Wedding | I said YES to the dress

Lady saying yes to the dress!

The title and hero image say it all. There are no surprises. A fortnight ago, I entered The Ivory Wardrobe and said yes to the dress! After the panic of shops being closed and the fear of leaving it too late, it’s a massive weight off my mind – but what a morning!

The Ivory Wardrobe is situated on Woburn Sands high street, and I’m being 100% honest when I say it was one of the three shops, I looked at online – and the only one I made an appointment at. Of that, I am glad. Laura was super-friendly over email, on hand to answer any questions I had and completely put my mind at ease, given the restrictions at the time. I also didn’t really know what to expect, but my appointment was booked for 10am.

Wedding dress shopping – COVID style

So, there were two rules when it came to the restrictions:

  • Each bride-to-be is limited to two guests 
  • Masks must be worn throughout the shop, and in the fitting rooms

My two guests were of course, my mum and Alfie. But thankfully the rest of the party could join via the Zoom link, so I had my bridesman and bridesmaid dialling in ready for the big event. It was so nice to have everyone together, albeit not in person – and I definitely valued everyone’s opinion and support along the way.

Alfie was so good, as well. Laura brought out the toy box for him, and he was just in his element – with so many new things to play with. We packed snacks and the iPad too – just in case! There was one stage where he wanted to go home, but by the end, he was asking when it would be his turn.

The mask didn’t really bother me as I’m so used to it now. It had to be worn everywhere, although Laura did allow me to take it off for photo opportunities… for the most part, I just kept it on. When I was in the dresses themselves, I obviously hadn’t tanned and my hair and makeup wasn’t on point – so what’s a mask to add to proceedings?

The Ivory Wardobe, Woburns Sands interior

The appointment itself

We began with a brief chat, where I talked about some of the dresses I had seen and liked, as well as the styles and types of material I was interested in. I don’t think my criteria was particularly strict, although I did say I would rather have a dress with sleeves. You limit yourself there, as most of the sleeveless dresses can have sleeves (of any length) attached and sewn on. There was also a dress I saw online which I loved, but sadly it wasn’t going to be in the shop until the end of the month or possibly June – so we carried on regardless.

I had seen another dress last year which I instantly fell in love with – all I noted was the name, not the designer and I didn’t have an image. As I was describing what I was interested in, strangely, Laura immediately thought of this dress. It turns out it had discontinued but they had one more in stock – in a size 12. Of course, it went to number one in my list of dresses to try on and when I did, it fitted perfectly – it was almost like fate.

I selected a couple of others, and Laura did too – also throwing in a curveball with a fitted dress. I hadn’t considered one but was feeling indifferent. I mean, I was feeling super self-conscious about having to strip off to my undies and climb into these big dresses, so why not try a fitted option too?

I wish I could remember all the options now and what I liked or disliked about them. I do remember one which was very similar to the ‘dream dress’, but had a really heavy satin skirt. There was another which was blush in colour (the rest were either ivory or champagne), which did nothing for my complexion, sadly. I learned a lot about myself and what I thought I would like. It turns out that tulle can be pretty heavy, too! And actually, lace isn’t so bad if it’s not over-the-top or majorly detailed.

After trying on all the dresses once, I picked out my two favourites to try again. I’ll be honest, I was totally torn and having tried on five or six options, I needed to just see how I looked again in these two. How did I feel about that ‘dream dress’? Would the other, be the one?

I said YES to the dress

When I finally chose my dress, everyone agreed that it was the one – and then it came to the slightly less fun part: the paperwork. First, Laura took my measurements, and then it was time to fill in forms. A massive thank you to my mum, who has offered to buy my dress, putting down the deposit on the day. We said goodbye to the Zoom squad slightly earlier – the internet for everyone was a bit intermittent by the end. And then I received a really gorgeous goodie bag, complete with candles, chocolates in an organza bag and a branded pen.

I am already too excited to return for my fitting and would love to thank Laura again for making my Ivory Wardrobe journey so wonderful. The whole morning was just so seamless, and time ran away with us.

Love, Lucy xx

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Love, Lucy xx

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