Our Wedding: The Dress

It may surprise you to hear that I only went to one bridal shop on my hunt for the perfect dress. I had appointments at several in the city but my first one was at Epernay Bridal in Gosforth and as soon as I walked into the shop I knew to cancel all other appointments.

Epernay Bridal was perfect! The beautiful boutique was open just for me and my bridesmaid Lauren during my appointment and the ladies in the shop were so warm and friendly. Just what a slightly stressed bride needs!

I had no idea how much I would love shopping for my wedding dress but it was one of the absolute highlights of wedding planning. I loved every second and I wish so much I could have the time again as it's something I'll remember forever.

Copyright Katie Byram Photography

I was keen to try on lots of different styles from massive princess dresses covered in sequins to lacy fishtails that I knew would never suit me. Those first few dresses I tried on I felt very much like I was playing dress up, they were beautiful but they weren't very me.

"The one" happened much quicker than I had imagined and was a different feeling to what I was expecting. You hear stories of brides bursting into tears as they put on their dress for the first time but for some reason it didn't happen to me. Putting on my dress I knew straight away it was mine, it fit beautifully, flattered my shape and turned me into the perfect version of myself. Despite there being no tears I knew it was my dress the second I saw myself in the mirror.

Copyright Katie Byram Photography

I have been to so many weddings over the past few years but my gown is very different to the dresses worn by my sisters and friends. The shape was so flattering to my small waist yet perfectly disguised my tummy - despite being a zip up with no corset it somehow pulled me in at all the right places - it really was like magic.

Copyright Katie Byram Photography

The part of the dress that I really fell in love with was the back. It was stunning and I was obsessed.  I dread to think how long I spent standing in Epernay Bridal gazing at the back in the mirror. The beading hanging across my back was stunning and with the buttons running the whole way down the back of the dress - I've never seen a dress so beautiful.

Copyright Katie Byram Photography

Of course, all us ladies have hang ups that we want to hide on our wedding day and for me it was my arms. I know a lot of girls hate their upper arms but my weight loss has left me with huge "bingo wings" that I'm not a fan of and I definitely didn't want them out on the wedding day. I knew that if they were out they'd be all I saw on the photographs.

So we decided to design me some sleeves to fit onto the dress which I was so excited about as it made the dress even more special. I had a few appointments with Epernay Bridal to sort out the sleeves but their talented seamstress made the process very easy. We chose a double layer of tulle and matched the cuffs to the trim of the dress.

Copyright Katie Byram Photography

With such a detailed back I debated for a long time about what to wear on my head. Although a veil completes the look for some brides, I couldn't bear the thought of hiding all of that gorgeous detailing on the back of my dress. I knew that I wanted to make sure that all eyes were on the back of the dress when I walked down the aisle. In the end I went for a simple headband decorated in silver and pearl details, it made me feel bridal but definitely kept the focus on the dress - it was perfect.

Copyright Katie Byram Photography

Walking down the aisle in my perfect wedding dress, as I reached Simon everyone in the room had seen the gorgeous detailing on the back apart from him. I loved that everyone had seen the full dress but he still had more to come.

All photographs in this post were taken by our wedding photographer Katie Byram (http://katiebyram.com/) Please do not use any of these images without her permission.