Something a little bit special

At Especially For You we are always trying to find ways of making the day a little bit more special for you (and you wonder how we came up with our business name!). We already ensure that everything we do for you as a bride is perfect, priding ourselves on our customer service and the time and effort we put into making sure your dream day goes that little bit smoother.

The one thing we could never figure out was how to add a final finishing touch to your dress in order to personalise it a step further (without anyone else having to know). We’ve always sewn little blue ribbon bows onto the inside of the dress if people have asked, some brides have wanted a little pouch in the skirts to hold a string of pearls from their grandmother.  Then, a breakthrough.

Why don’t we add a ribbon label into the dresses with your name, ours and the wedding date? We knew it had to be done carefully, and look professional (not tacky!) because this is a dress that is going to stay with you for a long time, maybe forever, and the last thing we wanted to do was ruin it. We sketched the design out on paper first, trying to work out the dimensions needed for the ribbon not to be noticeable on the outside, because if too big it would be bulky and show through. For that matter, we needed to know where we were going to sew it in the dress. Luckily, Carole had that covered; suggesting the best place would be at the back of the dress just to the side of the fastening up the back. On the sketching front, it took a few attempts to get the scale right, you can easily tell if you look at this attempt and then the real one just below.

After deciding that the ribbon should be about 4" by 1.5", we needed to work out which kind of ribbon to use. As a sewing amateur at the best of times, I had just presumed we would sew straight onto the shiny stuff, and all would be well. Apparently not. A local business has a special sewing machine which can stitch our design onto the first kind of ribbon, and looked at the result. It had all pulled, the ribbon no longer just a rectangular shape. Obviously, with the needles pushing through the ribbon and pulling the threads tight, the ribbon had become misshapen, not really the chic look we were going for.

Obviously the ribbon we used would have to be a bit stiffer, less shiny so that the sewing machine would find it easy to sew our pattern on. Carole came up with an ivory grosgrain ribbon, quite a ridged one which would keep its shape. And it worked, see the results for yourself, I have to say we’re quite proud of ourselves (not that I contributed really – blaming the amateur sewing skill again!).

Do you like what we’ve done with the labels, or is there something we could change about them? We are always open to suggestions, and would love to hear what you think. Comment down below, or tweet us @especiallybride . Thanks for reading, until the next #weddingwednesday.

Emma at Especially For You x 

Wedding Dresses That Changed History

  We've been out of action for a few months now on our blog; January sees the start of our busy months, usually right through to October. To make up for it, this week's Wedding Wednesday is going to be something a bit different. We work in a wedding shop, and talk about our dresses ALL THE TIME, yet we never really talk about what influences the styles of dresses we sell. At the moment, brides are buying a lot of lace dresses, many with straps, sleeves or high necklines. Three guesses at what brought on this mini-obsession with all things lacy! If you really don't want to hear, in any way shape or form, about The Royal Wedding, maybe now would be the time to stop reading. However, we're not going to start with 2011, we are going to go a bit further back in time...

1937 - Wallis Simpson marries the Duke of Windsor  

  The first in this gallery of wedding dresses is the dress of Wallis Simpson, designed by the house of Mainbocher (founded by Main Rousseau Bosher in 1929). A very simple column dress, with an internally structured jacket helped show off Simpson's beautiful figure. Her hair piece was a chic straw hat, decorated with tulle and feather detailing, and for jewellery there was a charm bracelet of crosses (each of the nine crosses had a significant event from the couple's lives together) and a brooch worn at the neck. Although impossible to see from this photograph, the dress was actually a very pale blue colour, which was quite unusual for weddings of this era. Do you know of any brides who had a dress which wasn't white or ivory? We'd love to see a picture if you have one, just put it down in the comments section below.

