Last Minute Surprises – B2Be Blog

I’m back from an amazing honeymoon but before filling you in on all the wedding/honeymoon details I first need to bring you up to date with the build up to the wedding.

Me and Matt were creating the DJ preferred song list. My brilliant hubby is great at picking songs and he had me dancing away in my chair. It suddenly dawned on me how amazing the party was going to be but I knew I wouldn’t be able to dance properly in my wedding dress.

It made me a bit stressed and sad to be honest because I love to dance and knowing I’d probably be falling all over the place, tripping on my dress was not something I was looking forward to.

Back in May Matt suggested I get a 2^nd dress to wear in the evening. I thought it was a brilliant idea and had thought of it also but at the hen do a few of my hens said oh no you cant do that you only get to wear your wedding dress for one day and advised I should stay in the dress, so I didn’t look for a short dress.

The day after going through the song list I decided to go for it and get another dress but I had literally 2 weeks to the day before I got married and I knew it would take a miracle to pull it off.

Hehe well I knew a particular angel who performed that miracle. Her name is Sheila Grace and shes the best dress fitter/tailor I’ve ever been to.

I emailed her and she came straight back to me and said yes it can be done and asked me to go see her that evening. I was so excited I got a bit teary thinking this is really going to happen!

So off I went to see her, I had to take my day dress with me though which was a pain because its so heavy. We chatted for a while and I explained that what I wanted was a replica of my day dress but without the bottom part so a short version of it. Sheila was brilliant she was showing me fabric options and explaining how she would create it. She took my measurements and told me to come and see her in a few days time. We agreed I’d pick the dress up the Monday, 4 days before my wedding. The next day Sheila sent me a material sample, we couldn’t get the exact fabric colour to match my main dress but Sheila already had a slightly lighter Ivory so we went with this option.

When I went to see her on Thursday she had created the bodice part which is the bit that sits against your skin. She then draped the satin fabric around my body explaining how it would look. She also showed me the lace detail which is stitched on to create the jeweled bits. At this point I didn’t really know how it would turn out and I won’t lie I was starting to get nervous, but I really had nothing to worry about she is an expert at what she does.

With butterflies in my tummy and on the brink of tears every 5 minutes I went back on the Tuesday to see the dress. We had agreed Monday but it took a bit longer than originally anticipated. During the drive I was freaking out a bit because it’s one thing to picture a dress, an entirely different thing to have it made. I walked in and she had a big grin on her face and it immediately calmed me down. She pointed to the dressing room and said ‘go on have a look’.

I walked into the dressing room and it was like the world just stopped. There on a mannequin was one of the most beautiful dresses I’d ever seen, it was simply stunning.

I burst into tears, happy tears of course and gave Sheila a big hug. I couldn’t wait to try it on. She had to take it in a few times while I was there because I’d lost more weight since the week before (stress sure helps with weight loss lol). She also added a bone to the side all while I was watching. Considering it’s a custom made dress from scratch and completely unique it really wasn’t as expensive as people might think. Sheila offers an incredible affordable service. She really went the extra mile for me and I can’t thank her enough. She also named my stunning dress Leonnie and I got teary again hehe. So dress in hand I drove home absolutely over the moon.

No one other than Matt, my mum and bridesmaid knew about the shorter dress so when I changed in the evening everyone went a bit crazy they were so shocked because apparently it’s not the norm but they loved it. I’ve had so many people emailing me, texting me about the shorter dress and how it was a great idea. I’ve also had a few people asking where I got it made because they’d like to have a shorter dress in the evening.

So to sum up my story I did something a bit different and as you’ll read in my wedding post coming soon I think it was one of the best decisions I made. I boogied on the dance floor all night and it was great because Matt could actually dance with me.

Advice time!

If you’re a bride to be, consider getting a shorter dress if you have a long train or if the dress is really big and puffy. They are really heavy or at least my main wedding dress was and it gets a bit much because you’re constantly on your feet all day so changing in the evening was perfect for me. Plus it will surprise your guests and everyone loves surprises! Another great bonus to have a shorter dress is you can take it on your honeymoon, so you get to wear it more than once :).

Photographs: Courtesy of Matt Fisher my fabulous hubby