Wednesday 21 May 2014

Wedding Planning: My Dress Shopping Experience



Hello :) I've been thinking about starting a couple of wedding planning posts for a while. I don't seem to find many wedding related posts so I'm not sure if anyone will be reading - I may just be talking to myself?!

I'm getting married in August out in Greece with just a few close family guests.

We will be having an evening party at a hotel when we return... it's my fiancés choice as I just don't like the attention of throwing my own party, but I know that our families will enjoy it.

I have been doing my best to make the party as wedding-y as possible in order to hopefully make our families who won't be at the wedding feel that they haven't missed out on too much. We are having decorations and a wedding cake, etc.

I wanted to note some of the planning in my blog, so here goes part one...


Dress Shopping

I wanted dress shopping to be something that my mum and sister would be involved with so that they could share that experience with me. I know that my mum really enjoyed visiting the bridal shops with me and seeing me try on lots of dresses.

I tried on so many different styles - I was almost certain that I wanted a not-too-big dress. There were so many pretty lace dresses in all of the stores - that style seems to be big this year.

I loved the experience of trying on all the beautiful dresses. It does make you feel like a princess :)

After trying on dress after dress at five different bridal stores I had thought that I had narrowed it down to two favourite dresses..

I tried on a few lace dresses and there was one that I really liked. It felt really pretty and had a bit of sparkle too, which I knew I wanted. Here it is...




The other dress that I liked was completely different to this.
(Excuse the blurry iphone photos)

It had a ruffled skirt and, looking back at the picture, I think that the skirt was really what I liked about the dress. It felt lovely and floaty :)




One Saturday my mum & I returned to the two different shops that stocked the two "favourite" dresses to try them both on for a second time. The assistant told me that if I still liked the other dress then it was likely that neither of these dresses were "the one".

To be honest I thought hmm... I don't really believe in all that...

But then as I looked around the room a different dress stood out to me... It was hanging with the bigger dresses that I never would have considered trying on before. I thought it would be way too big and princess-y. 

Out of the whole rail it was the only one that I wanted to try on, just to see what it was like.

I was so glad that I had noticed it!

As the assistant tied the back up for me I actually said "wow" about this dress - I felt that it was a perfect wedding dress!

The other two were instantly wiped out of my mind - I was scared of choosing something different to what I had pictured in my mind, or going too over the top (with it being a wedding abroad).

But I loved it and decided not to choose what felt like a safe option when it came to a wedding dress. (I'm usually a safe-option kind of girl!)

I had chosen something that I never thought I would even want to try on.

The shop assistant joked about how I would be ditching the wedding abroad and throwing a huge princess wedding in a castle with hundreds of guests...

I didn't go that far - but I'm excited to say I did order the dress :)

So here's my dress...




Or at least just the back of it for now :)

It's very sparkly and pretty - I love it. I've learnt that everyone's opinions on wedding dresses are very different. I suppose that's a good thing, otherwise we would all pick out the same dress!

My advice to anyone wedding dress shopping would be to try on all styles and shapes - even the ones that you think you would hate. Looking at a dress on the hanger isn't the same as trying it on... I chose something I never thought I would go for!

Wedding dress shopping has been a really fun experience for me, my mum & sister.

I now have some lovely memories of wedding dress shopping that I will keep for a very long time :)

Do you dream of trying on your dream wedding dress?
Or have you already found it? 
 
x

15 comments:

  1. Your dress is gorgeous (the back atleast haha)

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  2. Love all these dresses, but especially the one you chose. This brings back very happy memories for me. When shopping for my dress, I was convinced I wanted a full skirted dress with a short veil. I ended up with a fishtail dress and a long veil! So you give very good advice - try on everything! X

    Kate Louise Blogs

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    1. Thank you :)
      I was the same, it's an amazing feeling when you put on one that you didn't ever imagine liking and then fall in love with it! x

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  3. Congrats! The dress you picked looks lovely (from the back). I'm sure it looks lovely overall too. It's your wedding, so you should celebrate it how you want. A destination wedding sounds romantic.
    Bright and Shiny

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  4. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, where are you getting married? we went abroad and had very few guests and loved it, I would have hated the typical huge white, 100's of guests at home wedding.
    Gorgeous dress, I really want to see the front now, and don't worry about having a big dress abroad, I had no troubles with mine apart from being very hot in the 90 degree heat but I still wouldn't change it.
    Glad you enjoyed the whole dress shopping experience, I thought it was one of the best parts and would love to go try more on now for fun ;) I know some people hate it, I think they must be crazy personally.

