The Dress
Apparently the first thing every bride starts shopping for is THE DRESS. Turns out that’s every bride except for me.
You see, anyone who knows me in any capacity will probably be able to tell you how much food related drama there has been in our lives over the past few years, or should I say drama over lack of food that I can actually eat. It’s been an ongoing saga which has basically turned me into a tired, involuntary vegan with the exception of eggs (at time of writing), and the whole thing has been causing me to feel, well, pretty rubbish if I’m honest.
So imagine trying to face shopping for the most important outfit you will ever wear. Having to strip down in front of a total stranger, feeling like you need to explain how it’s possible to feel bloated, unconfident and in pain while everyone in the room tells you what a nice figure you have. Everyone except for the mirror, who agrees with you that you have no figure at all because you can hardly eat anything substantial.
I know, it’s a first world problem. But every time the conversation of getting married comes up the first question, without fail, is ‘oooh have you sorted your dress yet?’. When you tell them you haven’t even tried one on, the look you get is a bizarre combination of shock, disbelief and panic on your behalf, topped off with a bit of pity as they’re convinced you’re never going to find anything in such a short space of time and you’re going to be stuck.
I did actually come up with a plan that would take away the whole seriousness of finding a dress. I had been talking to ‘Say Yes To The Dress UK’ for some time, and they were really keen for me to go on the show but unfortunately we were unable to find filming dates that worked for myself and my ‘entourage’.
When we got into 2018 I knew that I needed to start taking it seriously. I just couldn’t put it off any longer, so I booked some appointments in Liverpool, and off I went with my Mum and Maid of Honour in tow for some much needed support.
I knew I should be excited, but I’ll be honest, I was absolutely terrified. I was scared I wouldn’t find anything I liked, that nothing would look right on me and that I would just feel plain weird in a wedding dress. But more than anything, I was so worried that nothing on this planet could make me feel confident on my wedding day, which is a very scary concept.
The trip to Liverpool wasn’t completely fruitless. The first shop granted was an epic waste of time and quite frankly re-affirmed everything I had been literally loosing sleep over, but thankfully we found a very sympathetic lady in one shop that we chanced upon who was absolutely amazing. She figured out the style for me, helped me work out which elements of the dress were the most important to me, and actually gave me quite a lot of confidence. It was a real shame in the end that they didn’t have ‘the one’, but c’est la vie and all that.
I set to work hunting down styles I liked, then designers I liked, followed by dresses I liked and then finally shops within a 50 mile radius that stocked those dresses. Because of the unique way my brain seems to work this actually didn’t take too long, the catch was trying to actually get appointments to try on the dresses. It turns out that for some reason everyone seems to be shopping for wedding dresses straight after Christmas, who knew?!
Because I was now starting to quietly freak out that I was going to end up buying my wedding dress from the Trafford Centre because I couldn’t find anything else, I took any appointment I could get to work through my designer hit list. I even took my new found confidence to a shop on my own to try on some of the dresses, which was actually quite liberating if I’m honest even if it was still a bit scary.
The winner was what for now we will refer to as a mystery dress shop in Bolton. Unfortunately this appointment was on a feeling dizzy level of pain day so I wasn’t feeling great in myself at all, but the amazing lady who took my appointment was actually the owner of the shop and she was so lovely.
She took time to ask me what I was after before we even looked at dresses, checked the budget (let’s not go there) before I tried anything on, and was really sympathetic to the general feeling rubbish situation.
A bizarre combination of events meant that my mum and dad were both with me at this particular appointment, which was actually really lovely as I think I had been lacking a bit of male brutality to help me make decisions.
I couldn’t believe that I actually found MY DRESS. A dress that I was happy in on a bad day. I guess in a way that kind of worked out, as by May I’m hoping to feel so much better then nothing will be able to stop me.
I had to laugh at the end of my final dress appointment when my new friend said to me; ‘I have to say, for someone getting married in four months, you’re very calm.’
Yep, that’s how I’m feeling. Very calm…
So you’ve all heard that saying about swans, right?