The Lovettes (Lindsey) ~ Dress Shopping and Some Thoughts on Marriage

6a0120a65f64b9970c01a73dc97aa9970d 1024wi

Blogging bride, Lindsey, has written another excellent post for The Lovettes series. We’d love to hear about your own adventures in dress shopping via the comments below…

So, almost two months have whizzed past since my last post; it’s now MAY (the end of May at that!), we’re celebrating five months of being engaged, and there’s just over ten months to go till our wedding. ZOIKS! Time really does fly. I was initially worried I wouldn’t have enough to write about for this post; however, sitting down to type it seems like all I’ve done these past eight weeks is try on dresses, make ‘just one more tweak’ to our wedding stationery (our designer Skinny Malink remains unfeasibly patient), and source ‘stuff’ for decorations. Oh, and meet my best pals’ awesome new baby girl! Pretty joyful times all round.

Images that are inspiring our Lovette/real blogging bride, Lindsey

Image sources: floral circlets, wedding scrabble, mint green shoes, flowers in her hair

Like my fellow Lovette Kay I am not the most decisive of folks, so I anticipated wedding planning might be somewhat of a challenge, but so far we have been decision makers extraordinaire. We only looked at one venue, and just went for it. One photographer, and we knew they were the one for us. Colours? Sorted. Groom’s outfit? Picked. Music? Do I need to go on here?

But then, the dress. Hmmm.

I feel like I have quite a handle on my ‘style’ (cringe), in that I know what I like, I know what I DON’T like, and I have a fairly good idea of the shapes that suit me. Namely 40s/50s shapes. Give me a nipped in waist and a decent billow on a skirt and I’m sold. Or just stick me in jeans and tee shirt, whatevs*, but you get the picture. So, when I started looking for ‘the dress’ you can guess the kind of thing I was drawn to. Ballet length, petticoat, full skirt, vintage inspired; I was all over that shiz, and I fell madly in love with dresses by House of Mooshki in particular.

Images that are inspiring our Lovette/real blogging bride, Lindsey

Image sources: gold spray mason jars, bohemian glam, gold tip feathers, rags garland

I tried on some of her beautiful designs at Ribbons & Lace Boutique (seriously, anyone in the West of Scotland feeling deflated at the lack of choice in the wedding dress market, get thee to this shop, it’s aces, and totes bargainous**). While I was there I tried some more weddingy shapes on and, to my horror, quite liked them! Now, I say horror, what I mean is ‘no way I’ll ever look good or feel comfortable in a weddingy dress, because I am so not a bridey bride and in my head I’m cool and hip yo…. oh’. Cue indecision.

Emboldened by my widened range of options I trotted down to London to visit my wonderful friend (and bridesmaid) Hannah, and we went to David’s Bridal in search of Vera Wang. I tried on a dress that was SO Vera, SO dramatic, and SO not me but why do I like this it’s super awesome aaaaarrrggh! (warning to prospective customers: they make you ring a bell when you’ve found ‘the dress’). You know those people that tell you ‘Now, don’t go in with a set idea in your head, try on as many different styles as possible, even ones you don’t like’? Yeah, them, they’re kinda right. Despite being slightly baffling, dress hunting has been fun; it’d be great to hear from other brides-to-be on their experiences too!

Lovette Lindsey - 2

Image sources: coral flowers, dress drama, shower of lights, escort cards

Our wedding is by no means ‘all about the dress’. JB and I feel it is important the day reflects both of us; our shared ideals, our different beliefs, as individuals and together. We have a beautiful picture in our hall of a tree with two birds. The birds are perched on different branches, but are looking in the same direction, and the picture really captures something for us about what marriage might be like (in a tree, evidently).

Next month, JB and I are off to Mallorca to see our friends Sarah and Fran get married. We’re super excited, the venues they have chosen are absolutely stunning and I am itching to see Sarah in her dress. The wedding has a lovely handmade thread running through; we just finished making 40m of bunting for the reception and it’ll be great to see it fluttering in the Balearic breeze as we toast their future together. The hen night was just the other weekend; a night of tapas, inflatable kangaroos, karaoke and getting thrown out of a ceilidh for being a health and safety risk on the dance floor (I’m looking at you Sarah)!