1947 - Princess Elizabeth marries Philip Mountbatten

In postwar Britain, the pomp and ceremony of a royal wedding were exactly what was needed to lift the spirits of the people. This dress, designed by Norman Hartnell, didn't fail to deliver. With some inspiration coming from the goddess Flora's dress in La Primavera, Hartnell used his expertise in costume design to create a silk satin dress that would 'wow'. There is a floral theme throughout this dress, with intricate patterns running along the neckline and cuffs of the sleeves, and then through the skirt. Unusually, the train is actually attached at the shoulders, and flows down the length of the dress, and four metres along the floor (fit for the venue of the wedding). To complete this dress, over 10,000 seed pearls which were used in the embroidery were imported from America. The ensemble was finished perfectly with the Queen Mary Fringe Tiara, Elizabeth's 'something borrowed' from her mother. On the day of the wedding, the tiara actually snapped; luckily the court jeweller was on hand in case of any difficulties, and the tiara was mended.

1955 - Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainer of Monaco

  Grace Kelly's wedding dress was designed by Helen Rose, also a costume designer, this time for screen at MGM. Although the dress looks quite simple, the structure underneath, in order to get the dress so fitted to Grace Kelly's figure, was extremely complex. The skirt was pleated at the waist and ended with a small train, all made from silk taffeta (underneath which were two petticoats of tulle). At the back of the dress there was a lace insert in a triangular shape, decorated with pretty bows. Then there was the lace bodice, with each piece of lace individually pieced together onto a tulle framework, so the effect was almost of lace appliqué.
  All this detail didn't come cheap, estimates at the cost of the dress put it at $7,200, which doesn't really seem that much, until you convert in into today's money. The total stands at a dizzying $60,000, although MGM decided to give Grace Kelly the dress free, in order to benefit from the additional publicity.

1981 - Lady Diana Spencer marries Prince Charles

Possibly the most memorable wedding dress in living memory was Princess Diana's by David and Elizabeth Emanuel. At only twenty years old, Diana could have easily been swamped by her dress and 40 ft veil (which had sequins all hand embroidered onto the bobbin net), but somehow the designers managed to create a design which flattered and suited her perfectly. The fabric was a paper taffeta, tulle and lace, made into a stunningly romantic dress. The rich cream ivory and the double frill around the neckline only add to this dress's charm and couture feel.

On the front of the bodice, there was a lace panel, edged with a row of pearls which also surround the waist. The sleeves and at the elbow, with large frills to tie in with the neckline of the dress, and lace similar to that of the bodice. It's the tiny details, though, that show the love and care that went into making this dress. On the label at the back of the dress was sewn a tiny gold horseshoe, and a little blue bow was sewn to the waist band.

2011 - Catherine Middleton marries Prince William

  This stunning lace dress was designed by Alexander McQueen's Creative Director Sarah Burton. The dress shows Kate's figure off beautifully; there aren't many people who can pull off box pleats at the waist like this. A classic sweetheart neckline is set off beautifully by the tulle cover and sleeves, covered in dazzling lace appliqué.  Something special about this lace, apart from the fact the needles to make it were replaced every 3 hours, is that it includes the four emblems from the United Kingdom. Somewhere on the dress, there is a daffodil, a shamrock, a rose and a thistle. It's this attention to detail which Sarah Burton is famous for. The train on this dress, although long, is a lot more manageable the Diana's, but still looked stunning as Kate walked down the aisle at Westminster Abbey.
  The bridal collections the season after the royal wedding had obviously drawn some inspiration from this dress. We have seen a vast increase in the number of brides-to-be asking for lace, and the dresses available for us to order have a lot more choice. An element of the luxurious is becoming more affordable, as lace covers and lace appliqué dresses have become more widely available. We love lace here at Especially For You, and hope that this trend continues.

2011 - Kate Moss marries Jamie Hince

The final dress of our blog post today is the dress designed by John Galliano for Kate Moss. It has quite a festival feel to it, with floating fabrics and a ruffle at the hem. The skirt is sequinned with silver and gold, and runs in feather like patterns down through the train. It's the vintage and ethereal qualities which make this dress so unlike any before it, with not so much structure in the bodice as a classic wedding dress. We have seen some of this vintage theme with our brides, with colours such as rose and pale greens becoming quite popular, but we can't decide whether it was just changing times, or the influence of the wedding of the Queen of British Fashion.

