22 July 2008

A Bride's Blog

I have spoken to so many people about my wedding. Asked their opinions, listened to advice from young and old people who had been married themselves, people who had been to weddings, read about celebrity weddings and people who thought that weddings were an awful idea altogether.

For an activity that is as old as the hills, getting married is one of the most enlightening experiences I have ever encountered. Even though I have not even actually experienced the walking down the aisle part yet, the organising and planning is one long and constantly changing project. Nothing is simple when it comes to weddings. No matter how much you convince yourself.

Fact is, I am actually enjoying this process. I feel that modern brides are starting to adopt a new approach to organising their weddings. One that suits them.

There are always the usual suspects to consider when getting married: the dress, the location, church or registry office, how many guests, home or abroad… the list goes on. You could say that there is almost too much choice and variety leading it to be anything apart from a simple wedding.

I recently started looking for my dress. ‘A dress’ I thought. A simple, beautiful and elegant dress. I am getting married in Italy during October and although it is not going to be stone splitting heat, it will be very pleasantly sunny and warm. With this in mind, I started to look for something floor-length, maybe with a bit of lace, A-line or maybe fishtail. I definitely did not want a meringue. Do not get me wrong, meringue dresses can be really beautiful but the last thing I wanted was to be dragging something the same weight as my future husband around on the happiest day of my life.

I started the search at Vera Wang. When you walk into the reception it is like you are already at your wedding. Congratulating consultants and gentle romantic music greet you and shiny gifts gleam in the gift list area. The dresses hang on high rails around you. Beautiful clotted cream ivories, simple A-line with flower detail, glorious full skirted wonders with intricate beading and delicate lace. My assistant whisked me into a mirrored changing area and showed me how to step in and out of a wedding dress. There is a real art to doing this and as I wobbled in my Jimmy Choo’s bridal heels she said that I was a natural.

I tried on a few but fell hook, line and sinker for a strapless A-line gown with overlay of bias taffeta bands and textured floral waist corsage. It was the stuff of dreams. I had decided that attending the fitting alone would be better than being led astray by the ideas of others. Unfortunately, once I had the dress of beauty on I wanted to run around Brown Thomas showing off and asking opinions. It felt that good!

There was a slight feeling of ‘crashing to ground’ when I heard the price and try as I may to conjure up my previous evening’s aim to stick to the budget set for my dress, I couldn’t help but start to think about how I could afford this beautiful dress.

On leaving Vera Wang I realized that anything I had thought about my wedding being an easy task to organise had just gone flying out the window along with my budget!

www.verawang.com

Blog By Roma Vaccaro


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