Lovette Lindsey - 1

Image sources (clockwise from top left): stag, antler art, jumping fox, piano, landscape, birds, gold bird confetti

I think I’ll be even more emotional at their wedding as a bride-to-be myself. Watching them say their vows, sharing in the joy of the day and being in a place of so much love with JB at my side will be, I’m sure, truly breath-taking. I can’t wait.

Love Lindsey

Heart

 

Post script: I’ve found my dress

* I am aware I am probably too old to legitimately use the language of ‘the yoof’, I do so in firm irony

** see above

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

15 thoughts on “The Lovettes (Lindsey) ~ Dress Shopping and Some Thoughts on Marriage

  1. Hi Lindsey, I really enjoyed this post! am stealing ‘totes bargainous’ to look cool in front of my friends, haha.
    Seriously though, I had such a similar experience to you when dress shopping. I knew I wanted corset off the shoulder top (and I still do) but the bottom I wanted like Dita von Teese’s wedding dress – simple but massive and extraordinary! I found a dress just like it after 4 months of searching in 3 different countries… and… I felt beautiful… but wrong! as if I was in costume for a play or something. It didn’t feel right although it looked gorgeous.
    *Sigh* have found a great dressmaker who I think I’m going to have to go back to the drawing board with…

    1. HAHA! Down with the kids yo 😀 Thanks so much for sharing your dress drama! It has just completely thrown me. I was so certain I’d be really set on what I’d go for but I’ve been bewildered by the whole process. I have however found my dress – well, a dress by a local designer, which I’m having tweaked so it’s exactly right for me. VERY EXCITING! Please keep me posted (on here or on my next posts) on how you go with the dressmaking. I’ll hopefully be able to share more too further down the line. 🙂 Lindsey Lovette x

  2. I agree with SLB below – fab post. I got engaged last July, and started looking at dresses in November. I’m a traditional kind of girl, and always pictured myself in a big lacy get-up, (this image was further fuelled by Kate Middleton’s gorg wedding dress!), but, like Lindsay, I was told by everyone to be open minded, and try on dresses that I wouldn’t dream of wearing. Thank god I did, because my dress is about as far from what I had pictured myself in, as I could possibly imagine. Pronovias Flagship Store in Bond St, was my third bridal boutique visit, and after a bit of a wobbly start, I must have tried on about 10 dresses, liking each one less and less as I tried on (they were beautiful – just not for me). Luckily for me, my mum is the most stylish woman I know, and suggested I try something a bit different on – namely, the Ontario dress. If I had been alone, I never would have picked it up, in my head it was all the things that I didn’t want, a high neckline, sleeveless, a dropped waist, but when I slipped it on, it was the first time I felt like a bride-to-be (cheesy I know!) and when I walked out of the changing room, my mum, aunty, and bridesmaid all welled up (even cheesier – sorry!). I suppose all of this is my long winded way of agreeing with Lindsey – choosing a wedding dress is a once in a lifetime experience so my advice would be; take your time, try on as many as you want, leave your comfort zone, and enjoy! xx

    1. Thanks Alexandria! And SWOOOOON at your dress, wowza!! It’s funny, I’ve tried a couple of those dropped waist styles on (one at Vera Wang and another at Suzanne Neville, the Mimosa I think, gorge) and totally loved them. They’re soooo flattering, and a nice change from the more ubiquitous princess style. Ontario is a real show stopper, I’m sure you’ll be stunning in it. x

  3. This is brilliant Lindsey Lovette, your first class use of the English language had my in stitches! Pleaseeee transmit some of your decision making powers in my direction. I’ve dabbled in a bit of dress hunting and I just wanted to buy everything I put on – not ideal at all!. Have a great time in Mallorca!
    Kay x

    1. Thanks Kay! 😀 I’ll try to send some decision vibes your way. I’m so excited about Mallorca, can’t wait to take it all in and hopefully get some great memories to share in my next post x

  4. Great post, I love how you were “all over that shiz”! lol I love some of those dresses on that site you linked!! I want to do a 1920’s look. I havent tried on any yet but Im in LOVE with Yolan Cris, Im Obsessed with their vintage looks!

