If you have lots of time and lots of money, you have the luxury of being able to search for as long as it takes to find your dream dress completely as you want it without having to make any changes. But, if like most of us, you are either budget savvy or time poor (or both), then there are some things you should think about to make it easier to find The One without breaking the bank or running out of time.
FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN’T CHANGE ABOUT A DRESS
There are lots of things you can change about a wedding dress, but there are three that you can’t easily change and that are fundamental to whether it’s ‘The One’.
SHAPE/SILHOUETTE
Sounds obvious? Well every few appointments I’ll get a bride ask if an A-line can be turned into a fit and flare, or a ballgown made a bit more A-line. While it might be technically possible, you’d have bought the dress, had it cut up and had to pay for the alterations by the time you discovered if you still liked it. So our strong recommendation is that find your ideal shape and stick to it.
FABRIC
Some of you love tulle, some of you hate tulle. Lace is either your dream, or reminds you of grannie’s curtains. Satin is elegant, or old-fashioned. Whilst you could in theory take the lace or tulle off a dress to reveal the satin below, or cover a satin dress entirely in lace, it would be so expensive, we think you should stick to a dress that’s already in the fabric you like best!
COLOUR
You can add a pop of colour easily to a dress, but changing the entire colour is not easy, especially as most dresses are in man-made fabrics nowadays which don’t take easily or uniformly to dye. So find out which colour works best for you – white is good for darker skin and hair tones but can leave fair complexions looking washed-out. Ivory is generally a safe choice for most (although it covers a broad spectrum from pale to warm, so make sure you find out which works best for you), whilst blush can really warm up a fair colouring.
So when the curtain draws back and you see yourself in the mirror, try and focus on those three key elements first – because most other things can easily be changed. See our next
blog post on the changes you can make to find out just how creative you can be…..