With over 15 years in the bridal industry, Ellie Sanderson – queen of bridal retail whose boutiques are widely regarded as amongst the best places to buy your wedding dress in the UK – shares her top five tips on planning your two-dress journey.
The only thing better than wearing one gorgeous wedding dress is wearing two gorgeous wedding dresses. One for the formalities of your day and one for the party.
My Top Five Tips:
1. Decide right at the start and before you step foot in a bridal shop what your price range is going to be. Your day dress price may be more significant than your evening dress or the other way round. Think this through carefully and don’t discount a shop sample – many girls buy a shop sample for their second dress. This is massively beneficial and a great way to save money.
2. Don’t forget you will probably need a shoe change – and maybe an underwear change – from your day dress to your evening dress, a small but important point. Trainers to dance in versus heels for the day. Swap your corseted day dress for a soft unstructured easy bra evening option. Your evening shoes should be the comfortable one and may even be a pair you have in your wardrobe.
3. Don't put yourself under pressure that your day dress and your evening dress need to match in style or theme – they really don't. In fact, make a massive statement by having them totally opposite and different. Choose a sophisticated and gorgeous day wedding dress then go utterly sparkly in a flirty short dress, playsuit or jumpsuit for the evening. Make the change noticeable and make it a fun and easy to play-in option.
4. Having two dresses means you need to carefully think about when you will change. Will you do a great reveal for the first dance, or will you slip away and return party ready? Also think about your evening guests’ arrival time because they will not want to miss your day dress. Timing is everything to make sure day and evening guests see both outfits.
5. Plan your photographer's departure time, too. The majority of your images will be in your formal day dress but make sure you change before the photographer leaves. This is so vital so that you don’t have regrets that you don't have images in your second dress. Most photographers stay for the first dance so changing for that seems to be the best time.
Finally, If the idea of paying for two dresses is outside your reach but you still want a two dress look then talk to your bridal shop. Many dresses can have over skirts added that you can whip off for the party, remove veils, remove sleeves or jackets, and add sparkle and bustle that skirt. Add sparkly or strong earrings or a belt. These are all great options to glam up your day look before you hit the dance floor.
We have an incredible collection of party dresses and our stylists would be delighted to help you perfect your look. Happy shopping,
Ellie x
We book all of our brides in for a two-hour one-to-one consultation with our stylists or Ellie herself. If you are ready to get trying on, then contact us via our website at elliesanderson.co.uk
