LML finds THE dress

Hello lovely readers, I hope you are all well and your wedding planning is ticking along nicely.

Things have been busy chez Little Miss Luxe over the last few days and I’m not sure where to start with the story! I guess the biggest and best news is that I have found THE dress.

Like most brides I was hugely looking forward to the hunt, but with a touch of trepidation due to the sheer number of horror stories I’ve heard. However, I was lucky in that my shopping was relatively pain free; I already knew the boutique I wanted to visit after meeting the team at a wedding fair last year. Now, I'm not a six foot tall, size four model (who is?!) and Jenny, the lovely lady who runs the shop told me all about the huge range they stock which really put me at ease. I wanted to feel relaxed and looked after on my shopping day and not like a revolving piece of meat on display, having to be pinned into dresses in front of shoppers and/or sales assistants and feeling somewhat self conscious.

I was lucky to have a good friend come with me, who also shopped there for her wedding dress. As the boutique is so compact and private it felt like we were in on a fabulous secret which really added to the occasion and I was glad we’d done our research. I've been a bridesmaid a few times and am partial to a pretty dress, so have a good idea what works with my figure. Needless to say, I’ve also perused one or two (read, several hundred!) bridal magazines and blogs for inspiration and picked out some styles that ticked the right boxes (as well as some sneaky ones that totally didn't, in the spirit of research...) all in a range of different shades of white. Thankfully there wasn’t a dress that made me scream in horror but there was one that made me squeal with delight and even if I do say so myself, looked amazing. Being sensible (!), we put it aside to try again later. And after floating about in 12 or so different gowns we went back to the earlier one... It was so comfortable and just felt right - and it looked, quite frankly, fab (eeeeep!). I won't go into too much detail in case my beloved other half reads this but let’s just say that some of my boxes were ticked, along with a few others that I hadn't anticipated. Then there was fun with cover ups, veils, tiaras and headdresses and a few surprises along the way! I am probably going to make my own head-piece but it was lovely to try on some sumptuously long veils and feel a touch princess-y for a while!

After heading home I toyed with the decision - should I keep shopping? Should I try on more dresses? Would I compare all future dresses to that one? I have to confess that I sought advice from a few friends who had been through it themselves. I did feel that maybe I should go to another shop and try on more but then there was a part of me that just thought, why bother?! The dress I found is amazing and had a price to match. I knew that I could probably find a dress that was equally as fabulous but would it be budget friendly? I chose not to have my Mum with me as I wanted to make this decision on my own. After telling her all about it, I really hope she shares my adoration, I’ll find out in a week or two! I hope that she is happy and proud to be the mother of the bride, and chuffed that she has brought me up so well that I made such a brilliant decision unaided. The deposit has been paid!

Looking back, I wouldn't change a thing; I am still glad I went with a friend rather than a family member. Shopping for a dress is stressful enough and you want to make the right decision, not the decision your mum/sister/aunt wants you to make. My advice for brides in the same situation? Judge it by your relationship and how you would feel in your Mum's shoes. Personally, if I were to have a daughter in the future I would want her to choose what made her happy and to involve me as much as possible in planning the Big Day but with something like a dress that is such a personal decision I'd be happy to see it once the decision had been made. I would hope that as my child was old enough to work, vote, drink and smoke (let’s hope she does lots of the first and doesn't do too much of the latter!) then she is old enough to have the nous to pick the perfect dress, and by perfect I mean perfect for her. Not me, not 'Aunty Joan', no-one but her the bride herself.

Friends have told me they made it clear to their mums that they would see the gown on the Big Day and not before; but that wasn't for me - I suppose I was somewhere in the middle! What the whole planning process has made clear to me is that your wedding can sometimes appear to be public property; just remember that it isn't. It's your day and whenever you and your darling other half are getting stressed, go back to the start and remember why you are doing this in the first place. I can't wait for those few moments on our day when we get to be alone, away from everyone else, just the two of us. I know there will only be a few of these stolen seconds but I am going to cherish them forever. Then we are going to throw one hell of a party for our family and friends and dance our fabulous little socks off!* And I'll be there in the centre of the dancefloor throwing shapes in my absolutely 100% perfect wedding dress.

*NB - Metaphorically speaking of course. I am happy to confirm that my wedding outfit doesn't include tiny little socks, I can't speak for Little Mr Luxe though!