BY FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*
As speculation about Kate Middleton’s wedding gown reaches fever pitch, Claire Coleman asked six brides to tell us how they found ‘the one’ (and we’re not talking grooms). But can you tell who splashed out on a £20,000 couture creation, and who bagged a £195 high-street bargain (look at the top picture first before scrolling down for the answers!)?
Camilla Ridley-Day, 30, lives in London and runs a bridal styling company (camillaridleydaybridal.com). She wore a couture dress by Bruce Oldfield when she married Ed, an analyst.
I was working as a fashion editor when I got engaged, so the dress was one of the first things I thought about. I knew I wanted lace because it’s romantic, feminine and very me. People are shocked at how much couture costs, but when you see how much work goes into it, it begins to make sense. I didn’t opt for couture because I wanted something showy, more because I wanted the craftsmanship and detailing. I wanted a dress made by a British designer and I chose Bruce as he stands out as having trained in the old-fashioned way. He can cut and sew, unlike some of the younger designers who can come up with a concept but don’t know how to put it together.
We talked about what I wanted and the style of my wedding, which was taking place in a church, with a reception at the Wallace Collection museum in Central London. From that conversation Bruce drew a sketch that became the basis for the dress. Over five months I had ten fittings, and the attention to detail was incredible. The lace was hand-embroidered in Paris to pick out each flower, and every crystal was applied by hand. When the veil arrived Bruce sent it back to Paris because he said it didn’t match the dress perfectly, so everything had to be unpicked before it was re-dyed. He even came to the wedding to make sure that the dress looked absolutely perfect before I walked down the aisle.
As a lover of fashion, the opportunity to work so closely with a British icon, on a dress that is unique, was special. I’d love to think that maybe a daughter or granddaughter will wear it one day, but there’s such a story behind it that I’ll always treasure it, even if it’s never worn again. In a way, my dress was also the inspiration for my bridal personal shopping company. Looking around many bridal shops, I often found the service quite pushy and for many brides it’s stressful. Buying your dress should be fun.
Frances Gibbs, 34, an advertising planner from Nottingham, married Nick, a motoring journalist, last summer. She scoured the country to find her dream dress by Alan Hannah for a fraction of the original price.
When Nick proposed, I imagined myself getting married in something slinky, light and summery. But when I started trying on dresses, I realised that duchesse satin was actually quite pretty, and that A-line skirts and tight bodices suited me best.
I had planned to spend £200, but soon realised that the dresses I liked cost more. There was one designer, Alan Hannah, whose designs I loved – every one I tried on felt flattering, but my favourites started from £2,000. I began to wonder why we were budgeting £1,000 for a band to play for four hours while I was only spending £200 on a dress that I’d see in photos for the rest of my life, so I raised my budget to £500.
A friend told me that bridal shops sell off sample dresses – the ones that customers try on – quite frequently, so I searched online for shops selling Alan Hannah gowns. I called several to ask if they had samples for sale, but they were still around £1,750. Next I searched for second-hand designs on sellmyweddingdress.co.uk and preloved.co.uk, but although there were some, they were either too expensive or not in great condition. Then I had a breakthrough: the Morgan-Davies boutique in East London was selling Alan Hannah samples from a couple of years ago. And it was there, in a back room, that I found my dress. It was two years old, in pristine condition, and I knew the moment I put it on that it was perfect. We were tying the knot in a tumbledown French château so I wanted something regal but not froufrou – it fitted me, the location and, at £500, reduced from over £2,000, it fitted my budget too!
Rebecca Cherry, 30, a fashion buyer from Hertford, married Adam, who works in advertising, in September 2010.
I wanted a lace dress with a defi ned waist and a vintage feel – I thought it would suit me, and I was after something feminine and romantic. I didn’t want to spend ages searching for it – I knew that the more dresses I saw, the more confused I’d become – so I picked a day and decided that I was defi nitely going to buy my dress then. I made two appointments in London: one with a traditional bridal shop, and the other at a place that I had found online called the Vintage Wedding Dress Company (thevintageweddingdresscompany.com).