  When you think of the most influential wedding dresses, do you think of one that we haven't mentioned? Or did something else influence your choices, like looking through your mother's wedding photos? Are there any dresses you'd like us to see of 'dresses before their time'? Why don't you post a picture into the comments section, or tweet it to us @EspeciallyBride on twitter. We'd also love to hear your comments about our post. Thanks for reading, and come back next #WeddingWednesday !

It's March And We Have Never Been So Busy

This week's Wedding Wednesday will be a bit different from the usual, we want to give you an update on how our little shop in Lancashire is doing. This year, we have a lot of brides with weddings booked for May, and even more in August, which means this time of year is our busiest. In August, we have five weddings on one weekend! FIVE! It's not just now, when everyone in August is buying, that is busy, it'll also be the month before the weddings, when Carole has ten wedding dresses to alter all for two weeks in summer.

It's not just bridal dresses that we're selling a lot of, brides just visiting for bridesmaids dresses has increased dramatically. Some have tried buying on the high street and haven't found the dresses they want, others have heard about our bridesmaid discount on any order for more than two dresses (click here to see our bridesmaid post). Sometimes, brides come in expecting to just (and we say 'just') to buy a bridal dress, and then end up describing their ideal bridesmaid dresses, and the colour they want for them, and we just happen to have something they're looking for. That way, if bridesmaids have come with the bride to help, they can try on a dress, stand next to the bride, and it gives a great overall picture of what the scene would be like on the day.

This is also the time of year for wedding fayres, which are usually on a Sunday, this was the subject of our previous Wedding Wednesday post, if you read it you would have realised how much work we put into wedding fayres and their preparation. It takes up a lot of our time, as Sunday is usually our catch up day, where all the paper work is processed from the week and where Carole spends most of the day completing alterations on the bridal dresses.

As you can see, we are going to be pretty run off our feet for the next couple of months at least, be it wedding fayres, brides alterations, dressing brides on their special day, or a million and one bridesmaid appointments. If you ever want to make an appointment with us, try to ring to book in advance. As we are quite a small shop, we like to have only one bride in at once, and it would be a shame to come all the way here to find we can't squeeze you in. We do have a fully refundable £20 booking fee for appointments, which we can take over the phone. This is refunded at the end of your appointment, or if you cancel the appointment with at least 24 hours notice.

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment below if you have any questions, we'll try our best to answer them.

Wedding Fayre Season

   We have come to the time of year when the Wedding Fayres are in full swing, and we have to say, we've been looking forward to it for months now. It's a hectic business - running around finding dresses to put on stands, and shoes for models to wear on the catwalk - but it's a lot of fun. From now until the end of March, nearly every other Sunday is spent travelling and setting up at another wedding fayre.

A reception room at Barton Grange ©

   Last week we went to the Barton Grange Hotel in Lancashire (Click Here to go to their website). We didn't participate in the catwalk this time, but we did have a stand with a few of our dresses, a beautiful little flower girl dress and and lots of tiaras and jewellery. Wedding fayres are such great places to get inspiration and ideas from, for example, at Barton Grange we were between two stands, on our left they were advertising dove releases, and on our right there were two stilt walkers and a fire breathing magician (we made sure he didn't get anywhere near our dresses!).

   When we are doing a catwalk show at a wedding fayre, the preparation is often the hardest part. First we need to find all the models for the show; a lot of them are previous brides who liked trying on dresses so much they carried on after they got married! We then find the dresses for each model, about six and a mix of bridal and bridesmaid dresses. They need to try their dresses on, to make sure each dress fits the models well. After a few times working with the same models, we already know the dresses that fit them, so we know who to ask when we want to bring certain dresses.
   It's then a case of being as organised as possible. We write a list of the models, the thirty-or-so dresses are written next to them. The night before the wedding fayre, we gather all the dresses together, and after checking them over, we number them according to who is wearing them, and at which point in the catwalk (this is so that the brides watching can write down the dress numbers and ask us about them later, as you can see here on the left).

