Wedding Plans: I Said Yes To The Dress!

I finally went to look at wedding dresses the weekend before last. I had an appointment booked for late March just as we went into lockdown, so it seems like a long time in coming. The initial plan was to go with Poppy, (who’s my chief bridesmaid), my mum and two more of my bridesmaids. However, with rules for social distancing still in place, I could only take one person, so naturally, I took Poppy.

When I get married next summer, I’ll be almost 48. I’m mindful that a lot of wedding gowns are designed for someone a decade or two younger. However, I want to look like a bride; my romantic nature would never allow otherwise, so I’ve been browsing online for a while and have a Wedding Inspiration highlight on Instagram. There’s a particular wedding dress designer whose styles are very me. The nearest stockist is The Bridal Emporium in Leeds, so that’s where we went.

Yes to the dress!

Because of that, I had a good idea of what I wanted, but kept an open mind. The staff gave me five cute heart-shaped clips to put on five dresses of my choice which they took to the fitting room.

On my way to the fitting room I spotted a sixth. I knew immediately that I liked it the most. I tried it on first and loved it. It was too big, but the member of staff helping me pinned it. It felt right. I felt comfortable. I was in love. However to be absolutely certain, I tried the other five because there were a few different silhouettes. They were all lovely, but none came close to the first one. So…I said yes to the dress and brought it home with me!

I’ll go back eight weeks before the wedding to get it fitted and also to have a minor tweak to the style. After that, they’ll dry-clean and press it for me to collect a few days before the wedding. And I cannot wait. In the meantime, Poppy has it safely stowed in her wardrobe. I cannot tell you how tempted I am to try it on again and I’m sure I will before too long. It means I can narrow down my search for wedding shoes and start to think properly about accessories, flowers and the colour scheme.