In the bridal shop I tried on about six dresses but none was right. One was so huge I couldn’t move, and I started to panic that I’d never fi nd something I liked.
At the Vintage Wedding Dress Company, the fi rst dress I tried on was the one. It was light, I could move in it and, at £1,500, it was under my £2,000 budget. I think my mum would have liked me to have had a new dress; I don’t think
she really understood the appeal of wearing a gown made for someone else. But she and my sister, who were with me, both liked it, and when he eventually saw it, Adam loved it.
As it’s a 1950s dress, I’ve wondered about the bride who wore it before, and what her wedding was like. I’ve toyed with the idea of selling it, but equally, I love the idea that a daughter of mine might end up wearing a 100-year-old
wedding dress.
Gina Hicking, 33, a dental assistant from London, married Dan, a mortgage adviser, in August 2008. She wore a dress from high-street store Coast (coast-stores.com), which has recently launched the Coast Bridal range.
Dan and I got engaged six weeks after we met and only had nine months to save for our wedding. We decided we’d rather spend our money on a honeymoon in the Maldives, so our total budget for the wedding day was just £6,000.
A ceremony in Islington Town Hall followed by a summer barbecue with our friends suited us perfectly, but even though it was going to be quite a casual celebration, I still wanted a long ivory dress. I’d never been one of those women who wanted to spend thousands on a gown – you only wear it for one day, after all – so I set aside £300.
I wanted something that would flatter my figure, because I’m quite curvy, and I liked the idea of a dress with a fishtail.
I already had bandeau-style Coast dresses in mind for the bridesmaids, and when I went in to have a look I saw my dress. Although it was just a regular evening gown, when I tried it on, I knew it was ‘the one’. It has a wonderful big bow at the back and ticked all the boxes; there was even a matching bolero jacket.
I bought a size 12 and Coast put me in touch with a dressmaker who made a few tiny alterations – people don’t always realise that you can get an inexpensive dress altered to fit beautifully. I felt amazing! I can’t imagine how spending more could have made me feel any happier, or more elegant.
£10,000 designer gown
Caroline suggested adding a veil and a train to the dress, plus a few pink crystals scattered here and there to pick up the colour of the bridesmaids’ dresses. When I saw the finished gown three weeks before, I knew I’d made the right decision. John loved it, although I don’t think he’d like it half as much if he knew how much I’d spent! If I sold the dress we could afford that honeymoon, but I’m not sure I could. I might just put it on every anniversary and cook dinner in it instead!
The family heirloom
When Mark proposed, it was such a relief to know that the dress was one thing I didn’t have to worry about. Although I’d given birth to our son seven months before, I had lost the weight quite quickly and was about the same size I had been in my 20s. But because I wanted more room around the top of the dress so I could lift my arms and dance, it needed a bit of tweaking. Luckily my mother-in-law is a brilliant dressmaker.
Wearing my mother’s dress that my new mother-in-law had perfected meant a lot – not just to me, but to them too. My mother insisted that I was photographed in the same pose as she was on her wedding day so that we could sit the pictures side by side. Mark knew that I was going to wear my mother’s dress and I think he was a little apprehensive that it might look old-fashioned, but he was delighted. Because it’s such a simple shape, it’s a very classic style that hasn’t dated. It would be lovely if I had a daughter who could wear it one day.
As speculation about Kate Middleton’s wedding gown reaches fever pitch, Claire Coleman asked six brides to tell us how they found ‘the one’ (and we’re not talking grooms). But can you tell who splashed out on a £20,000 couture creation, and who bagged a £195 high-street bargain (look at the top picture first before scrolling down for the answers!)?
From left: Rebecca, Camilla, Suzanne, Frances, Kary and Gina
The £20,000 couture gown
Spring celebration: Camilla and Ed on their wedding day
I was working as a fashion editor when I got engaged, so the dress was one of the first things I thought about. I knew I wanted lace because it’s romantic, feminine and very me. People are shocked at how much couture costs, but when you see how much work goes into it, it begins to make sense. I didn’t opt for couture because I wanted something showy, more because I wanted the craftsmanship and detailing. I wanted a dress made by a British designer and I chose Bruce as he stands out as having trained in the old-fashioned way. He can cut and sew, unlike some of the younger designers who can come up with a concept but don’t know how to put it together.
