Suzie Goes Wedding Dress Shopping!

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Have you got your dress yet?
Have you got your dress yet?
Have you got your dress yet?

If I were given a pound for every time I’ve been asked that by increasingly concerned family members and friends in the last six months the wedding would have been paid off by now and then some.

I’m getting married at the end of October and of all of the things on my wedding ‘To Do’ list the dress was far from what I deemed to be a priority. While a number of my friends who have become engaged or got married in the last eighteen months bought their (stunning) gowns fairly early in their planning, I have waited until the last minute. Admittedly, it was more about the lack of body confidence than the money – I had a horrible imaginary scenario in my mind of not being able to find a dress that fit (or only finding ones that would make me look bigger) and having to walk away feeling worse about the whole thing than I did before. I also didn’t want to spend an enormous amount of money on something that I would wear once.

I found the solution in the form of Wed2Be, a bridal retailer with numerous stores around the UK. I had seen an advert on Facebook and then discovered that a few people I knew had bought dresses from there and had very positive experiences, so when they opened a store in Birmingham I decided that this was the place for me!

Consequently, my mum found herself on a train to Birmingham today, I met her at the station and then we made our way (via another train) to Shirley, where the nearest Wed2Be store was situated. I was nervous, the walk from the station was longer than I expected but thankfully they don’t run an appointment service and it was a gloriously sunny day.

While the journey to the store was quite a long one, what happened next must be one of the shortest (and most brilliant) dress buying experiences ever…

We went in, were greeted by a group of lovely assistants, shown to a row of beautiful dresses in the size I thought I needed, I picked out two (although you can try on 4 at a time and you can stay there as long as you like) and we were shown to the changing area. With the help of the lovely Machala, I tried on the first dress and hated it, then the second and that was it. I fell in love – it was a completely different style to what I expected I would like, but it fit me perfectly, hid all of the lumps and bumps, was tight enough that it made me look two sizes smaller but loose enough that I could breathe, I could sit down in it, move in it, it was within my budget and it needed no alterations…

…and it looked absolutely stunning. The second dress – I was expecting to be there all day but it actually took almost no time at all!

Awesome. (Incidentally, my dress is not the one in the image featured in the post – I will wait till the day for people the see it properly).

I felt confident and pretty, so I did the only thing you can do when finding something like that – I had a little dance in it (much to my mum’s amusement), followed by some pictures to send to my sisters and then got changed. I would have quite happily spent the rest of the day in it if I were allowed… As the dresses are off the peg, you can take them home on the same day in a lovely dress bag and organise the alterations yourself if needed. It was an interesting journey getting the dress back home, but it is now safely hung up in the spare room.

Ladies of Birmingham, I cannot recommend this store enough. It’s lovely, clean and well laid out with an amazing selection of dresses in lots of different styles and the STAFF ARE FABULOUS…

So…

I’ve got my dress.
I’ve got my dress.
I’ve got my dress.

And I can’t wait to put it on again and walk down the aisle…

What about you guys? What were your wedding outfit experiences like?

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog, and don’t forget to follow my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/suzie81speaks, my Pinterest page http://www.pinterest.com/suzie81speaks and my Instagram page http://www.instagram.com/suzie81speaks

71 thoughts on “Suzie Goes Wedding Dress Shopping!”

  3. Woohoo! In Wisconsin, I tried on several but had to order it in August for an October 10th wedding. I barely got it on time! Glad to hear they stock them on site. You can cross it off in your Bullet Point Journal!

  5. This post made me cry tears of joy for you and your Mom… It is so much fun for the mother of the bride to do this…. I am so thrilled for you and I am so glad you feel confident and beautiful, because you are. You could wear a burlap bag that day and still be a radiant bride, but what is most important is how it makes you feel! Thrilled for you! Back in the dark age when the dinosaurs roamed and I picked out my dress, there was only one shop local to us. It was in the basement of a lady’s home, yes, you read that right. I went with my sisters, best friend and my future mother in law. Hubby is from a family of boys and since my mom had passed when I was 11, I chose to make my future mother in law a stand in for everything that the mother of the bride does…. Anyhow, with that many people there everyone grabbed the dress they thought I would absolutely love, I didn’t. My mother in law actually picked out my dress, she handed it to me and said, this one is pretty, and it doesn’t have a tag on it, so I don’t know how expensive it is. I tried it on thinking it would be another reject, but I fell in love with it! You always know when the dress is THE DRESS, don’t you? Thank you for sharing this wonderful experience with us… ❤ Cathi (DAF)

  8. Ooooh, congratulations Suzie! I remember going wedding dress shopping with my sister and she had a very similar experience. You just ‘know’ when you have found the right one. I am so happy for you, and that is something less on your list now too! 🙂

  10. I’ve been married three times and never wore a wedding dress or a tux.

    :o)

    In China, many newly weds do not buy wedding dresses or tuxedos. They rent them for the wedding that is also a photo shoot and then turn them back in the same day before the big feast afterward. I think the feast with family and friends is their focus instead of the actual wedding event.

  11. I tried on dresses and hated them all. So then I went to a fabric store pulled 8 different patterns, chopped them into bits, put all the bits into a single dress, gave it to a seamstress with the fabrics I wanted and poof. Perfect dress.

  17. Don’t know if this got through or not I’m logged into WP, but it insisted that I wasn’t. Anyway, just wanted to say that you were simply waiting for the right dress to come along, that’s all. You were in the right place at the right time and that’s all that matters.

    For my wedding #4, I bought a dress that needed alterations. When I went back to get it, the place was out of business. No way to recoup the money.

  20. We demand pictures, but only after the wedding! My latest adventure in that realm was for my daughter’s wedding. She wore my gown – nearly fifty years old – which was altered and changed beautifully by a wondrous seamstress. I was really honored that she wore it, and it should last for her daughter, if she chooses to wear it.

  21. Yay congrats on finding your dress! Any hints as to what style you chose?

    How many do you think you tried on in total? I lost count from the other 2 rounds. My bridesmaids ambushed and dragged me to Davids Bridal (too popular in US) with too many strapless options that I had no interest in. My MIL took me to a local boutique. I ended up finding mine online actually so there was a moment of holding my breath taking it out of the mailer and when trying it on. Thankfully it fit and didn’t even need any alterations!

  23. That’s fantastic Suzie!! Can’t wait to see the photos. It reminded me of when my daughter collected her dress (for her wedding in early October) she rang me to say she was dancing around the house in it because she felt so special when she wore it. So happy for you 😊

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