area and arranged to go back to London in a few weeks time. Most of my bridesmaids had never met each other so I thought this would be a great opportunity for them to me, us to have a fun day out and also hopefully find a dress for me and a dress for them.
I quickly discovered that no two dress shops are exactly the same and they all had quite different approaches. Some would ask me what I wanted and then bring out a selection of dresses, others would let me browse the racks and choose, one didn't bother to ask what I wanted but merely brought out several very different styles and narrowed it down from there. Some stores limited the number of dresses and others were happy to keep bringing out more, some gave me shoes to wear, others had a box to stand on. Generally they stocked all their dresses in a size 12 or 14 and would hold them tight at the back or pin them. One shop had a sign up indicating the cost of trying on 5 dresses and the surcharge for trying on subsequent ones!! Fortunately they did not ask me to pay! Most shops did not let me take photos of the dresses (which would have been really helpful for comparing later and showing people who weren't there) in case I took the photo to a dressmaker and asked them to copy it. However one very friendly shop were happy for me to take as many pictures as I wanted.

At the end of the day I had an even better idea of what I wanted, a perfect idea of what I didn't want (every shop said to me "its always good to try on something completely different in case it takes you by surprise" I hadn't the heart to tell them I'd already done that) and I had found a new perfect dress for only £600 (left). I was all set to buy it there and then, especially since I had really liked the friendly, helpful staff, but the shop assistant told me I should go away and think about it, so I did.


Shortly afterwards I went to stay with my parents and decided I should check out the dress shops near them. Here I found my true perfect dress and I knew when I did. It caught my eye on the hanger and once I had it on I kept it on far longer than any of the others while checking my reflection from all angles. Again I was told to go away and think about it, so I did, but I didn't need to think about it and came back later the same day to try it on again and buy it. Not only was it perfect, it was also only £425!

Almost all wedding dresses are ordered from the supplier except in a few shops (usually cheaper ones) where you can buy off-the-peg dresses and take them away with you. My dress took 4 months to arrive and then I had to go for a fitting 1 month before the wedding (to minimise the risk of weight change after the dress had been altered). The alterations on my dress are being done at the moment and I am to go back on Friday for a final fitting to check that the alterations are ok.

Obviously I can't put photos of my dress up just yet but rest assured I will add some after the wedding! :)