To think choosing your wedding dress is not the magical experience I have been peddled?!

[HarrietKettleWasHere]

I chose my wedding dress this weekend.

I don't feel joy. I feel relief that I may never have to go through that experience again

I went on my own because I always shop on my own. I am no virginal slip of a bride that I thought I required a chaperone (32 and well...I had a lot of fun in my youth ) and I know what I like. Also I'm NC with my mother at the moment and my best friend just blindly says I look lovely in everything, even the time I looked like a Creme brûlée at our sixth form prom.

I paid £10 before I was permitted to look upon the dresses. This was supposed to include a glass of fizz, but the lady had run out, so I had a tap water.

The lady was nice, but even though I told her what I wanted, she brought me lots of netty monstrosities 'just to wow' me they did not wow me. I looked like the toilet roll lady my Nan used to have in her loo.

I normally wear a size 10. Some of the dresses in a 14 wouldn't do up why do they cut them so tiny?! I have a little bit of Christmas pork to lose but still...

I found the dress I loved. The price tag was £1800 I'm wondering whether to just put a down payment on it, which seems like a good ideajust so I never have to repeat this process ever again I am horrified at that amount of money, but it was truly the only one I thought 'that looks amazing even though my hair is stuck to my face, I'm not wearing the right underwear and I've just bloody well had enough'

It looks like it's a lovely magical experience on TV!

When my friend got married last year, she went to a place where you ring a little bell in your changing room, to signify you had found 'the one' (dress, not fiancé, I presume ) and all the other brides to be would come and ooh and ahh at you.

I unfortunately burst out in scoffing laughing when she told me that, and she didn't speak to me for the rest of the day. So while that was not the experience I was aiming for, I was hoping for...oh, I don't know a bit of enchantment! fizz would have helped

Was I expecting too much?

I've just remembered - I chose a veil to go with my very expensive dress but didn't bother checking the price of the veil before agreeing to buy it as well . The veil was £200.

Oh dear. I loved every minute of wedding dress shopping I could have happily visited every wedding dress shop within a 50-mile radius. I loved trying on gorgeous dresses and would happily do it again tomorrow (but am happily married with no plans to do it again ) Sorry you didn’t have much fun OP.

It was a bit of a let down for me too - I even went to Pronovias n Bond Street to try on dresses - the one I'd been looking at for months was a tatty ripped rag by the time I got to try it on - it was £5k (10 years ago) but stood there trying to picture it without the lipstick and make up marks just didn't "do" it for me.

I went on my own to a couple of places and found I liked a Jenny Packham dress each time - managed to order it somewhere else for a discount.

Now I think I'd have been better off buying a normal dress in white/cream - and avoid all the "wedding" hoopla

There are some gorgeous dresses on Needle & Thread !

I only went into one bridal shop to try on dresses and fled internally screaming. It was 1995 and the nation was filled with pictures of brides wearing Victorian riding/hunting habits with top hats, because of a Volkswagen TV advert where a divorcing woman wore one. The irony apparently escaped everyone. They put me in one of them, it actually didn't look bad but I just couldn't imagine going down the aisle in a top hat, also my husband would have run away I think would have saved a lot of trouble The economics of those shops are awful, they are always going bust which means they have to sell hard, and if they didn't have any spare fizz I would be pretty cautious about handing over a deposit.

I have been married twice, once I bought a gorgeous outfit at Harvey Nicks (now THAT was magical) and the second time I got a local dressmaker to make me a glorious dress for £600 in lavish amounts of satin with silk gauze overlay. Joyous process. Don't copy the dress you loved in the shop, that's not fair, but there's nothing to say you have to go through a bridal shop.

Hated it! I looked stupid in every single dress, ended up ordering a selection from asos and chi chi London and chose one in the comfort of my own living room.

I’m with you on this OP. First shopping trip I did for mine I had to book an appointment, this in itself was mysterious and difficult.

Went on my own, very hungover.

Much waiting for my turn on the dais to look in the golden framed mirror. Pitying looks for solo me from brides shopping with mothers and friends. Feeling rubbish and morning after-y.

Thought I was going to be sick and sort of clutched myself ... cue the shop lady saying in hushed tones “it’s the one isn’t it??!” And encouraging oohs and aahs from the other customers.

All I could think was god I hope I can get out of here before I puke!

When my eldest DD we got married, she wanted to try on dresses but she had a 6 month old baby and felt low on confidence so didn't want a meringue - just something simple and flattering. We tried to book a couple of appointments locally, and it was like trying to get into a secret club. When we mentioned a budget of around £500 they didn't want to know. And these weren't high end London boutiques, we live in rural Gloucestershire!! I appreciate that they must get a lot of time wasters but we would have genuinely bought from them. We gave it up as a bad job and got one from Monsoon online. I felt very cheated let alone DD......