We talked about what I wanted and the style of my wedding, which was taking place in a church, with a reception at the Wallace Collection museum in Central London. From that conversation Bruce drew a sketch that became the basis for the dress. Over five months I had ten fittings, and the attention to detail was incredible. The lace was hand-embroidered in Paris to pick out each flower, and every crystal was applied by hand. When the veil arrived Bruce sent it back to Paris because he said it didn’t match the dress perfectly, so everything had to be unpicked before it was re-dyed. He even came to the wedding to make sure that the dress looked absolutely perfect before I walked down the aisle.
As a lover of fashion, the opportunity to work so closely with a British icon, on a dress that is unique, was special. I’d love to think that maybe a daughter or granddaughter will wear it one day, but there’s such a story behind it that I’ll always treasure it, even if it’s never worn again. In a way, my dress was also the inspiration for my bridal personal shopping company. Looking around many bridal shops, I often found the service quite pushy and for many brides it’s stressful. Buying your dress should be fun.
The £500 sample
Frances and Nick tied the knot in France in August 2010
When Nick proposed, I imagined myself getting married in something slinky, light and summery. But when I started trying on dresses, I realised that duchesse satin was actually quite pretty, and that A-line skirts and tight bodices suited me best.
I had planned to spend £200, but soon realised that the dresses I liked cost more. There was one designer, Alan Hannah, whose designs I loved – every one I tried on felt flattering, but my favourites started from £2,000. I began to wonder why we were budgeting £1,000 for a band to play for four hours while I was only spending £200 on a dress that I’d see in photos for the rest of my life, so I raised my budget to £500.
A friend told me that bridal shops sell off sample dresses – the ones that customers try on – quite frequently, so I searched online for shops selling Alan Hannah gowns. I called several to ask if they had samples for sale, but they were still around £1,750. Next I searched for second-hand designs on sellmyweddingdress.co.uk and preloved.co.uk, but although there were some, they were either too expensive or not in great condition. Then I had a breakthrough: the Morgan-Davies boutique in East London was selling Alan Hannah samples from a couple of years ago. And it was there, in a back room, that I found my dress. It was two years old, in pristine condition, and I knew the moment I put it on that it was perfect. We were tying the knot in a tumbledown French château so I wanted something regal but not froufrou – it fitted me, the location and, at £500, reduced from over £2,000, it fitted my budget too!
The 1950s vintage dress
Rebecca had a country wedding in Suffolk last September
I wanted a lace dress with a defi ned waist and a vintage feel – I thought it would suit me, and I was after something feminine and romantic. I didn’t want to spend ages searching for it – I knew that the more dresses I saw, the more confused I’d become – so I picked a day and decided that I was defi nitely going to buy my dress then. I made two appointments in London: one with a traditional bridal shop, and the other at a place that I had found online called the Vintage Wedding Dress Company (thevintageweddingdresscompany.com).
In the bridal shop I tried on about six dresses but none was right. One was so huge I couldn’t move, and I started to panic that I’d never fi nd something I liked.
At the Vintage Wedding Dress Company, the fi rst dress I tried on was the one. It was light, I could move in it and, at £1,500, it was under my £2,000 budget. I think my mum would have liked me to have had a new dress; I don’t think
she really understood the appeal of wearing a gown made for someone else. But she and my sister, who were with me, both liked it, and when he eventually saw it, Adam loved it.
As it’s a 1950s dress, I’ve wondered about the bride who wore it before, and what her wedding was like. I’ve toyed with the idea of selling it, but equally, I love the idea that a daughter of mine might end up wearing a 100-year-old
wedding dress.
The £195 high-street bargain
Gina and Dan had a register office ceremony three years ago
Dan and I got engaged six weeks after we met and only had nine months to save for our wedding. We decided we’d rather spend our money on a honeymoon in the Maldives, so our total budget for the wedding day was just £6,000.
