Tuesday 11 November 2014

How to Choose Your Perfect Wedding Dress

Choosing a wedding dress can be extremely stressful. There are so many questions that we ask ourselves: "As the bride, what do I personally like?" "Will my fiance like it?" "How much am I willing to spend?" Unfortunately, choosing the perfect dress is not an exact science. However, there are things you can do to make the decision with as much confidence as possible. Here is how:

 
 
Steps
 
Image:Choose Your Perfect Wedding Dress Step 1.jpg
 
1) Begin your search with a positive attitude. If you go into dress-searching believing that you won't find the perfect dress, it is likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Keep an open mind, and remember: even if the dress you choose doesn't seem to be the "perfect" dress, in the end, you still get to marry the person you love. They will think you're beautiful no matter what.
 
 
 
2) Begin searching. There are several places in which you can seek out wedding dresses. Wedding magazines, wedding dress stores, and wedding pictures online are the most common. You can also watch wedding television shows, such as "Say Yes to the Dress" or "My Fair Wedding."
  • Also, make sure to print out copies of your favorite dresses. These can be helpful both to yourself and for your bridal consultant at whatever salon you go to. Through these sources, you can discover what dresses you do and do not like, and ultimately, what kind of dress you can picture yourself wearing on your big day.
Choose Your Perfect Wedding Dress Step 2.jpg
 
3) Find out what flatters you. A lot of this is done through trying things on and experimenting. However, if you cannot tell what looks good and what doesn't, there are a few basic fashion rules that you can follow:
  • First of all, if you aren't built like a model, chances are that the dress won't look the same on you as it does it does in the picture. That doesn't mean it will look bad, but that also doesn't mean that it won't.
  • Second, plus-size women tend to have a harder time. Not only do they have a higher priced dress because of the excess fabric, but more fashion restrictions are placed upon them. They are generally not recommended to wear mermaid dresses. They also aren't recommended to wear certain types of ball gowns, which tend to add more bulk. Most fashion consultants suggest an a-line shape, which usually hides the larger areas without adding any excess material. If you are plus-sized, you may want to flaunt your curves with a form-fitting dress. As long as you and your fiance like it, that's really all that matters.
  • Third, choose a dress that fits both your personality and your theme. For example, if you are an outgoing bride with the wedding theme Las Vegas, don't purchase a classic, plain dress. That would just end up confusing your guests.
  • Ruching tends to make people look skinnier. Form-fitting lace dresses should be chosen with caution (it takes the right person to pull them off). And, for people with broad shoulders, halter top dresses are not usually the best choice.
4)  Come up with a budget. For the majority of people, budget is extremely important. It is vital to come up with a reasonable budget so that you can not only have the wedding of your dreams, but so that you also won't be sunken into debt after it's over.So don't worry. If you're budget is low, you still have plenty of options. Just be aware of how your budget connects with your dress choice. If you are interested in either a ball gown or a dress with a lot of detail, you may have a rough time finding one for a low price.
  • Also, be aware that you may have to put down a deposit when ordering a dress. Keep all of your receipts to avoid potential scams.
Choose Your Perfect Wedding Dress Step 4.jpg
 
5)  Decide who you're taking with you. Don't choose just anyone. You are going to want people who will be supportive and honest. Those people must also realize that it is your dress. If you love a dress but they don't, they need to support you. Otherwise, dress shopping can be a very painful process. You also must decide how big you want your entourage to be. I wouldn't recommend a large group, as they can become unfocused or over-opinionated. Still, you'll probably want more than just one person, just so that you'll have more variety and more people who can point out potential flaws. A group of 2-5 people is probably your best bet.
 
Choose Your Perfect Wedding Dress Step 6.jpg
 
6)  Make an appointment with a bridal salon. Congratulations! You have gotten through one of the potentially most difficult parts of the process. Now is the easy part. Search online for bridal stores in your area. After you have picked a few that you think you'll like, give them a call and schedule an appointment to try on dresses. After that, it's pretty much a no-brainer.
 
7)  Keep a level head. Stay positive, be patient, and never give up hope. Always remember that what really matters is that person at the end of the aisle, and the knowledge that he (or she) plans to spend their whole life with you. Now that beats picking out an item of clothing by a long shot
 
Enjoy the process.
 
 
Ever After Bridal

Thursday 9 October 2014

Ever After Bride - Leanne

Hi There dear Blog readers....
 
We would like to share with you today the wedding of Leanne and Jaco..
 
 
Leanne wore the beautifull dress Eden by Maggie Sottero.
Her bracelet was designed by Hayley Goodrich: www.hgaccessories.co.za
The photos were taken by Abigail K photography; www.abigailk.co.za
 
 
Leanne was such a lovely bride to work with... She was always friendly and warm.  Leanne you looked stunning on your wedding day and the Ever after Bridal team would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to be part of this special time in your life. We wish you all the love and happiness that life can bring...
 










