Congratulations! You just said ‘yes’ to THE dress! Selecting your gorgeous gown is a milestone moment in every bride’s wedding journey, but LOVE brides, the fun doesn’t stop there! Once you’ve ordered the dress of your dreams, it’s time to get everything prepped for its exciting arrival.
When your gown arrives in store (we’ll be in touch soon after ordering to advise when this will be as each designer works differently) we invite our LOVE brides to have a special one-to-one Styling Appointment before any alterations to your dress take place. This is a great opportunity to help you finalise your perfect look.
From bridal veils, headpieces and bustles, to seam free undies, we’ve got you covered! Check out our 5 top tips for a successful Styling session that’s guaranteed to bring out your best bridal look!
Tip 1 – Bring ALL Your Accessories
This is the first time since selecting your dress that you’ll get to see it again properly! This session is a great opportunity to add any finishing touches to your look. From selecting a veil, a flower crown or tiara, to statement earrings, shoes or belts, our Styling Appointment gives you some dedicated time with your dress to create the look you want.
Some brides like to add accessories to switch up their look throughout the day, wearing detachable wings or sleeves for their ceremony which they remove for their reception. Some brides like to change their look for the evening by adding a beautiful belt, statement headpiece, tweaking their hairstyle, adding a bolder lip colour, changing their shoes to ones more suitable for dancing or including a bustle for maximum dance floor movement.
Whatever you envisage for your big day, bringing jewellery or other accessories you’ve purchased to this styling session will help you finalise your look. If you haven’t decided what accessories you’d like, don’t worry. This appointment will allow you to explore some of the options we have in store and order any additional accessories if you decide you need them.
Tip 2 – Style Your Hair
The way you choose to wear your hair on your wedding day can really help accentuate your dress. We always recommend that brides have a hair trial before their styling appointment or loosely pin their hair in a way that they would like it for their big day. Your hairstyle can be linked to your dress style (formal, casual or ethereal) or can be tailored to consider the swoon-worthy details of your dress. For example, if you’ve got a dramatic low back on your gown, you definitely don’t want it hidden by your hairstyle! Wearing your hair in the way you think you’ll wear it for your big day will really help you create your perfect look.
Tip 3 – Your Underwear Matters
You might have found the perfect dress but getting your underwear right is oh-so important too. No-one wants a VPL *gasp* on their wedding day. We can’t emphasise this enough! Your choice of bra and knickers will obviously depend on your dress but 99% of the time, simple, nude and seam free is the safest way to go, so our top tip is to make sure you have these in time for your Styling Appointment.
If you’ve got a dress with a fitted silhouette, a plunging neckline or low back you might need to consider a variety of options to get the one that works best for you. With the popularity of plunge necklines/low back style gowns, many brides are now opting for cups rather than bras and most dresses already have these built into the dress too. From Spanx to barely-there thongs and lots in between; backless, strapless, stick-on bras or cups to form-fitting shape wear for those slinky figure-hugging gowns, making sure you’ve got the underwear to accentuate the wow-factor of your dress is vital! You can thank us later!
Tip 4 – Bring Shoes
Shoes are always a big deal – and particularly on your wedding day. Your shoes are a major part of your bridal aesthetic, so if you’ve already chosen them, make sure you bring them along to the Styling Appointment to see how they look with your dress.
Don’t worry if you haven’t got them just yet but please be mindful that it is essential you have them in time for your First Fitting Appointment with our seamstress. If you’re not sure on footwear and need more time to find the perfect pair, our Styling Appointment is the best time to road-test a couple of options.
The key is heel height and comfort. You’ll be wearing them for several hours from the aisle to the dance floor after all! You could bring shoes you already own to test different heel heights with your dress and to see what you feel more comfortable in. Our top tip is to think about the wedding you have planned. Is it all in one venue? Will you be walking far? Is there grass that heels will sink into, so maybe a block heel would be best? If you think you’ll be ditching the heels for super cute wedding trainers or low-heeled lovelies later in the day, you can factor this into your fittings and alterations, but please be mindful that your dress length would be fitted for the taller heel height.
Tip 5 – Who to bring with you to your Styling Appointment?
Styling sessions are super exciting for brides-to-be. It can be tempting to invite a gaggle of your best gals to share in this precious moment, but our suggestion would be to keep your guests to a minimum.
Carefully select one or two people to join in on this session – this allows you to properly enjoy the appointment and not get distracted (or stressed) by too many well-meaning opinions.
Supportive friends or family members that bring good vibes are the perfect guests. Emotions tend to run quite high in these sessions and although your dress will be ordered in a size that is close to your own, in most cases, adjustments will still need to be made as it is rare that a dress in a general size will fit you perfectly straight away (it’s very different to high street shopping!)
If your dress is not yet fitting as you imagined, this is all perfectly normal so only invite people who you really trust to be sensitive and constructive to the process. From passing you a tissue for happy tears to learning how to button you up on your wedding morning, the best guests are the ones that you know will make you feel the most comfortable!
Our LOVE Styling Sessions are a wonderful way to make sure you look amazing throughout your big day. Once we have confirmation from our designer when your dress will be arriving in store, we will invite you for this super special appointment. We’ll admit we do get a bit teary ourselves as this is is often the last time we will see our brides before their wedding! We LOVE to help our brides perfect their signature look – and to give them a big hug before we leave them in the capable hands of our incredible seamstress!
There’s nothing we LOVE more than a happy bride and a happy ever after!
Lots of love, Emma x x