Saturdays are always days full to the brim of beaming brides, excited bridesmaids and families who have waited in anticipation for a time when they venture into the world of wedding dress shopping. And what a world it is!

For a lot of brides, it really is a complete unknown. What underwear should you wear? What questions will you be asked? What if there’s nothing you like? How long will, or even should, it take and so on. It is exciting and bewildering all at the same time.

When I opened Lottie’s Bridal, it was always going to be key that our brides felt happy and relaxed and enjoyed their experience. With that in mind, there is no right underwear! If you feel like you want to wear your neon green bra, then great, wear it! If it takes longer than planned whilst you work your way through the whole of the boutique, then fab, as long as when you come into us you feel relaxed (at least by the end of your appointment) and happy, that really is all that matters.

I’m not going to pretend it will be how it is in ‘the movies.’ You might not have the overwhelming moment of knowing your dress is ‘The One’ and that the nearest and dearest you bring with you won’t clash or be opinionated maybe, but we will always try our best for it to be a memorable, enjoyable experience.

Which brings me back to last Saturday. As my first bride of the day walked through the door, I could see that she looked nothing short of fed up! She had been to numerous shops and just hadn’t found anything that she loved. Her dress shopping experience so far hadn’t been great and the mood was generally down. We had a little chat, her Mum got me right up to speed and once we’d had plenty of bucks fizz and looked through the dresses, we began to try on.

By dress number 3, everyone was a lot happier and I was hearing all about the proposal (I love that bit) and themes and bridesmaids, it was fab. As I went in to help do up dress 4, the bride turned to me and said “Is that a silk dressing gown?” to which I of course replied with a giggle and a yes and what the bride said next made me both thrilled and slightly sad all at the same time!

“I can’t tell if this is normal or if this is just a really posh shop!”

Girls … We are normal! We are or try incredibly hard to be, everything you would expect or envisage the experience of buying your wedding dress should be.  I say time and time again at wedding fayres, to new brides, to my staff; we are all about you and yes shouldn’t that be normal?

After all if it wasn’t for our brides, Lottie’s would be fairly non existent! So bring on the twenty questions you have, feel comfortable with the suppliers you choose, drink lots of bubbly and just enjoy being a bride!!

Lottie xx