Wednesday 5 October 2016

WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING: MY EXPERIENCE AT WED2B


Hi lovelies! I'm really excited to write this post for you all today, as it's about what has so far been my favourite part of planning my wedding - dress shopping! Aside from the venue, the dress was what I wanted sorted first, as I don't think you can decide on your Bridesmaids outfits, flowers, decorations or sometimes even photography until you have your dress. As much as dress shopping is super exciting, it can also be very daunting and extremely stressful. So, today, I thought I'd share my experience
and some tips that I have for Brides-to-be facing the task of choosing the dress for the biggest day of any couple's life! I'll be doing a couple of posts on my dress shopping journey, but for now, I thought I'd share my experience of 'Wed2B', a discount wedding dress shop that has several locations in the UK. I didn't end up getting my dress in Wed2B, but I do think it's worth a trip if you're looking for a dress at a much lower cose!

The first time I tried on dresses, was in Wed2B in Chelmsford. I took three of my six bridesmaids along and was actually just planning to have them try on bridesmaids dresses to see what colours we all liked and I was determined not to try on any bridal gowns myself as my Mum wasn't there, but I was in a wedding dress shop with my twin sister and two best friends, there was only ever one way this was going to go. so, we headed over to the rails of white dresses and my lovely ladies helped me to pick out a few to try.

There wasn't as big a selection as I thought there was going to be in Wed2B, but there was plenty of choice. You buy the dress off the peg as is, so you're made to try the dress on with a net over your face to avoid makeup stains. This was fine, but it is definitely a different experience to a regular dress shop. The changing rooms are all in a line too, more luxurious than your average New Look changing room, but not the same as a private appointment in a regular bridal shop. You don't need to make appointments at Wed2B and when I went, on a Sunday afternoon, there were a couple of other brides with their families, but it wasn't too busy. The other brides and their families can see you when you're trying on dresses (not behind the curtain in your pants of course!!), so if you're quite a private person, this may not be for you. That said, it's not a million miles away from a 'regular' dress shopping experience, so I wouldn't be put off by this.

I tried on a good few styles in Wed2B, because as I said, it was the first shop I went to, so I really had no idea what I was going for! I chose one or two myself and my friends and sister also chose a couple. I think they let me take in up to six at a time, but don't hold me to that number! The girl in the shop that was helping me try on dresses was really sweet and really helpful and actually picked out one dress for me that she thought would suit my figure. Something that I really loved about this place was that they were totally cool with my friends taking photos of me in the dresses. This meant that I could take them away and look at them myself to compare shapes and styles of dresses.

As I said, you buy off the peg at Wed2B, so the dresses come as they are and you take them away on the day and get any alterations done yourself. These are not ex-sample gowns as far as I know, they're simply dresses by designers for Wed2B. All the dresses are priced between £99-£599, which for wedding dresses is incredibly low. Of course, this does mean the materials are slightly cheaper than higher end designers. If I'm being completely honest, for me, in some of the styles I tried on, this showed.

There was quite a wide range of dresses to choose from and while I didn't find 'the one', it did help me to pick out some styles I wanted to try more of and some that I wanted to totally rule out. A couple of the dresses I tried on were absolutely stunning and even now I look back at photos and while I didn't end up going for them, I'm in absolute awe of the look and quality for the teeny tiny price tag. A couple of others though, I could tell that the quality wasn't quite there. One thing I would suggest is to get your friends to take photos from all angles. One dress that looked quite nice in the shop, massively showed my knicker line in the photos! Lighting can be deceiving!

Overall, if you're on a budget, I'd definitely recommend Wed2B. I would say though, go with an open mind, don't expect a one to one luxury experience and really look at every detail of the dress. There are some absolute gems. but there are also some that are not so hot, so do make sure you're not so blinded by the tempting price tag that you overlook little details that aren't quite perfect. You'll (hopefully!) only get one wedding dress, so what you get just has to be the one!

Have you ever been to Wed2B? Are you planning on going? I'd love to know your thoughts!

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