After trying on the first dress at her first bridal shop, Rebecca knew she had found “the one,” and we couldn’t agree more! In a venue filled with special memories, surrounded by the ones they loved, she looked simply breathtaking as she walked down the aisle in her Essense of Australia lace long-sleeve gown.
From the bride: As I am sure everyone says, our wedding day really was the best of our lives. Right from the proposal until now – where I get to enjoy the photos and video of our beautiful day – there were so many special moments that I will never forget.
The proposal was wonderful. A total surprise in a sense. I had a pretty good feeling we were reaching that point in our relationship but Josh totally caught me off guard and it made the occasion all the more special. I would have expected for it to happen on a more significant, more special day (perhaps a birthday, anniversary etc) but one Wednesday afternoon I travelled home on the London Underground expecting to go home and go out for dinner my boyfriend’s (at the time) Aunty and Uncle. He had told me we were seeing them as a way to get me to not make any other plans. I came home and had some time to kill before going out so sat down in the lounge and started to watch the news. Suddenly, Josh picked up the remote controller, turned off the TV, knelt down on the carpet and began his proposal. The ring was beautiful and to top it all off, after I said yes, he announced that I needed to pack a bag as we were off to Rome early the next morning for a long weekend!
So after our engagement in October I started to get serious about wedding planning in December/ January. I decided I wanted a winter wedding, with lots of white flowers and we quickly secured our venue for the end of November. Our venue was a hotel nearby where Josh and I had special memories already. The venue meant something to us, so once we could see it was suitable for our needs we were delighted to book it!
I decided to start looking for dresses with my Grandma and Mum at the end of January. I haven’t ever been that girl who has known exactly what dress I have wanted for years, but once I started looking through a few bridal magazines and Pinterest, it became apparent that I had a certain style I liked. As we drove to the dress shop, I remembered saying to my Mum and Grandma that I will not be disappointed if I don’t find a dress today, I just want to get an idea of what’s out there and also what suits me. The lovely assistant in the shop (Marshmallow- St Albans) greeted us as we arrived and asked me to walk round the entire shop and have a little look at their collection and then gave me 8 markers to place on the hangers of the dresses that stuck out and that I would like to try on.
The first dress I went back to was the first I tried on and funnily enough the dress I purchased that day! I tried it on and it was honestly perfect. With the other seven, some where nice, some not so nice, but the first was the exact style I was looking for and it was agreed between us that it looked great on. I ummmed and arrred about whether I was being silly buying a dress from the first shop I tried but I thought, what else do I want? The dress I want is right in front of me, it’s perfect and I will just drive myself mad looking for something else.
I ordered the dress and that was it, I didn’t see it again until October which made it very exciting. I didn’t take any photos, I didn’t ask who the designer was just so that I couldn’t find pictures of it and look at it too much. I have had so many comments about how beautiful the dress was and I am so happy with my choice. I have even had someone I don’t know contact me after seeing pictures of me on Facebook to ask where my dress was from as she liked it so much and would consider it for herself.
Pinterest I think was my biggest help for the wedding! I honestly spent hours on it, there is so much inspiration on there for absolutely everything. The inspiration for my dress, my hair, my flowers and my cake were all directly from pinterest.
I would say to any bride planning their wedding, the whole affair can become a little political with the people around you. We had a much bigger wedding than we originally thought (210 guests) and that is a lot of people to please. The tip to remember is, you are never going to entirely please that amount of people so do not stress too much trying to. Your wedding day is your wedding day, not theirs. So when they start making comments about what they thought of the food or moaning that they do not really like who they are sitting with, try to brush it off and focus on what’s important. The important part is that you are you partner are happy, comfortable and surrounded by the people you love.
The most special part of my day was how I felt as I stood with my dad waiting to go up the aisle and marry Josh. With all the planning and time leading up to the day that was the part where I felt the most emotional/ nervous/ excited. We stood outside the ceremony room, my music started, the doors opened and I could see the beautiful room we had put together and Josh standing at the end of it waiting for me. That is something I will never forget!