    Belle x Part of Belle's world

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    1. Thank you. We are getting married in Kos, Greece - its where we met so we are going back :)
      Where was your wedding?
      That's how I feel too, it's nice to hear from someone who has done similar. I definitely think I will feel too hot but hopefully I will feel like you do and will be glad I chose it anyway.
      I agree, it was fab to try them all on! I would love to do it all over again :) x

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    2. I love that, it's so special and lovely, I really think it's perfect place then :)
      We got married in Disneyworld, well our actual ceremony was offsite and then everything else at Disney.
      Just keep drinking plenty of water while doing photos, try to cool down inside and in the shade when possible and you'll be fine, it was hot but manageable. X

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  5. My best friend was exactly the same, she chose a dress which was entirely different to what she ever imagined. And she looked gorgeous! Your dress looks beautiful (well the back of it anyway!) :) xxx

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    1. That seems to happen to lots of people I have spoken to :)
      Guess that makes it extra important to try as many as possible on. Ahh thank you :) x

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  6. We have so much in common about this and I'm glad it's not just me! I got engaged in January and whilst I'm not necessarily in a mega rush to get married, as we are going to Australia in October I thought it'd be good to do it there, just the two of us, but I have family that are upset about it too. I don't like the fuss either. Thinking about doing a registry office job here the day before we go abroad so people can come but for the same price I can do that abroad anyway! Got to think what we want, like you said. Glad I found your post xxx

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    1. Thank you :) You should really do what feels right for you, I considered a small wedding here before we go like you said, but we have a big family on both sides and it would just be awkward to only invite a few people!
      The thought of walking down the aisle and doing the vows in front of everyone was just too much for me - at the end of the day it's about me and my fiancé - I just want to be married to him! A ceremony in front of loads of people is just not what I want.
      Only me & him need to be there... Sorry if that sounds selfish lol!
      People were obviously upset/annoyed but it will be old news soon and they still get to come to the party/see the dress if they want.
      Do what feels right to you :) x x

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    2. Aw I'm totally the same. I don't even have a big family but still..! It might not be considered 'traditional' but who cares. What are the ins and outs of your wedding abroad then? How will you get witnesses? Is it annoying to get the dress there, I read somewhere you have to pay for it to have its own plane seat?! xx

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    3. True! I don't think there's too much need for tradition in a wedding these days anyway. So I'm having the white dress, but even if I was having the wedding here I'd happily walk down the aisle with my fiancé, or see him in the morning before the ceremony etc! Don't believe in not doing those things lol.
      Well I have paid a local wedding planner and it does give you peace of mind, we paid a deposit to her to secure our date, she has been emailing me about the paperwork recently as it's just under 3 months to go now. It's nice to have her at the end of an email - there are a few things to do before we go with paper work so she has been explaining everything and answering any questions.
      She provides witnesses, I assume one will be her!
      Oh I haven't heard about paying for an extra seat, I don't think that's right... I know one girl who's putting hers in a suitcase with the rest of the luggage but I would feel worried about it going missing!
      So I'm taking mine as my hand luggage. All the passports etc will have to go in fiancés bag and mine will just be a small hard suitcase suitable for the cabin with my dress in it!
      It will be a squash but my auntie works in the wedding dress industry and says that they often come rolled in tiny boxes when shops order them so I will make it fit somehow!
      Might have to steam the creases out when we get there but that's ok :)
      We went to Australia (think I spoke to you about it before!) last year and I would have loved to do it out there but we didn't have our house sorted at the time so couldn't afford it.
      It would be an amazing place to get married :) xx

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