The Dress

Probably like so many brides, this is a story of how the dress found me, rather than the other way round.

I had never pictured myself in a wedding dress and had no idea what I wanted to buy. I tried on many different styles and colours and shapes and nothing worked! Then, I attended the Wellington Wedding Show, and on a whim, decided to do a dress fitting with Kirsty from Etcetera Bridal. She patiently listened to me and let my try on the dresses that I thought would work. After a few different frocks, she had my try on a dress that I personally wouldn't have picked from the shelf, thinking that it wouldn't suit me...and lo and behold, that was the winner!!

It's not just that this dress made me feel beautiful and elegant, it was also the missing piece of the puzzle, and all of a sudden I could imagine my whole wedding day! I was genuinely excited about wearing it down the aisle and knew that my fiance would love me in it too. When it came to the wedding day itself, the dress did not disappoint - my photographers, Chris and Tenille from Vanilla Images, had a field day with the way the dress flowed, as well as all of the details in the lace work. I hope that the uploaded pics do it justice!

The dress itself was also comfortable to wear for the whole day, and I could move around quite freely in it. And even though I wore shapewear underneath, I was able to easily sit and enjoy our three course dinner too! I had a great time partying at the reception, and as a result, my dress needed cleaning afterwards, especially around the bottom edges of the lace and the train, which had picked up dirt from walking around Wellington. However, the dress has come out really well after cleaning, and I have stored it in a tailor-made acid-free conservation box, carefully laid out with acid-free paper between folds.

I got so much joy from wearing this dress on my big day! But I am realistic about the fact that I won't wear it again, and I feel that it would be a shame for it to remain boxed up forever. So, I would love to sell it on to someone who will look and feel beautiful in this dress, and enjoy it as much as I did.

Alterations

I needed to have the length of the dress shortened, and also had some tailoring on the straps to ensure the dress fit well around the bust. I had a bustle attached so that I could hook my dress up for dancing. All of the alterations were done by Sue's Repair and Alteration Services, Wellington CBD.