A ceremony in Islington Town Hall followed by a summer barbecue with our friends suited us perfectly, but even though it was going to be quite a casual celebration, I still wanted a long ivory dress. I’d never been one of those women who wanted to spend thousands on a gown – you only wear it for one day, after all – so I set aside £300.
I wanted something that would flatter my figure, because I’m quite curvy, and I liked the idea of a dress with a fishtail.
I already had bandeau-style Coast dresses in mind for the bridesmaids, and when I went in to have a look I saw my dress. Although it was just a regular evening gown, when I tried it on, I knew it was ‘the one’. It has a wonderful big bow at the back and ticked all the boxes; there was even a matching bolero jacket.
I bought a size 12 and Coast put me in touch with a dressmaker who made a few tiny alterations – people don’t always realise that you can get an inexpensive dress altered to fit beautifully. I felt amazing! I can’t imagine how spending more could have made me feel any happier, or more elegant.
Fiesta! Suzanne and John at their Majorcan celebration
Suzanne Alcock Thompson, 28, married John in Majorca last September. They own a beauty salon and training academy in Dublin. Suzanne sacrificed her honeymoon for a dress by designer-to-the-stars Caroline Castigliano (carolinecastigliano.co.uk).
I wanted a dress that was glamorous and bohemian, but I couldn’t find anything I liked in Dublin, so I flew to London with my mum. After a day of searching, my final appointment was at Caroline Castigliano to view made-to-measure designs. As well as asking me about the look I was going for, the staff asked how I wanted to feel on the day. After having two children, I’d managed to get my figure back, so looking sexy – but not in an overt way – was important. I must have tried on every dress in the shop when Caroline herself walked in. She told me that if I couldn’t find what I wanted, she’d love to work with me on a one-off piece. The only problem was the cost: I’d set aside £3,000 and the figures she was talking were several times that. But I knew I was in good hands. I handed over my entire budget as the deposit and knew I’d find a way to get the rest. With flights for fittings, I ended up spending more than £10,000 – I’d be afraid to work out the exact figure. It had to come from somewhere, so in the end we sacrificed going off on honeymoon afterwards.Caroline suggested adding a veil and a train to the dress, plus a few pink crystals scattered here and there to pick up the colour of the bridesmaids’ dresses. When I saw the finished gown three weeks before, I knew I’d made the right decision. John loved it, although I don’t think he’d like it half as much if he knew how much I’d spent! If I sold the dress we could afford that honeymoon, but I’m not sure I could. I might just put it on every anniversary and cook dinner in it instead!
The family heirloom
Two weddings and a classic dress: Kary and Mark tie the knot in North Carolina, USA, and Kary’s mother in 1967
Kary Hemingway, 39, lives in West London and works in IT sales. In August 2010, she married Mark, an IT consultant, wearing her mother’s wedding dress.
My mother got married in 1967, aged 22, in a dress from a shop in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, not far from where she grew up. I’m her only daughter and while I’d always known that the dress was there for me, I never felt any pressure to wear it. It wasn’t until I was in my early 20s that I saw the dress itself, when she got it out for me to try on. Even though I had no idea who the groom would be, I knew that when I got married, this was the dress I would wear.When Mark proposed, it was such a relief to know that the dress was one thing I didn’t have to worry about. Although I’d given birth to our son seven months before, I had lost the weight quite quickly and was about the same size I had been in my 20s. But because I wanted more room around the top of the dress so I could lift my arms and dance, it needed a bit of tweaking. Luckily my mother-in-law is a brilliant dressmaker.
Wearing my mother’s dress that my new mother-in-law had perfected meant a lot – not just to me, but to them too. My mother insisted that I was photographed in the same pose as she was on her wedding day so that we could sit the pictures side by side. Mark knew that I was going to wear my mother’s dress and I think he was a little apprehensive that it might look old-fashioned, but he was delighted. Because it’s such a simple shape, it’s a very classic style that hasn’t dated. It would be lovely if I had a daughter who could wear it one day.
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