Olga is manager at Best for Bride since 2005. Currently Best for Bride operates 4 bridal stores in Canada (Toronto, Etobicoke, Hamilton and Barrie). Best for Bride sells wedding, bridemaids, mob dresses and more. https://www.bestforbride.com/
Buying jewellery for what might be the most important day of your life won’t always be easy, especially when trying to decide how much to spend, but there are a few points you should always consider.
Never spend what you know you cannot afford. While wedding is your big day, you don’t want to be worrying about how you’re going to pay off debts while you’re on your honeymoon!
Shop around. You might find a piece you like and have your heart set on it, but often the same piece or one very similar can be found for much cheaper. Leave plenty of time to shop so you have time to compare prices. The internet can be really helpful in searching for great deals.
Try to find jewellery you would love to wear again, especially if you’re stretching your budget when buying certain pieces. It’s not worth spending a large portion of your budget on a piece that you will likely only wear for a few hours. Think about the future and shop for jewellery you can wear again and again!
As a groom, would you buy shirts and rent the suits for your wedding?
The cost of a wedding these days can be £15000 and upwards. With church, reception, cars, bridal gown, along with bridesmaids, ushers and all the accessories, the price is just too high for many couples. It is tempting to compromise on some of the costs involved, especially for formal wear, which tends to be packed in the loft, gathering dust for many years following the happy event.
However, brides tend to be sentimental over their choice of gown, lots of time is spent choosing materials, styles and cut. Different shops and boutiques are visited before any decisions are made. It’s a major part of the event and enjoyed by most females.
Males, on the other hand, tend to be more practical and concerned with cutting expense where possible. Most grooms would be happy to hire their suit and accessories, especially considering the difference in costs between hiring and buying.
The first name people think of when hiring suits is Moss Bros. If you hire four or more wedding outfits from them, the groom’s wedding suit will be free! The price for hiring a three piece morning suit, plus shirt and cravat averages between £70 and £80. The quality of material and styling is generally superb.
Many hire companies offer lower prices that this, depending on quality. Most towns have specialist hire shops, many conveniently situated on the High Street. The groom, best man and ushers can visit the shops, feeling the quality of material, style and cut. They can try on various styles and check which suits them best. Hire firms will also do alterations where necessary and deliver to the home, all at little extra cost.
A designer morning suit of similar style and quality would cost anywhere between £600 and £800 to buy. There is such a huge difference in price for a suit which would be probably never be worn again, that it’s no surprise that more grooms than ever before are choosing to hire!
As a bride would you buy your wedding dress ready made from a store or would you have one custom made for you?
I would definitely choose to have a wedding dress made exclusively for me rather than simply buying one from a store. It may seem rather an extravagance but getting married is such a special occasion that I think it is well worth spending the extra money and having a dress custom made, just like wearing expensive designer shoes. It is important to choose a good dressmaker, preferably one that has been recommended to you. Most dressmakers are happy to show you samples of their work and testimonies from satisfied customers.
Having a custom made wedding dress means that you can choose the fabric such as silk, satin, tulle, chiffon etc. You can also check how likely it is to crease as you will be sitting in it for some time and want to keep looking your best.
You can look at colour swatches and take advice on what colour suits your skin best. Off-white, cream, ivory or oyster – which is a pale pink, may suit you better than pure white. You might even decide to choose a coloured wedding dress such as a dramatic red or gold. I like the idea of having a say in the design of my dress too rather than just choosing one from a rail that would be identical to that chosen by thousands of other brides.
Custom made dresses are made to measure to fit the bride’s size exactly. The bride also attends several fittings whilst the dress is being made so that fine adjustments can be made if for example the bride loses or gains a little weight. The finished dress would fit perfectly so would hang well and look stunning on that special day.
The dream wedding dress could be cleaned after the wedding and stored carefully. It may well become a treasured family heirloom in the years to come and maybe it would be worn even by any future daughter at her wedding too.
Every bride should look and feel special on her wedding day and having an original, personally designed wedding dress will make her feel gorgeous.
You have 6 months to your wedding day – what’s your fitness routine to get into shape for the special day?
Well you can always just go for designer jewellery, it will always fit. I got engaged in September and arranged my wedding for February. I am not a slim girl and needed to get myself in better shape for my wedding. I dreaded the shopping trip to find a wedding dress, I had previously done bridesmaid for my sister and found it quite humiliating looking for a dress when I was not the ideal 10 or 12. I was always told that wedding dresses are usually small fitting and therefore I would need a larger size for the big day, another nightmare to face. But before buying a dress, I surely needed some gym wear!
I realised that I would not lose lots of weight before my big day but I was determined to look better, and smaller, I set about on quite a strict regime. I had a healthy eating plan, cut out alcohol and took up walking and playing badminton with my sister. I also hoped that the stress leading up to the big day would help me lose weight, but it did not
My wedding was to be in the February and I put off looking for my wedding dress until the beginning of January, partly because I thought I might get one in the sales but mostly to allow me more time to get into shape. I must admit that the sensible eating and moderate did make some difference to my body, not so much to my weight but it definitely improved my body shape. I still found the whole finding a wedding dress experience a bit humiliating, hopefully something I will only do once.
My wedding was eight years ago so fitness techniques have probably moved on since then, but I think the basics of a sensible eating plan and moderate exercise should help most brides to be. I could not afford to go for special treatments or to join a gym with a personal trainer, it would probably be a very good idea to join a gym and get some professional help.
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