We then find jewellry and tiaras that compliment the dresses each model is wearing. This is often difficult as we can only take one tiara and necklace for each model, and some of their dresses are very different. We need to strike a balance between jewellery looking amazing with one dress and not suiting the others, and looking good for them all. The models can pick their own shoes out of our collection, because they need to be comfortable walking around a lot on the day.
   We bag the dresses up, box the jewellery, tiaras and shoes, collapse some dress rails to use at the fayre and take enough brochures for everyone - who visits our stand after the catwalk - to take. On the morning of the wedding fayre, we attempt to fit it all in the car.
   Upon arrival, we hang all the dresses on the rails in their running order and the models go to get their hair and makeup ready, taking the tiaras with them to the style their hair around them.



   15 minutes before the show is due to start, we get all the models into their first dresses, and go through the running order with them a few more times. once all the watching brides are seated, we start the music and get the show on the road. Some bridal stores like to narrate over their catwalk shows, but we feel it can distract the spectators, and the music gives a better atmosphere. Often, if a bride-to-be likes a dress she sees, she'll come up to our stand later on and ask us all about it.
   During the show, we have only seconds to get a model in and out of her dresses, as three models are usually out on the catwalk at once. Once we reach the end, all the models come out onto the walkway for the 'bride-to-be's to see the dresses one last time. After this, we get all the models backstage and back into their normal clothes (it's all a bit underwhelming after wearing wedding dresses for an hour!) and get back to our stand.


It may sound really stressful, and it can be at sometimes, but we really enjoy going to wedding fayres and meeting future brides for the first time. It's brilliant to think that we have the opportunity to help and guide you on the way to your big day! We hope you have enjoyed this week's Wedding Wednesday; next week we're blogging about summer weddings. Feel free to comment below if you have any questions, or would like us to blog about a particular aspect of wedding planning or the big day.

Designer Weekends

Designer weekends are a great way to see the latest collections from a designer. They bring in all of their latest collection for you to see, even ones that we don't currently hold in stock in our store (as we only have a limited amount of space). When we are ordering in the first dresses of each collection, it is really difficult to choose which ones to buy and which ones we can't. That's one of the reasons we enjoy Designer Weekends so much, as we also get to see anything we missed out on. If we find that one dress gets a lot of orders from a designer weekend, we might decide to order it in the future.

This Saturday and Sunday at Especially For You, we have arranged for you to see the latest collection from the Opulence Bridal and the latest accessories collection from Liza Designs . This is a fabulous opportunity to see what each designer has to offer, especially if you've had a look at the Opulence Bridal website, and know that these are the kinds of dresses for you.

As this is our first designer weekend of 2014, we have decided to give a 14% discount on any orders placed for Opulence dresses on this weekend. It is an 'appointment only' event held on the 15th and 16th of February. Both collections will only be here for the two days, so if you are ready to choose your gown, make an appointment to come and see the dresses by calling on 01772 785334 soon, or leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. To give you an idea of the kind styles that the Opulence Collection has, here are some pictures, all with the names of the dresses underneath. Hope you enjoyed this week's Wedding Wednesday, and we hope to see you this on the 15th and 16th of February.

Albercete

Biscay

Castelion

Girona

Madrid

Back of Salvador

January Carole's Corner

January 2014

Every year I promise myself that in the quieter months of November & December I will catch up with all those jobs that are labelled ‘one day.’ Have I got them done? No is the answer to that, again! I have done some of them and one day they may all get done, but by then there will be lots more have joined the never ending pile. Simple rule is, if it’s not for a customer, it goes onto the ‘one day’ pile.

Here is one of my ‘one day’ shelves, not a pretty sight!

So now here we are well into the first month of a new year and I have met lots of lovely new Brides-to-be who have moved into wedding planning mode and many of our Brides returning to carry on with their plans. So the start of 2014 has been a very busy one so far with a long list of weddings for this year I think I am going to be kept out of mischief!

