Designer Wedding Dress Sale

Last month I went to London for to visit some Bridal shops and coincidently there was a Designer Wedding Dress Sale on. Though the concept sounded a bit scary I thought it was worth a try...just in case. It turned out the sale, held at the Thistle Hotel in Marble Arch, was actully quite civilised and not manic as imagined. Designers included Caroline Castigliano, Christiana Couture, Fabio Gritti, Galit Levi, Jenny Packham, Ronald Joyce, Sharon Hoey, Toi Sposa ...and more.

The next sale is on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th January 2010. Here's a few tips for if you're planning to go:

• Get in early! If you can't book an early slot, turn up anyway and you should be able to get in.
• There is a lot of waiting! So give yourself a few hours and take snacks.
• By sale, they don't mean really cheap, some dresses still cost £1000...but they are designer.
• Be open minded and try on dresses you wouldn't usually try on.
• Don't expect to find a specific dress - it's very pot luck.
• Take your Mum or your bridesmaids, not only is it good to have spare pairs of hands, they can protect you from pushy sales people!
• Wear nice underwear - you'll be stripping off in front of others.

I didn't find my perfect dress (though was very close to buying a half price Caroline Castigliano one, that was still way over my budget), but I'm glad I know I tried.

Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread biscuits would make great winter wedding favors, no? 'Here's some I made earlier' using Delia's gingerbread recipe.

Have a wonderful Christmas!
Bridebug x

Dreaming of a white wedding

Snow on your wedding day would be magical...but don't forget your wellies! White wedding photo by Top 10 Winter Wedding Photographer, Allister Freeman.

Winter inspiration: Budget friendly

With a wedding around Christmas time you can indulge in a romantic festive theme. It also means you could be looking for budget friendly ideas during an expensive time of year, so check out this Snippet and Ink post which has some great tips and stunning photos for inspiration.

Winter Wonderland

Warm winter wedding

Unless you're going overseas to get married in winter you might be needing one of these!

Faux-fur shrug in black, ivory, pink, purple or green: only £65 at www.youandyourweddingshop.co.uk.

On my coffee table: Wedding Bible

On Sunday we got the champagne glasses out and celebrated one year of being engaged! How time flies...and less than 7 months to go!

After the initial excitement and thoughts about our ideal wedding, the actual planning soon kicked in, and has been non-stop since February. A lot has been achieved, from booking our venue to practicing making buttonhole flowers. And there's still loads to do yet...

The planning has been easier by reading wedding magazines (not to mention help from Mum!), but also I've found Sarah Haywood's Wedding Bible so useful.

Haywood gives advice and tips for most (if not all) aspects in preparing for your big day. Tips on narrowing down your ideas in the inital stages, through to a 'checklist' for your wedding day - she's got it covered. On a budget? - that's covered too.

The best thing is that the book is from an English point of view, so I could easily relate to it. Try Amazon for a reduced price on this book and you won't look back. I hear the Wedding Planner is also really useful.