How Does Shopping for a Wedding Dress Work?

Once the small matter of the proposal, the ring, the setting of the date and the venue a bride's mind usually drifts towards thoughts of the dress. Brides usually spend some time surfing the net, reading bridal magazines or visiting bridal fayres to get ideas.

The next step is to check out some shops to "get a feel for" the shop and the range of dresses they offer. We don't mind brides to be coming in and having a good look around... in fact we encourage it! We want you to feel you can relax when you're in our shop.

If you're happy with what you see we'd recommend that you book a first consultation. This usually lasts one and a half hours and is a chance for you to experiment by trying on some of our sample gowns. For some of our dresses, we can also specify colour changes, fabric types and even make modifications to detailing such as embroidery and gem stones. Jayne will be able to talk you through the possibilities. It's also a really good time to try on some of our veils and tiaras.

Some brides may feel confident that they have found their ideal dress at this point but more often than not we find that brides want to have a "cooling off period" and come back for a second consultation. We would usually allow about 45 mins for a second consultation.

Once you're 100% sure that you have found the dress for you, Jayne will take some measurements and work out where a standard size dress needs to be altered to fit you perfectly. We'll also confirm with you any modifications (like colour changes) you want.

We take a deposit and your dress is ordered.

Once the dress arrives at our shop we contact you to arrange for you to come in for a fitting.

This fitting will be the first time you will wear your own dress and during it Jayne will be checking the dress for fit and to ensure that you are completely happy. Sometimes further modifications are required. If this is the case we'll sort all that out for you and arrange for you to come in for a final fitting.

Once you're happy with the dress the final payment is made and you can take the dress home, ready for the big day!

Posted: Fri 11 Jan 2008 13:17:00 pm.

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