I love sewing and perfecting the fit of a dress, this is something that I have loved doing since my school days, shhhh that’s a long time ago. What many of you don’t know is that I also love creating your invitations to give your guests an insight into your day from the time their invitation drops through their door. The creation of the invitation is the start of the creating and for the day I will create seating plan, post box & place cards all to co-ordinate with the invitation and your day.

Invitations were the start of my business. About 14 years ago, with a business partner, I started making invitations, favours and other customised accessories, making them at home and selling through wedding  and craft fayres. Time moved on and life made many changes and I bought the shop in 2001 with the intention of selling those items from within the shop. There was more space than required for the items sold in the shop area so dresses were introduced and back to my first skill, sewing. As any of you that have visited my shop will know, it is now very full, wedding dresses take a lot of space! Many new customers walk through the door each week and are amazed at the choices on offer. Friendly service is at the top of the list for me, with privacy and discretion on an equal level, it is a privilege to be helping you with your plans, you may walk in as a stranger but you will be a friend very soon.

There is always lots to do when you are helping an long list of Brides-to-be plan the best day of their lives, I am always here to help with many aspects of the build up and your day and love hearing your plans and helping you pull everything together to co-ordinate and flow.

Looking forward to seeing you soon. Carole x

Doing Your Research

This week's Wedding Wednesday post is all about doing your research before you buy. Although a few weeks ago we told you that sometimes you should just go with your instinct and buy, it is also sensible to know what kind of dress styles you are interested in. This blog is about some steps you could go through to help you find your dream dress.

Collecting Your Initial Ideas

Eco-Green Wedding Theme ©myrivierawedding

Take time to look through wedding magazines. Although a lot of them are full of adverts, there are many helpful sections (not just on wedding dresses either). Often there are whole sections on themes for your wedding day, we think this is such a good idea. It is often hard to think of colour schemes and themes, but the ideas in magazines have been thoroughly thought out with examples of how you could pull it off.

Many magazines will show you what's in vogue this season, this can be useful but don't get too tied up in the styles. If you really like the style of a dress, don't be put off because it's not a brand new dress style. It's your dress, and no one is going to be able to tell on the day if it's 2014 or 2009. If you think you won't be able to get hold of an older style, think again, many shops hold stock from the previous couple of years, and often it is these gowns which go into the sales.

After Booking Appointments

     Most bridal stores have clear websites which will show you many of the dresses they have in store. It's always nice to have a bride come in who has an idea of the styles she likes, or even if there was a style that she wants to stay away from. Some brides come in to our shop with the name of the perfect dress from our site, and then go on to buy it, others talk about the kind of fabric they like and we go from there. Remember, not all dresses look the same in person, so you don't necessarily want to rule out a dress completely because you didn't like the photograph. 

     Write down any dresses you like on the website and say why. Comments on style only help us help you choose your dress. We have such a varied collection at Especially For You that it would be hard to try every style in one appointment. If there are any other images you've found from searching the internet, save a picture onto your phone and bring it in. Any way in which we can help you find the dress of your dreams is a bonus to us.

     Also arrive with an idea of budget. Our website is sorted into price brackets, so you can have an idea of the price of a dress. When you arrive, we don't want to show you any dress that you can't afford, it's unfair if you then fall in love with it.

     If you want to buy bridesmaid dresses, bring in a colour swatch of the colour you want. Or bring in an object that you like the colour of, like a piece of ribbon, or a flower. It can literally be anything. If you're out and about, and you see the colour that you have been unable to put into words for weeks, pick it up, buy it (we don't condone stealing...) and bring it with you. We bet it is so infuriating for the brides when they can't quite describe the colour that they want to us! 

We hope this has helped to give you some ideas on how the best way research is, but just remember not to get too bogged down with the internet and it's vast amount of information. After all, you never know until you try a dress on what it is going to look like. Please comment and tell us of your researching before your wedding appointments. Did you buy every wedding magazine available or did you just walk into your first appointment with no idea of what you likes? Whatever experiences you had, we would love to know.

