THE dress

So I had a few days off work and today, almost on the spur of the moment, I booked an appointment at a Bridal shop in Winchester. By chance they had an appointment going at 13.30 and so Mum and I arrived. We were both full of beans and very giggly. Despite my usually infallible wedding radar it transpires I have both driven and walked by this particular shop hundreds of times and never noticed it. But today the start was promising and I fell immediately for one of the dresses in the window. It was exactly what I thought I was looking for. Full skirt, ivory/ cream coloured and had a beautiful lace overlay giving it some coverage up top. It was one of 5 dresses I ultimately tried on. It was not however... The one!

Brides of Winchester is an unassuming shop. It stocks a range of British designers and a good start was that it stocks Sassi Holford dresses, a number of which had caught my eye in my bridal magazines. At least two of her fabulous creations featured amongst those I tried on. The pattern seemed to be that I preferred dresses that flared from the waist and had an embellished top but simple skirt. I also knew from the outset that I did not want fishtail and I did not want bling - Lace but not dazzle. My wedding scrapbook is full of them! I tried on a number and struggled not to be disappointed by the fact that I didn't get that wow feeling. And then there was dress number four. Yes that's all it took for me to find THE ONE. Even as I was stepping into it this dress felt completely different. It's hard to say exactly how but I just got the feeling. As I pulled it up into place that feeling intensified and as my Mum finally burst into tears I knew we'd cracked it.

All I will say about the dress is that it is not at all what I was expecting. It's completely different from dresses I've seen other brides in. One thing I never realised about wedding dress shopping is how customiseable the dresses are. If you want or don't want straps they can be adapted to whichever dress you pick. If you do or don't want overlay they can be added/ taken away. If you want a belt it can be added or taken off. And that's before you even think about the veil. Today, for me, everything fitted perfectly into place. The dress I've chosen is by a designer I'd not previously heard of. She is a small independent and rarely features in the bridal magazines. Her dresses are timelessly elegant. I've never seen a dress like mine and you never will again as even if I told you the name and the designer now the pictures online are very different from the dress that I will walk down the aisle in in eight months time. I go for my fittings from July.

Oh go on then I'll give you one hint. I've always loved Sweet Home Alabama.

So that's it. That's a big fat tick in the box of trying on wedding dresses. As a life experience I have to say it was pretty good and perhaps made even better for the fact that when I woke up this morning I had no idea today would be the day. I will never again go into a bridal shop as the blushing bride to pick out a dress. Instead I will walk in to try on my dress. The chosen one. The one that will be present in the pictures on our mantelpiece for years to come. The one that had my mother in tears when I walked out the changing room. The one that had me bemoaning the fact that I ever had to take it off. The dress to end all dresses. The dress to completely bust my budget. My wedding dress!