Wedding Dress Shopping Round One: Prosecco, Princess Dresses and Pushy Salespeople!

So, I had my first session of wedding dress shopping last weekend (YAY!) It was great fun, with lots of laughs, smiles and even a few tears.

Pretty dresses aaahhhh!

Firstly, wedding dress shopping is a BIG thing and you want to feel AMAZING when you’re trying on all these super fancy frocks, so I would definitely recommend having a serious pamper the day before.

I had my hair coloured and cut, then finished with a great big, bouncy curly blow (as much as I love living in Cumbria, you really do get the best curly blows in good ol’ Merseyside!) That evening, I ran a hot bubble bath with my favourite Molton Brown bath goodies, plucked my eyebrows, popped a Lush face mask on (review post coming soon!), did a lip scrub and painted my nails and toenails. The only pampering treat I missed out was a fake tan, as that is apparently a massive no-no while wedding dress shopping (nobody wants an orange dress!)

I was walking on air after my amazing pamper session and my mum and I went to pick up my best friend Loren and her mum (my godmother) Cas from the train station, then we had a bottle of champagne and raised a glass to the incredibly exciting weekend that was ahead!

The next morning, we woke up to beautiful blue skies and sunshine. I wanted to wear an outfit that wouldn’t be too much of a faff to whip on and off while trying on dresses (buttons were a definite no-go) so I wore a simple white top (I couldn’t resist wearing something white!), black capri pants, sandals and my favourite pink mac.

We headed off to sunny Chester, but annoyingly, we got stuck in horrendous traffic at Runcorn Bridge. The whole journey took us 90 minutes longer than we expected and I missed my first appointment, ANNOYING!

Stuck in the car selfie. There was sheer panic behind these happy smiles...

We arrived at the second shop I’d booked an appointment with. I’ve been debating whether or not to name the shop, but I’ve decided I’m not going to for reasons that will become clear further down this blog post...

The four of us arrived at the same time as another girl and her family and we were all taken up to a room which was filled with dresses. If I had to guess there was probably at least 50, so plenty to choose from.

Los and I got SO excited, we dived straight in (almost literally) and picked some dresses out. This was at the same time as the other girl who was there, which made it kind of awkward, as it felt a bit like a race to find which dresses we both wanted before the other one could choose them.

Then, for some reason that none of us could work out, the other girl (I think throughout this post she’s going to be known as “the other girl!”) was taken into a private room with a nice big sofa and a cold glass of Pimm’s. Now, I don’t want to sound petty, but I was a little peeved. I was in the main room and, although I had a curtain to get changed behind, I was still very much out in the open and whenever anyone from the other party came out of their room, they could see me. 

It might sound silly, but trying on wedding dresses is such an intimate thing that I just didn’t feel completely comfortable having complete strangers wandering around at the same time.

The assistant who was “looking after us” also didn’t offer to get any extra chairs, which meant my mum, Los and Cas had to take it in turns to sit down. Throughout the two hours we were there, we also weren’t offered any refreshments. Now, although I absolutely wouldn’t have turned down a cold glass of Pimm’s… a tea, coffee, heck, even a glass of water would’ve been nice!

Another annoying thing was that she didn’t make much effort at all to make any of the dresses fit me properly. She pinned them all at the back because the sizes were massive on me, but none of the dresses I tried on looked right until either Los or Cas stepped in and pulled them in for me, so I could see how they would fit on the bust, waist and stomach.

Anyway, initial annoyances aside, I tried on some really beautiful dresses. I went there with an open mind, so even though some of the dresses made me look like a blingtastic toilet roll holder, they were definitely worth trying on because at least then I could eliminate those styles from my search.

I don’t want to give too much away, of course, but the dress style I soon learnt suited my body shape was the complete opposite style to the one I’d always assumed would suit me best. It just goes to show that it’s worth trying on lots of different shapes and styles.

"Is this really happening??"

"IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING??"

One particularly emotional and lovely moment was when I found the dress that could potentially be “the one” and the assistant put a veil in my hair. Cas and Los cried, and even my mum got teary (I’ve NEVER seen my mum cry, ever, in my whole life).

My face when I tried on the dress that could be "the one"!

I was almost tempted to buy “the one” right there and then, but I remembered to put my sensible hat on and I told the assistant that as much as I loved the dress, I wouldn’t be buying anything that day, as it was my very first shopping trip.

After I said that, we all noticed her body language change (not that she had been particularly helpful before) and she began to remind me that it would be a very tight schedule to order the dress in and finish any alterations before my wedding date (which is next March, so not exactly round the corner!) She also tried to persuade me to buy it by saying that they’d throw in the veil for free – not exactly a deal breaker when you’re already spending a lot of money on a dress.

I completely closed off when she acted the way she did and it reaffirmed my decision that I would definitely not be buying anything that day (and probably not from them!)

Afterwards, we went to this really cute little champagne bar, had a glass of bubbles and agreed that it was the right decision to walk away. I was really worried that I would regret it, but I think it was the right choice… I might just have to track that dress down to a different shop!

Luckily, my friend Chelsea has given me some great recommendations, so I’m going to plan another shopping trip in a couple of weeks, so hopefully my next blog post will be much more positive! I hate being a Moaning Mary, but thought I should be totally honest about the whole experience. 

Also, if anyone has any bridal shop recommendations in Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria, please let me know! x