Bridesmaids!!!

If you've come here for a review of the film, you might be in the wrong place, but if you're here for the pretty dresses, you have definitely come to the right place! We started this blog last October, and we can't believe we've not done a post on bridesmaids' dresses yet, so that is about to change...

At Especially For You, we mainly stock Alexia bridesmaids' dresses, as we find they have such a wide variety of styles available that there is a dress to suit everyone. Whether the fabric be taffeta or shantung, the dress long or tea length, Alexia have it covered. Then there is the huge array of colours to choose from. Each dress is available in a certain set of colours, we call this their colour card. To give you an idea of how many options you have, on one colour card there are 64 satin colours, on another 42 chiffons. We know it means a lot to a bride to be able to buy her dream bridesmaid dresses, and that means getting the dresses in the colour you really want.

Obviously we can't stock every dress in every colour, and some brides tell us it's is often hard to picture what their bridesmaids dresses will look like in Cadbury's Purple. This is where the Alexia website comes in. Once you order your perfect dresses in the right colour, we will give you a swatch of the fabric. You can go to Alexia's website and change the colour of the dresses pictured to get an overall feel of how the dress will look when it arrives (we always say be careful doing this though, because colours can look different from computer to computer, always refer to the swatch when matching colours).
On to our most popular Bridesmaid dresses, a chiffon dress and a satin dress.

Ax55

This dress is a beautifully flowing chiffon dress, where the tie can be made into a bow at the back over the zip, or hang loosely at the front. As you can see, the dress can be all one colour or two. There are 40 colour choices for this dress, so plenty to choose from. We think one of the reasons this dress is so popular is that it flatters everyone who wears it, whether you wear it as is, or we add chiffon straps. Click here to see the dress on our website. There is also a matching junior bridesmaid style, which is quite unusual to find with bridesmaid dresses, and these range in age from 4 to 16 years. It saves a lot of time when you don't have to go round the high street for a dress that looks similar for a little girl. The little ones have spaghetti straps, but again we can add extra fabric to make larger straps, it depends on how you decide to have yours. Find the junior dress on our website here.

Ax10

 Ax10 is a satin dress that is brilliantly versatile and looks so different in every colour. Like Ax55, you can have the dress all one colour or a main colour with a different band, and with about 60 colours to choose from, there are more than 3600 combinations. That's quite a lot, even the pickiest bridesmaids can't complain about that selection. This is a very flattering style, the satin hangs beautifully and creates an elegant and chic image. Again, there is a matching junior style, perhaps this is why these two styles are so popular. The junior style is available in ages 4 to 16, see it here. We think this might be our favourite satin bridesmaid dress, but why don't you find your own favourite by going on our website.

Now is a great time to order with us because of our brand new bridesmaid discounts. We no longer alter bridesmaid dresses that are ordered with us, so instead, we decided to introduce a discount that has become very popular with our brides. When you're budgeting for a wedding, any savings help. 

Hope you enjoyed this weeks wedding wednesday post, if you've seen the bridesmaid dress of your dreams, don't hesitate to give us a call and book an appointment. If not, have a browse on : www.especiallyforyoubridal.co.uk/bridesmaids

If You Love It, Go For It!!!

This week's Wedding Wednesday follows on quite a bit from last week, where we talked about making sure you didn't visit too many shops with the mindset of "There may be another dress around the corner I haven't seen". When you go out dress shopping, this is the wrong way to think about buying, you need to go with the idea that when you see your dream gown, you buy!
There are a few reasons why you would want to order your dress as soon as you see it:

Friends

Now, having friends is lovely, we all know that, but having friends who are getting married exactly two weeks before you is less lovely (even if you do plaster your face with a smile every time they mention it). If you visit a shop, you need to know if anyone you know has bought a dress from there. Here at Especially For You, we will ask you this when you arrive, so we don't sell the same dress to two friends. It's nice to be able to say that no, none of your friends have their dresses from here, because I GOT HERE FIRST! Once you put your dress on order we can't show it to anyone you know (so make sure you spread the word in your circle where you purchased your dress). Wouldn't it be a shame if you came in, found your perfect dress, waited three months to order it and found your work colleague has ordered the same one.

