Wedding Dress Shopping Round Two: Finding THE dress!

It’s nearly a week later, but I still can’t quite believe it… I’ve ordered my wedding dress!

It's such a huge relief because I was genuinely starting to worry that I was never going to find one, but HURRAH! I have and it is GORGEOUS!

Mum and I celebrated with cake and champagne! PERFECT combo

Last week, I had six appointments booked at various shops in Liverpool and Southport (my hometown), but I only ended up going to two and cancelled the rest.

My first appointment was at The Brides Room of Birkdale. I grew up in Birkdale and I have loads of memories of walking past the shop after school with my friend Hannah and talking about what sort of wedding dress we’d have when we grow up (yikes – does that mean I’m grown up now??)

I didn’t get my hopes up at all before the appointment, however, due to my first wedding dress shopping experience in Chester, which was slightly disappointing (read all about that here).

Thankfully, it couldn’t have been more different at The Brides Room of Birkdale. Margaret, the owner, was super friendly and incredibly professional. She let me and my mum have a look around the beautiful dresses, then she picked out five for me to try on.

We could tell instantly that she had been doing that job for years because she picked out the perfect dresses for my body shape (it’s not easy when you’re both petite and curvy!) 

Every single dress I tried on was absolutely gorgeous. It also helped that she pulled each dress in and fitted them really well – unlike the first shop I went to, where the assistant didn’t pin any of them properly and Loren and Cas had to pull the each dress in so I could get a better idea.

The dress, which is now known as ‘the one’ (aaaah!), was the last one I tried on and I knew straight away that it was special. I kept it on for a while and we experimented with lots of different looks, using accessories and veils, while mum took loads of pictures (… and got a bit teary again – bless her!)

Although at the time I was 99.9% sure I’d found ‘the one,’ I still had my sensible hat on and wanted to go away and think about it. Margaret didn’t put any pressure on me at all, she told me to take my time and reassured me that there was plenty of time to order it and arrange the alterations (again – a completely different experience to the Chester shop).

Mum and I went away, had a glass of wine and a good, long chat while looking at the (MANY) pictures. I still had another appointment the following evening at The Wedding Rooms in Formby, then four more over the next two days in Liverpool. We decided that we’d still go to the appointment the next evening, but if we didn’t find any others that came close to ‘the’ dress, then we’d cancel the other appointments.

So, the next evening, we went to The Wedding Rooms. It’s a really lovely shop and is perfect for trying on dresses, as they have a nice big changing room and two sofas for your friends and family to sit on. They also have loads of pretty accessories and veils to try on, so you get a really good idea of which accessories work well with the dresses.

The Wedding Rooms in Formby is another lovely shop

I tried on five dresses there, but the whole time I just couldn’t stop thinking about 'the one'... I thought nothing compared to it and mum agreed.

So, we cancelled the other appointments and made another one in Birkdale so I could go and try on ‘the one’ again.

As soon as I put it on, I just knew it was definitely my wedding dress. I was 99.9% sure a couple of days before, but then, I was absolutely 100% sure. I didn’t cry though, which was a little strange for me, as I totally thought I would! I was just so excited, I couldn’t stop smiling and I didn’t want to take it off.

When I could finally be convinced to take the dress off *sob* we ordered it! Then we went into Southport and celebrated with a lovely lunch, a bottle of champagne and cake! (I have to make the most of it before operation ‘shredding for the wedding’ officially begins!)

Now, almost a week later, I still can't stop thinking about the dress, or looking at pictures of it. I’m counting down the days until it arrives at the shop and I can have my first fitting! :)