Not yet married myself but my three closest friends all ended up crying during their shopping days due to stress/anxiety/falling out with their mum/ general unpleasantness of the whole experience!

The whole thing has made me want to just get a normal white dress from a normal high street shop and head to a pub for the reception! Not worth all the anxiety and poverty for just one day/party!

This has made me laugh OP! I fell in love with a ludicrously priced dress. £2500. BUT I sold it two weeks after the wedding for £2000 so it was worth the £500 to me for an awesome dress. If you want it to moulder up the loft or aren't confident in it's resale then don't do it, you can have an awesome holiday for that money...

I bought mine in House of Fraser on a whim when I was supposed to be looking for a dress to attend someone else's wedding. Thought 'ooh now I'm getting married maybe I'll start trying on wedding dresses see what I look like in them'. 10 minutes later it was 'this'll do'. 150 quid, 10 mins of my time and wore a pair of shoes I'd had about 10 years .

I wouldn't have bothered with a charge to view the dresses!

I thought it was bad enough when one shop wouldn't let me look at anything without an appointment. How do I bloody know if I want an appointment with them if I don't know what they've got (and more importantly is the price range suitable)
I concluded that if they were that far up their own arses, the price tags probably were too, so buggered off to some reasonable establishments instead.

I bought it from a lovely friendly boutique that had a lovely range. It was pleasant, but not a moment from a romantic film.

Look at dresses on bhldn.com. Not to everyone's taste but I wish I'd dound them before I got married. Much more reasonable money for most of them.

I am sniggering at you laughing at the little bell, I'd have died rather than be oohed at by strangers! You should get a refund on the fizz! I flatly refused to go to any shops where I had to pay to look at the dresses, it cut down on the pushy assistants. I loved trying on vintage wedding dresses - I'm short so they were the right size for me - but found the hard sell in the chain shops hugely off-putting. I am not bad at shopping and no amount of assistants telling me something is The One is going to convince me. I know what looks nice on me and gathers at the waist ain't it.

Also, my alterations were £400! If they'd just taken the skirt up to the right length the first time it wouldn't have taken three goes!

I hated it as well. I'm a size 16 (an actual 16 not a vanity 16) and couldn't get into anything, they ended up holding them up against my body, I went to loads of shops and each time it was the same. I've never felt so awful about myself and being asked to spend 1000s on a dress that I couldn't try on first was adding insult to injury. Glad I never have to go through it again. Drink through it would be my advice

Yep. After walking into a proper wedding dress shop and trying one on (oh my so think and heavy!) I swore never again. I went to Bond Street instead and for half the money got a lovely Armani cream gown which is soft beautiful and comfy. (And could be worn again and again if you were not a scruff like I am.)

Find a dress you like and buy it online from the USA. Just factor in the customs charges will be about 30% on top. I did that and saved £400 plus on an £800 dress 13 years ago

Didn't enjoy my experience at all. I had seen a few dresses in magazines but everything in the many shops I went to were nothing like what I wanted and even when I was trying them on my mum's face kept falling. Had a good dressmaking bridal shop recommended and brought in a picture of my favourite hoping all would be well but expensive. She didn't like the dress, said it wouldn't suit me anyway and I left a bit devastated to be honest. I was size 12 on the way to a 10 lol, and just thought it would be a lot easier.

I wasn’t looking forward to it either! I also didn’t want a big wedding, just a registry one so in the end I went with my fiancé to John Lewis and bought a white dress for about £150. It did the job, I didn’t feel ridiculous in it, and I didn’t have someone trying to foist extras on me for hundreds and thousands more. Instead I had a really nice group of women who just so happened to be in the changing room who sat there and gave me advice on what looked nice. The changing room attendant also went and got a few dresses that looked nice but weren’t ones I’d normally choose for myself. I ended up with a lace one that I plan on tailoring for our five year anniversary party. It was a nice, easy, and relaxing experience.

BTW, I wouldn’t have paid anything if they’d run out of the fizz. that’s pretty piss poor.

£10 for fizz then she'd run out? Think I should open a bridal shop.

Oh my god. I'm so naive about all of this I assumed that the price was the price with all the alterations

Asos bridal looks very good and £10 will buy you a whole bottle of fizz while you look at the pics

It was horrible back in 1984..... The Diana meringue was the ubiquitous style and I loathed it. It took me ages to find a plainish dress. I really don't suit that fussy style at all

I just got my designer dress on ebay second-hand. I know it's not for everybody but it costs 2K new and I got it for 350! It's only been worn once (obviously!) and has been dry-cleaned so is in near perfect condition. I just couldn't face spending so much to wear a dress for half a day.

I went alone to a few shops to see what styles suited me before buying online and I also found it more underwhelming than portrayed on TV.

What type of dr ss was it

There aren't many styles really

Princess, A line, fit and flare,
What neck line was it?

What shape are you? Boobs hips? And parts need hiding?

Ooh don't forget oxfam bridal