My Wedding Dress

I haven't been on here in a while but my last post was of my excitement of my parcel being shipped.

When I returned home, after waiting anxiously for about two hours whilst my neighbour (who had my dress due to signing for it), was out (how dare he!! lol) I was overjoyed when he eventually returned home and brought me my special delivery.

Husband-to-be was sent downstairs as I rummaged through the packaging and unfolded my garment. At first sight I was not disappointment. My risk had paid off! It was beautiful.

To make it easier for everyone I will list a score out of one to ten on quality, design etc. So here goes....

Material - 10/10.

My dress was made out of a very heavy and gorgeous taffeta, with lace undertones and detailed with small ivory pearls and gentle sequins. To be honest, I didn't expect it to be quite so heavy. But I can honestly say it completely matched the bridal shop dresses in material quantity and quality. I actually struggled to keep it lifted as I stared at it's never-ending detail it was that heavy! All in all a big ten out ten for the material. Exactly what a wedding dress should be like but without the big designer price tag.

Design - 9/10

The design is almost exactly identical to the Mori Lee dress pictured above. Obviously it's not 100% identical, but I love it all the same. In fact I actually prefer my actually dress to that of the Mori Lee one. It is far more detailed and the skirt seems to be fuller, which I like.

I asked 'Your Bridal Wear' to customise it slightly by adding a sweetheart neckline, which they have and I am very pleased with the results. Really can't fault it except for the fact that it's not identical to the picture and therefore could mislead people and perhaps disappoint them if they don't like some of the finer details added. However I'm not overly fussy and as it happens love what they have done with it!

Fit - 10/10

It was clear from the start that my wedding dress was built to fit me...big busted with a drawn in waist and a big skirt to disguise a big bum!!

Once I had stepped into the dress and had help pulling and pushing, tucking and tightening the lace up corset back and vast skirt I was very comfortably tied into it securely. It fitted me perfectly and whats more had plenty of room for expansion (most probably!) or deflation (if only!).

The lace up back was strong and stable, it took a while to thread it all through and pull tight whilst still allowing me to breath (only just!!), but that's to be expected with all dresses of this nature.

Once in and tightened, the dress really took on it's true form. The bust was generous, which is only a good thing in my books, so I would suggest for smaller ladies make sure you get your measurements exact especially around this area. You don't want to end up looking like you have had a dodgy boob job done especially for your wedding day!

The waist measurement was, again, perfect with plenty of room for alterations in weight. It made me feel secure but not freshly squeezed!

To wear, the dress felt heavy but manageable and just like a wedding dress of that size should. If you are opting for something lighter or simpler then I would expect different results of course. I would go into the exact feel, weight and overall 'move-ability' of the dress but as it really is dress dependant and everyone is different I won't go into details.

Service - 8/10

The service from Your Bridal Wear was good but not fantastic. Now don't get me wrong, I am 100% pleased with my dress but I think the service could have been a little clearer.

For example, some of the emails were a little cryptic. I didn't mind this at all but it didn't come across as very professional. Some brides may worry at this which is I have had to mark the score down to 8/10.

Otherwise the service was friendly, helpful and overall pleasing. Sometimes I had to wait a few days for email replies but they always got back to me in the end.

Delivery - 10/10

Well not much explanation needed here really, delivery was sent through a courier (DHL I believe), to which I was duly informed the same day that my dress was on my way to me and was even given a tracking number!

With that I made sure I tracked my dress from the depot centre right to my house. This gave me reassurance and I felt that in this respect the delivery side of things went extremely smoothly and even 'upped' the excitability factor further. The dress took one day to get to me and had to be signed for. I wasn't at home when the dress arrived so my kind neighbour signed for it for me. Looking back I kind of wish I had put down my works address as delivery destination but hey that was my problem not theirs!

Price - 11/10!!!

Well this was the deciding factor for me in the first place. A designer dress in very similar style in a bridal boutique would have cost me upwards of £800.00! Gasp!