Gone? Where's It Gone?

Once you've found your dream dress, the last thing you want is for it to disappear. Most shops will sell a dress off the rail if the gown fits a girl really well, or she has a wedding coming up really soon. It would be a disaster if you found out that a dress you loved had gone. You would still probably be able to order the dress into store, but that would mean you wouldn't see the dress until about 20-24 weeks after you ordered it. This is a long time for you to wait for a dress without trying it on for the last time, and it's hard to remember what it looks like exactly, especially when you might be thinking about ordering bridesmaid styles that need to match.

The Designer Says No

Having sold off the rail isn't the worst way you can lose your dream dress. You may find that if you wait too long, your dress has been discontinued, and is no longer available to order. Companies usually give us a months notice before discontinuing a dress, so we can pass this message onto any interested brides to get their orders in, but this isn't something we want brides to have to deal with. A designer will sometimes hold some remaining stock that we can try to get hold of, but the chance of this being the case is small if you want any colour other than ivory.  All this is just adding to your stress levels, and that's not what we want to happen, when you could have had the dress ordered months ago. We do realise, however, that you have less idea than us (and we have very little!) of when a dress will stop being reorderable. The only other way to help you stay out of this situation is to say that a designers dress list will be published twice a year, once at the beginning of Spring, and once at the start of Autumn.

Too Many Dresses

There is such thing as too many dresses, and we've seen this happen too many times. There comes a point when you've tried on so many that you've been blinded to your likes and dislikes. It's hard to remember what looked good and what didn't. You might even lose the One you found a couple of weeks ago. We often find that those who come to us first or after one or two shops find the decision a lot easier than brides who visit after 10 others. There are only so many wedding dresses your brain can cope with before shutting down.


Moral of the story: If you've found it and you love it clap your hands... then order it! Thanks for reading this weeks Wedding Wednesday post, hope to hear from you in the comments.

Happy New Year... Now Get Organising!!!

Planning a wedding is one big task, especially for those who aren't the most organised people in the world. A wedding is meant to be one of the happiest days of your life, but this label just adds more pressure on you to get it perfect. To top it all of, you only get one chance to get it perfect! Here are some of our top tips on how to stay cool when planning the wedding, along with guidelines of when to book venues and order attire.

Make sure you keep a diary 

We like to give a little one to our brides when they purchase from us, just to put in dates like when their dress will arrive in stock, and when next appointment for a fitting is. It can also be a good idea to invest in a big, old fashioned, paper organiser. With these, you can never go wrong. Try to find one with lots of dividers, to make sure you have plenty of room. If you can find an organiser with space for an inspiration board, that would be brilliant. It's always a great help for us bridal stores when a bride comes in with tonnes of ideas in mind. Keep track of your budget in the organiser, along with a guest list and section for important phone numbers. Having all this information in one place just helps to reduce the stress of planning a little bit - the last thing you need on the way to your big day is to lose that scrap of paper with the florist's phone number on, just as you need to tell her there will be one extra buttonhole required.

Ordering Attire

Wedding dress - 

The dress needs to be on order at least 7 months before the day to leave time for alterations, but the usual is about 12 months. Start looking a few months before you want to get your dress ordered, and make sure you don't visit too many shops to find your perfect dress. After a while, it turns into a laborious task, all the dresses just merge into one and you have no chance of working out which you like best. Start early but be prepared to stop looking when you get that special feeling about a dress. Don't feel like there is just another dress around the corner that you haven't seen at that might be the one, just go for it! If you've seen all the dresses you want to see, but are worried because none seem to be "the one", take some time out for a few weeks. Whichever dresses keep appearing in your head when you try to stop thinking about weddings should probably be tried on again! 

