Keep Calm And Say Yes To The Dress!

Wedding dress shopping is one of the things that new brides-to-be often get most excited about. However, as our real Dubai bride Amy Cowin discovered recently, being able to say ‘yes to the dress’ is not quite as easy as it looks in the movies.

Join Amy in her latest blog post as she explains how wedding dress shopping was not what she had originally envisioned. Did Amy find her dream dress despite all the trials and tribulations? Read on to find out!

The moment every girl waits for has arrived…wedding dress shopping! I’ve been watching the UK and US versions of ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ so I thought I was fully prepared (who was I kidding?!). I felt like David Emmanuel (famous for Princess Diana’s wedding dress) had educated me well over maybe 20 hours of wedding dress reality TV; was it to be in the style of mermaid, A-line, drop waist, ball gown,  diamanté or lace, tulle, satin, in colours of  ivory, white, blush or cappuccino? And so it goes on. Well, sadly, I wasn’t as prepared as I had thought…

Although there are plenty of options regarding wedding dress shopping in Dubai, I decided to get my dress from the village in the UK where I had grown up. I wanted my Mum, sister, and my best friends to help me. I knew for one my Mum would tell me if my bum did really look big in the dress! It just wouldn’t have been the same looking for a wedding dress by myself. Half term holidays were coming up, and I had scrolled through endless websites; Pronovias, Stella York, and Maggie Sottero to name but a few. So I booked appointments at three bridal shops and made the journey back home.

Jet lagged and feeling bloated, I entered the first bridal shop armed with my best nude strapless bra and Spanx pants. Something Blue is a bridal shop whose amazing window displays (featuring gorgeous gowns, shoes, flowers and jewels) I always used to admire as I walked past on my way home from the train station. I always wondered what it would be like inside and I was about to find out.

Adele, the shop owner, said ‘Just pull out anything that you like’, so armed with a few dresses I began to try them all on. Now, there is nothing very glamorous about trying wedding dresses on wearing your Spanx and socks. Maybe I’ve watched too many movies but I thought I would be standing on the box, feeling like a princess to be welcomed by tears of joy and “ooooh” and “aaaaahh” when the curtain was pulled back. Instead, it was more of a case of “mmmmm, no, that one makes you look old,” (my sister); “that one hasn’t got the wow factor,” (my friends); “no that’s not very flattering” (my Mum).

After trying on what seemed like 100 dresses (when really it was maybe only seven), I was starting to lose all hope. All the dresses and styles I had seen online just didn’t suit me at all. Then Adele (the bridal shop owner) pulled out a total wild card dress that she had chosen for me. It was nothing that I had ever thought I would wear but as soon as I put it on I felt like a princess and a true bride. With two more bridal appointments to go to I left the shop feeling much more confident about what did and didn’t suit me (I would say that’s a top tip – find the shape of dress which suits you first, then the style later).

This knowledge stood me in good stead for the next appointments. In the end I had narrowed it down to two dresses that were totally different in every single way: a San Patrick (owned by Pronovias) and a Pronovias gown. Adele had told me to sleep on it and it was the dress I couldn’t stop thinking about.

After mulling over the photos for what felt like hours (pic collage was great for this) and deliberating the pros and cons of each dress, I discovered that Adele was right; I woke up the next morning and knew exactly which dress I wanted! My Mum quickly rang the bridal shop and after paying the deposit I was finally able to say YES to the dress!

Now it’s only five days until my hen party in Champagne, France. Bring on the bubbles, it’s time for the last fling before the ring…..

xX Amy Xx

Don’t forget to log on next month to see Amy’s latest bridal diary post!