    Have a great time at the wedding! 🙂

    PS. Thank you so much for including a picture of my mason jars along with all the other great images!

  5. I got engaged in Feb this year (2014). I’m not very good at waiting for things so we pick a date in August this year. Yeah I know not long to get things planned but it is a very small wedding so not to much planning. But I managed to get my dress quite quick too. I picked a weekend in March (happened to be my birthday weekend) and said I will get my dress this weekend and I did. I’m not at traditional bride at all as my dress is lemon coloured. It is tea dress length. I love it. But I do think sometimes that people may think oh not a wedding dress. The colour theme of our day is going to be yellow so I thought why not. I do love it. I don’t have any brides maids and only around 30 guest so it is a very small affair but that is what me and Danny wanted. I can’t wait to get married. I don’t know how you can have a long engagement my patience wouldn’t let me and I just want to be Mrs Irving so badly.
    Love the wee blog. It’s brill can’t wait to see what your dress is like.

    1. Lemon dress – YES! I’m sure it’ll be super. A wedding in August will be lovely, hopefully you’ll get some summer sun to help the yellow theme along 🙂 Not long to go now! Lx

  6. Hey Lindsey ~
    I’m so sorry for my tardy reply (as we’re trying to buy our home/help sell the one we’re in – and have just got back from Tunisia!). I really sympathise with you re choosing The Dress..! And must confess I’m in a bit of a pickle at the moment with it all ~ like you, when I thought about my wedding dress I was all about the 50’s style and was convinced I’d be spending my Big Day in Candy Anthony or House of Mooshki…but when I stepped into my local bridal boutique I fell in love with the first dress I tried on, a Maggie Sottero champagne lace fishtail number which is so ‘not me’. I couldn’t stop swooshing around in that dress, swirling my amazing train and trying on jewel-encrusted belts (so not me…how did that happen?!) and I had to – had to – have it. However….however…6 months down the line, as my wedding plans are finally starting to come together, the dress that isn’t me, was never me but I loved anyhow, is making me feel so torn with my wedding plans. I feel like The Dress is forcing me to go down a more glam, vintage route – when my venue is as chilled and salty as the sea I love to live besides, and I don’t want to spend the next 12 months making lace bunting, crafting champagne glasses with gold glitter paint and de-fraying sequin table runners (which The Dress is definitely nudging me towards). Maybe that’s just me – and I think the dresses in your post are insane and I definitely think what you’ve found is cool and hip – even if it is weddingy and you will look amazing! But I just wanted to share my experience as at this moment in time I’m seriously considering selling that fishtail number in exchange for the rustle of 50’s petticoats – and that’s just a big old shame for that poor Sottero goddess gown!
    Anyhow – I look forward to hearing what you eventually decide! Like you say, the wedding doesn’t have to be all about the dress and whatever you choose will be perfect as it’s yours and JB’s day! I hope you have a wonderful time at your friend’s wedding this month, enjoy the Mallorcan sun and I’m looking forward to hearing more about your exciting wedding plans soon!
    Madeleine xx

    1. Thanks Madeleine! It’s nice to know I’m not the only one finding the whole dress thing more demanding than I expected it to be. Although, when I read ‘champagne fishtail’ my first thought was YOWZA! I want me some of that! 😀 I don’t suppose you have considered… *cough* two dresses *cough 😉 The Mooshki dresses were stunning, no denying it – I’m still a little in love with the swish of petticoats myself. BUT! The dress I have settled on has actually turned out to be not standard weddingy, not 50s swishy, but something else entirely. I’m in the process of working with the designer to almost completely customise the bodice part, so I’m very much excited to have myself a unique creation to wear. EEP! Lindsey x (ps I’m also falling in love with sequins… so many options!)

      1. Haha I’m not going to lie I have toyed with the idea of two dresses!! But as the plans are shaping up I know in my heart of hearts The MS, champagne fishtail and all belong on another bride! Ahh, It’s absolutely wonderful to hear you’re creating something so unique and personal for your Dress (that’s right, capital D that beauty up), it sounds incredible and cannot wait to see – eventually! Looking forward to hearing more about the process…and about the sequins (my current fetish is glitter ha!), in your next post!! xx

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Close
Top