Bridesmaid dresses -

Order after the wedding dress, to match the dress style and fabric. Now, before you say "but isn't this obvious?" we have had brides come into our shop before now who have already bought their bridesmaid dresses, and now need to find a wedding dress to match. We recommend having bridesmaid dresses on order about 5 months before the wedding, as although they don't take as long to arrive as bridal dresses, it is often hard to get all the maids together for alterations. Also, have a few colours in mind; sometimes it's hard to get a perfect match on a colour and you don't want to limit your dress options because of this. We do try our upmost to find the right colour, although it can mean compromising on style, as each dress has a certain collection of colours it can be purchased in. However, there is a choice of over 60 colours on some dresses. 

Suits - 

These need to be ordered after have bridesmaids, but don't leave it until the last minute. Give the men a swatch of bridesmaid dress fabric to match the colour of ties to your theme, or a swatch from the bridal dress if it is a slightly unusual colour. If you are hiring the suits, have them arrive a few days before the wedding in order to check that the right sizes have been delivered. Although you would expect them to, sometimes companies may not have a size readily available so send the closest they have. These extra few days can mean you have time to change an ill-fitting suit in time for the big day.

Booking

Venue -

It is often hard to find your dream venue for the date you want, so try to book it as soon as possible. It's often the case that your wedding date turns out to be the date the venue has available. Also make sure you consider the cost; the venue will often be more expensive in early summer than in late autumn, so see what your budget will allow and try not to go over.

Flowers - 

We advise you to contact your florist at least 3 months before your actual wedding date to begin planning. If your wedding is larger than average, in the summer months, or at christmas, 6 months might be needed to ensure you get your prefered florist. Remember to bring colour swatches with you, as well as an idea of quantity (this will change depending on the size of your venue and how many bridesmaids you have).

Photographer - 

Make sure before you choose your photographer you read plenty of reviews and talk to other brides to find out who they used. It's not all about finding someone who is reliable, although of course that is important, it's also about finding a photographer with the right style for you. You may want traditional portraits taking, or something a bit quirky. Maybe it's all about the way they are printed afterwards (we hear that some photographers now make little notebooks filled with your wedding photos, so you can take them to show people more easily). After you've found the right person for you, and made sure you've stuck to your budget, contact them to sort out dates. This should be done around the time you book your florist. 

Honeymoon

 Not everyone goes on a holiday after the wedding, but if you do make sure to plan it well in advance. This way you may be able to get better deals on flights, and you'll be more likely to secure a place in a location you really love. However, if you really fancy leaving it until the last minute, you can get heavy discounts on hotels as they try to fill up their rooms. Be sure to factor this honeymoon into your budget, a lot of couples forget and it can cause all sorts of hassle further on down the line.

Insurance

A lot of brides forget about insurance, but it can just put your mind at rest. Depending on the extent of the insurance, you can cover just your bridal attire, or the entire event. You really need to look at what kind of cover you need in order to find the prices. As Especially For You is part of the British Bridal Retailers Association, we can offer free wedding insurance for bridal attire up to the cost of £1000. If you wanted to upgrade to cover areas like delayed travel if going abroad, or public liability, you can get it at a massive discount. 

If all this seems like too much stress and hard work, you can always go to the professionals. Wedding planners are often able to save you money in the long run, as they can get discounts off their usual suppliers, and are very efficient at what they do. It can take a massive weight off you shoulders if you know that someone else is helping you on your journey towards the big day. Make sure you do your research first before hiring a planner; read reviews, talk to local wedding suppliers and ask your friends what experiences they have had with wedding planners. This way you'll be able to decide whether using a wedding planner is the right thing for you. We always advise customers looking for a wedding planner to find somebody local, that way any suppliers they use won't be too far away for you to visit if you need to. 

That is all for this week, hope you enjoyed reading and found our advice useful. Do you have any questions about timescales for ordering? Maybe you've just got married and have some advice for other brides. In any case, feel free to comment below. Happy New Year, and best wishes for 2014!