This dress however cost me a very modest £165.00. Together with the 3-hooped underskirt the grand total came to £186.00.

I really can't tell you what a total and utter relief being able to buy a great quality dress at this price has given me. I had doomed thoughts about having to buy a designer dress, leaving me hundreds of pounds in debt.

Overall Thoughts & Review

A bride just wants to look and feel beautiful in a stunning gown and until now I thought you had to spend mega bucks to achieve this...but I was really very very wrong.

Ok so I took a risk, I could have hated the dress when it arrived or been completely unrealistic about the whole thing and stomped me feet if one thread was out of place but luckily I just ain't that kinda girl!

I knew what I was buying into, I didn't expect it to be perfect (although pretty much perfect was what I got!) and I certainly didn't expect it to come as quickly as it did.

A bridal boutique offers an extended service. Not only can you browse for hours, trying on all sorts of weird and wonderful dresses but they also offer a personalised fitting service and whats more will make sure your dress is perfectly crease free for your big day.

Your Bridal Wear does not offer this. But it was my opinion that these 'extra' little services that a bridal boutique provides can actually be undertaken elsewhere for a budget price.

For example, if you receive your dress and it needs slightly taking in or letting out, then go to a trusted seamstress. Usually they tend to be reasonably priced and most can do wonderful things with wedding garments whatever your request.

Likewise, if you need your dress steamed or pressed, ready for your special day, take it to a trusted launders. Don't forget that this is what these services are here for, and plus most dry cleaners have probably had hundreds of wedding dresses in for special treatments such as these.

The big obstacle is fitting the dress to make sure the style that you pick actually suits your figure. Now I can't stress how important this is. I personally visited a bridal boutique before I ordered my dress online as I wanted to get a feel for what sort of dress would look good on me.

I have a full but curvy hourglass figure so, like most body shapes, not every dress is going to 'love' me. Having a chance to fit on a variety of styles and designs gave me a much needed insight as to the type of dress which suited me.

Once you have found the style that you love and that 'loves' your figure, be sure to mentally note down the neckline, what sort of skirt you want (full, slim, medium etc), back and fastening details i.e. zip up, lace up etc and the smaller details like ruching, beading and the length of the train.

Once you have them in hand the world (or website) is your oyster! Take care to pick up on the smaller details, as they really do count and whats more whichever company you buy from ask them for a stock photograph of the actually dress that you are going to be ordering.

Most companies use the actually designers picture, which obviously can cause confusion as some ladies may think they are getting that exact dress which in fact they are not. In most cases it will be a look-a-like replica.

Your Bridal Wear emailed me over a photograph of the dress that they had made for a customer previously. It was a great indication of the actual dress I would receive and allowed me to have a say in what I wanted alterating i.e. sweetheart neckline.

Be careful where you buy from, the reason I choose Your Bridal Wear is because Ann is actually based in the UK. I think the company as a whole is based elsewhere (China I think), but I knew my dress was coming from the UK which gave me a little reassurance.

Read and research before you commit, don't trust just the one good review (unless it's my review your counting;). I was lucky enough to be part of a bridal forum, of whom many users had personally used the website and were very pleased with the dresses. But obviously not every girl is going to want to trawl the bridal forums in search of a bargain dress maker. This is why I created this blog. I hope to help lots of other ladies, in a similar budgeting situation, so that they don't feel like they have to compromise their dress for the sake of not being able to afford a designer one.

Think of it as bridal wear for the high street, a lot like Topshop or River Island. They take a designers idea and replicate it for the masses at an affordable price.

If however you have the money to spend lots of a wedding dress than go for it! I would if I had the spare cash, it is after all a lot less stressful doing it that way as the bridal shop will take care of everything for you.

But whatever you do, don't think that you are the only lady to go through this wedding dress nightmare. Whatever your budget, there is a beautiful dress out there waiting for you:)

Pictures of me in my dress will be coming soon....