Frock frolics

I have been so lacklustre when it's come to my blog over the past few weeks, but that's just because I've been super busy.

Wedding planning has really stepped up a notch - it all seems very real now.

We're less than 11 months away from the big day (I'm so sorry, you're going to be stuck with this incessant countdown for a while yet!) and everything seems to be falling into place now.

After my rant previously about how expensive things were and my desire to make things myself, I had some really lovely suggestions from people for favours etc.  I haven't been brave enough to attempt to make my own centrepieces, but we've had such a cute, quirky idea that I've never seen before for the favours.  The bits we need have all been delivered, they just need putting together now - it's so exciting!

We now have a big box in our spare room full of packages and 'wedding bits'.  If this is the state with 11 months to go, I am dreading how much it's going to take over the house in the weeks leading up.

Most exciting of all, though, is that I started trying on wedding dresses last weekend.

I had been so excited in the weeks leading up to my appointments but when it got to the morning, it just didn't feel real.  The first few dresses I tried on I just felt totally overwhelmed.

It took me a good half an hour or so to realise 'this is real, this is you trying on wedding dresses' - I felt like I was in a dream or some sort of weird parallel universe.

I had two very different experiences at the two shops I went to - mainly in the sizes of the dresses I was trying on.  At the first place, all the dresses were too big for me and had to be pinned significantly.

The lady said she decided it were best to order the sample dresses in bigger sizes, because it was easier to pin them in than to make them try and fit someone who was a size or two bigger than the dress.

The second place, however, went the other way.  Some of their dresses literally only just fit me - they did up but they were far too tight to be considered comfortable in any way shape or form.

As I stood squished into one of the dresses I thought what a good job it was that I'd lost weight already, otherwise there would have been no way on this earth I would have fit in any of those dresses at the second shop.  And that would have made me feel like absolute shit.

Even now, as a size 8-10, I didn't fit in the dresses I tried on.  They were all a size too small and far too tight.  I really was shocked.

The shops also had very different policies on taking photos of me in the dresses I tried on.  Prior to going, I'd heard that most places wouldn't let you take photos unless you were buying the dress - fair enough, I get that.

So when Soph asked at the first place whether she could take some photos, I expected a no, but the lady couldn't have been nicer and even styled me up for pictures.

The second place, however, wouldn't let Soph take any photos.  To be honest, the lighting was so dark and dull that even if she had, they wouldn't have been much to base a judgement on.

I understand places having a no photo policy in some respects.  You could do a Monica and go to the expensive place, find the dress, get photos, then go to an outlet and pick it up for a fraction of the price - with whistles and all!  But, to be fair, once you know the designer, the style and the size you could do that anyway without having photos of yourself.

In my case, having pictures of me in the dresses really helped me to make decisions on the dresses.  Like I said, i was so totally overwhelmed when I was trying them on, it was nice to be able to look back at the photos over lunch and a drink and really make a judgement on how they looked on me/how I looked in them.

I'm still undecided about which dress I am going to go with - I'm torn between two and have arranged to go back to try them both on together so I can hopefully make a decision.  They're both totally completely different, though, so it's going to be so hard.

I see what goes on on Don't Tell the Bride now.  The bride always has an image of the dress that's the one for her, but she always loves the groom's choice.  Everyone said to me that you can't say what kind of dress you want until you start trying them on, and I definitely appreciate that now!

It's all coming together now, though, and is certainly starting to feel very, very real!