Wedding Dress

The recession has made us all that little bit more resourceful, especially when it comes to finding the best value wedding dresses. There are thousands of articles available on the Internet, in magazines and specialist websites designed to aid in this pursuit. We’ve all read about the 5p wedding dress on eBay, designer warehouse sales, charity shops and high street shops that offer affordable wedding dresses. But have you heard of the untapped Aladdin’s cave of wedding dresses in dry cleaners?

Think about it, a bride has had the most amazing day of her life, she is back from honeymoon and carefully chooses a reputable dry cleaners to take care of her special dress. Once the dress is there, the bills for the wedding start to come through, the credit card bills from honeymoon arrive on the doorstep and she can’t choose which photographs to have so she has them all. Something has to give – the answer she doesn’t go back to collect the dress and pay the large dry cleaning bill.

Dry cleaners have in their code of conduct, do keep any unclaimed items for a designated period after they should have been collected, but after that? From this point onwards a dry cleaner is just looking to cover the original cost of cleaning the dress so they are not out of pocket.

“It amazes me how many brides, simply do not come back to collect their dresses” Says Nick from Mr Ps Dry Cleaners, Bristol. “It has always been the case that some brides, simply did not return, but since the recession we have been seeing this more and more. We pride ourselves on our excellent cleaning and restoration service which includes fixing the dress for any beading or embroidery damage that happened during the happy day. The unclaimed dresses take up too much storage room.”

With wedding dress dry cleaning starting from £150, you could grab a bargain. So if your wish is to find a nearly new wedding dress – get on your magic carpet and head on down to your local dry cleaners.

Thanks to Laura Payne from Myriad Genii who wrote this insightful article – if you’re on a budget I would say its definitely worth checking out the local dry cleaner. I have also seen some pretty nice dresses in some charity shops in certain areas of London (Chelsea, Islington)
Luxury Wedding Planning Consultancy from a male and female perspective – check out Myriad Genii site for more info on how they can help you with your special day.

What is special about White Lilies Events?
Well, to start with: my nationality. I am Romanian, and probably my personal background may allow me to see things from a different perspective sometimes. However, it is my considered opinion that an important role is played by the wedding planner’s personality. The reason for this is that wedding planning is a service. As wedding planners, especially if we have had specialised training, we should have the industry-related knowledge. However, the wedding day is a rather personal event for couples and I believe they should trust and feel comfortable with the wedding planner that they choose. All wedding planners are special and different, and White Lilies Events is no exception.

What are the reasons for a couple to use a wedding planner and can this help save costs?
One of the most common reasons for couples hiring a wedding planner is their busy schedule and lack of time to actually organise all the aspects of their wedding day. In addition to this, industry-related knowledge is important. Wedding planners are involved in the wedding industry on a daily basis and know the trends and what to pay attention to when negotiating an aspect of your wedding. Having someone to rely on also reduces the level of stress that organising a wedding may imply. And lastly, but not the least, wedding planners can give professional and objective advice.

Why is it important to pick a wedding planner (like you) that has trained and is part of UK Alliance of Wedding Planners?
Wedding planning is rather unregulated. However, as member of the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners, I have to abide by their code of ethics. And this gives reassurance to couples looking to hire a wedding planner. They can be sure I will do my job and not run away with their money. Also, we take part in seminars and trainings aimed at our personal and professional development. Last, but not least, I am part of a network of wedding planners that help each other, share ideas and can always step in for me in case of illness.

My blog is all about promoting unusual and unique wedding ideas and inspiration for brides. What little touches have you made at your clients weddings to help them have something a little bit different?
I am just starting as wedding planner, and until now I have mainly been doing consultations. However, an example of a different thing would be an ice sculpture for an 80th anniversary. Ice sculptures can be quite versatile because you can freeze all sorts of items inside and customise them to your theme. And the team at Ice Fantastic was great.

What is your favourite bit about helping couples planning the wedding?
Personally, my favourite bit about helping couples plan their wedding is the significance of the whole day. The wedding day is the official start of the couples life together. They confess their love and commitment in front of both legal authorities, close friends and family. In my opinion this is what makes organising weddings different and more special than organising any other event.

Do you have any tips for couples on planning their wedding?
1.Before actually starting to look for suppliers, I would advise couples to sit down and talk about how they want their wedding to be: season, number of guests, what elements they really want included and what can be optional. Also, settle on a rough budget. This will make it easier when sourcing suppliers and will help you stay within budget.
2.Allow time to organise everything. A wedding day implies the co-ordination of a rather large number of suppliers, and sourcing all the suppliers implies a certain level of stress. Having enough time to choose suppliers and organise everything prevents the whole process from becoming too stressful aswell as allowing you to shop around and find the best deals
3.Ask for help, may that be friends or family or even a wedding planner. Friends and family will obviously be happy to be part of your wedding, whilst the advantage of using a wedding planner is the professional and non emotional advice that they provide, in addition to their experience in planning weddings.
4.Do not let the design of the invitations or the colour of the bridesmaids’ dresses take over. Make time for the two of you, do things that you like and do not talk about wedding planning aspects.

You can find out more about White Lilies Events on their site or check out the White Lilies Events blog that Alina writes with tips and advice for wedding planning and all things nice!

via Savoir Weddings blog

Bridal blogs – there seems to be millions of them out there on the net but I find it wierd that I never came across any of these lovely sites when I was getting married. There was the likes of confetti, hitched and other similar UK brands, but I didn’t find anything truly inspirational, unique, fun or different until more recently it seems as soon as you start to delve into the bridal blogging underworld there are lots of hidden gems (maybe some of them not so hidden) waiting to be read.

And so I thought that I would start a weekly round up to share the bridal blog love! – starting here with a the top 5 from my list.

1) Tigerlily weddings writes a great blog…. she might have been a bit quiet posting recently but that is no surprise since the summer has seen her busy planning amazing weddings weekend in weekend out. Her blog is full of fabulous things – its a great read with photos from real life weddings (great for inspiration), tips and innovative and fresh ideas. Rumour has it that she is one of the best wedding planners in London so its no surprise that her blog is going to be full of little wonders too.

2) One of my other faves is the wedding blog written by Josie over at Savoir Weddings – Josie and Dan run a wedding planning service for couples looking for something a little bit different and unique. Everything from Festival style weddings to weddings on a shoestring – they can do it all. I love their Savoir Weddings blog though which covers lots of lovely things that she has found whilst planning weddings and doing the same as the rest of us…. searching for those one off wonders – cute wedding table decorations on a budget, inspiration for wedding flowers and a fanstastic post on wedding dresses from Blushless.

3) Whilst on that note Liv @ Blushless writes a pretty good blog herself – well worth a quick peek. Its the work of a young, fun and pretty talented fashion designer, Liv and her obsession with all things fashionable and inspiration for wild weddings. Her dress designs are lovely too if you’re daring enough to go for something a little out of the ordinary (you should!)

4) I found out recently that a friend, getting married next year in Italy to her long standing lover has started writing a blog about the run up to the wedding, the planning and her thoughts and feelings… was pretty impressed actually and recommend its worth a read since not only is she great at writing but has a lovely sense of style.. its called An English(ish) Wedding In Italy

5) And mustn’t forget Annaandthering – that is another lovely wedding blog written by Anna and Bean (I think her husband to be!) this is a great blog packed with lots of wonderful bits and bobs, ideas, inspiration and links to other great blogs.

Happy reading and discovering…Ping me an email or leave a comment and share the love if you know of any hidden secrets that I should have a looksie at – I am sure that there are many more to add to my list X