Wedding: The Dress
Most wedding dresses are ugly.
Image courtesy of unrealitytv.co.uk
This was the recurring thought that went through my head as I flicked through page after page of wedding magazines.
Too big.
Too puffy.
Too lacy.
Too Disney princess.
I mean seriously people, the 1980s are over. Clearly the wedding industry has not received the memo.
Looking at page after page of over-the-top dresses made me feel pretty disheartened about finding the right dress. In fact, in the beginning I went through a phase of thinking that I wouldn’t wear a traditional wedding dress at all.
After some gentle coaxing from my mother and my maid of honour, we started browsing bridal shops for dresses. My gorgeous MOH did some preliminary research for me and eliminated any shops that she thought would freak me out with their meringue-ish designs. Which pretty much cut out all of the bridal shops along Sydney road.
My first dress appointment was at Brides of Melbourne. This boutique was recommended to me by several friends as a good starting point for dress shopping, as they are a large boutique who stock many different designers.
For some reason, I was extremely nervous before my first appointment. How does it all work? Am I supposed to know exactly what I want? Do I have to wear specific underwear? WHAT IF I HATE ALL THE DRESSES?
In the end I decided that it would be better to be over prepared. I did some research on their website beforehand and printed out pictures of the dresses that didn’t make me want to be sick.
I needn’t have been as nervous as I was, as the staff were lovely and made me feel at ease straight away. I suppose that they’re used to dealing with wedding newbies. And while I wasn’t able to tell them exactly what I wanted, I was able to list straight away what I didn’t want:
- No princess dresses
- No long veils
- No tule
- No fishtails
The term that the staff used for the style of dress that I seemed to like was slinky. So I tried on a few slinky dresses:
Martina Liana Dress. Image courtesy of Brides of Melbourne website
Martina Liana dress. Screen shot of image from Brides of Melbourne website.
Wendy Makin dress. Screen shot of image from Brides of Melbourne website.
While the dresses were pretty, there wasn’t anything that really caught my eye. As far as traditional puffy dresses go, Brides of Melbourne have a huge range. As for slinky dresses, their stock was fairly limited. But I’m glad that we went there, if only to clarify what we were looking for. As an experiment, the staff made me try on a giant princess dress and a long veil. I wanted to puke.
My MOH did some more research after our first appointment to find boutiques that specialised in slinky dresses. The three places that were suggested to her were Karen Willis Holmes and Baccini & Hill in Armadale, and Rose Zurzolo Couture in Hawthorn.
The first thing I noticed at my appointment at Karen Willis Holmes was the difference in the atmosphere. A smaller boutique for one specific designer. Definitely more my cup of tea than the larger shops.
'Natalie'. Image courtesy of Karen Willis Holmes website
While the dresses at KWH were lovely, they weren’t quite ME. I had a soft flowing fabric in mind for my dress, and I found many of the fabrics used by KWH a little too rough and stiff. By the way if you’re ever interested in visiting KWH, they don’t take appointments. It’s first in best dressed (haha).
On the same day that I tried on dresses at KWH, my MOH and I wandered down to Baccini & Hill. To me, it seemed like a slightly more expensive version of Brides of Melbourne: a large boutique with a mix of designers. I had a wander around and to my surprise, many of the off the rack dresses were more expensive than some made to wear gowns I’d seen. So I decided to give B&H a miss. Although I’ve heard brilliant things about their boutique from other brides.
The minute that I walked into Rose Zurzolo Couture I knew that it was the place where I would find my wedding dress. A quiet and intimate boutique where you have a one-on-one appointment with Rose. For me, the main difference between Rose’s designs and others I had seen was that I loved ALL of them. In other boutiques I had been eliminating most dresses straight away, leaving myself two or three to try. In Rose’s boutique I was worried that I wouldn’t have time to try them all.
Here are some of the divine dresses that I tried on:
Screen shot of image from Rose Zurzolo website
Screen shot of image from Rose Zurzolo website.
Stunning vintage inspired gowns. Beautiful elegant simplicity.
All of Rose’s gowns are custom made to measure. Throughout my appointments Rose worked tirelessly to find the perfect combination of colours, fabrics and designs that she felt would suit me best.
After two appointments with Rose, I chose my perfect dress. The dress that made my heart flutter. The dress that I never in a million years thought that I would find. The dress that I absolutely HAD TO HAVE.
Now, you didn’t REALLY think that I was going to post a photo of my wedding dress did you?
:D
As a consolation prize, here is the dress that I almost chose:
Screen shot of image from Rose Zurzolo website
I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until next year to see the real one.
Food gobbler. Wine lover. Kitteh keeper. Gen-Y. Fiancée. Twitter addict.
Fighting the war against Leggings As Pants one fashion victim at a time... 
Ohhh I know what you mean by the “what if I hate them all” feeling.. I was terrified!! Congratulations on finding your perfect dress, can’t wait to see it :)
I was so worried! All will be revealed. Soon :)
My housemate keeps putting wedding magazines in our bathroom as reading material, and you’re right, the dresses are generally awful! I love what you’ve put up here, though – so sleek and chic :)
Thank you! There must still be a market for giant dresses.. not sure who is buying them though.
You tease! ;) I can tell that it is going to be utterly amazing and flattering from the pictures of the last few.
Awww thank you!
I was married in January and went through the exact same thing, I tried on the big dress and felt awful, it was so heavy and not at all me! I went to a smaller boutique and they were delightful and my ‘slinky’ beautiful dress was so comfortable and best of all it was completely ‘me’! Congrats on finding your dress, I am sure it will be stunning! x
Thanks! Where did you end up getting your dress from? And yes – the big ones were all so HEAVY