Friday 19 September 2014

Ever After Bride - Taryn Murison

Good day all of our Ever after Bridal blog readers...

The weather has changed to rainy and cold all of the sudden so let us warm up by looking at these beautiful photos of one of our Ever After brides - Taryn.

Taryn got married on the 1st of March 2014.

Venue: Piekenierskloof in Citrusdal.

Jewellery was designed by Hayley Goodrich - www.hgaccessories.co.za

Dress Norma by Maggie Sottero supplied by Ever After Bridal.

Photography -  www.lvstar.co.za

 
 
Taryn you looked amazing!!! Congratulations and thank you for giving Ever After Bridal the opportunity to share in this special time of your life.












Tuesday 9 September 2014

Ever After Bride - Tamsyn

To all our Ever After Bridal followers...


Today we are featuring on of our Ever After Brides Tamsyn. Tamsyn got married on the 2nd of November 2013.

Tamsyn wore the beautifull dress Octavia by Sophia Tolli.
Her jewellery were done by Hayley Goodrich - www.hgaccessories.co.za
Photos taken by Monica le Roux. www.monlero.co.za

Tamsyn you looked stunning on your special day. Thank you so much for sending us the photos and the note.













I must say before I walked into your shop in Durbanville, I really had some bad experiences with trying on wedding dresses, so I didn’t know what to expect……. and boy was I surprised.

It was an amazing experience. The ladies that helped me each time I came to the store were absolutely wonderful. So helpful and so patient and friendly. I am so glad I found Ever After Bridal.

The perfect dress for me was Octavia by Sophia Tolli. I looked like a princess on my wedding day. It was the perfect size from day one when I first fitted it on, it fitted me like a glove, so I had to place an order to buy it, there was no way I was going to hire it. It was as though it was meant for me………….
All my jewellery was made by Hayley as well as my bridesmaids bracelets. Absolutely perfect as well


Thursday 21 August 2014

Fake Designer wedding dresses - Scam!

 

This is the most important piece of advice that I can offer to any bride: whatever you do don't be tempted to order a designer "copy" dress over the internet. There are literally hundreds of websites, at the moment, offering what looks like gorgeous wedding dresses "direct from the factory" at amazing cut prices. At a time when the economy is suffering and couples are looking for ways to save money on their wedding I can see why theses sites would be so appealing, but it is the single biggest pitfall that a bride can experience.

1950 Wedding Dresses

The websites look beautifully professional and show perfect images of the dresses to make brides feel
confident enough to order. The information is in English and some sites give the impression they are based in the UK - but don't be fooled; these are sites set up by people who are very experienced in providing this illusion.
 
The reason that the photos look so good is that they are the professional photos lifted illegally from the websites of top bridal manufacturers. These sites are set up in the Far East, The bride thinks they will get the dress in the picture, in exchange for their payment, but what they actually receive is something of such bad quality that it can barely be compared to the original.

Counterfeit Wedding Dress

When the excited bride receives her parcel the first warning bells ring at the tiny size of the package they
also are poorly made in really awful, cheap fabrics. The copies have no structure to them
(the ones I have seen have no boning or any corsetry). The pattern which has been made often bears absolutely no relation to the pattern of the dress originally shown on the site and as well as the fabric being different and below the standard of what is offered, the beading details are really terrible


Counterfeit dress

The websites selling these dresses can sometimes claim that they are the original factory where the top bridal manufacturers produce their designs and that by ordering the dresses "direct" that you are being smart and saving money. The problem is that these are not the factories the manufacturers are using -they would never sell a design, which is copyrighted direct, to brides when these large companies place all their business with them. Instead these are copycat factories whose entire business is to look at a photo of a dress and turn out something vaguely similar but with much cheaper materials and without

the more expensive hand finished workmanship.

          
As a wedding dress designer retailer I know first hand how many brides are falling for these sites. This last
year many brides have come to ourselves and fellow designers with sad tales about dresses which are really too terrible to wear at their weddings and we have needed to make rush order wedding gowns for them, to save the day.

Beautiful Vintage Wedding Dress

For any brides out there still tempted to go this route I would advise that there are other ways to save money, which will not result in the kind of tears we have seen.

* Consider buying off the rail - retailers are now producing some really nice, cheaper range wedding
dresses. They may not be designer gowns but they are infinitely nicer than the dresses sent from these
copy websites.

* Wait for a sample sale - held by designers, such as ourselves. Most designers hold a sale and there is
nothing wrong with these gowns - they are usually from previous collections, are discontinued or
could be prototypes. Either way you could make huge savings and get a designer dress.

* Ask your local bridal boutique if they have any manufactured dresses they would be interested in selling
 you their sample of. Some stores may not but others may be happy to make space for new styles coming
 into their stores and would offer savings on the dress as it is their sample. Once dry-cleaned it would look
 great and have cost you far less than if you had ordered a new one in.

Most importantly just don't be taken in by the sites - if something seems too good to be true it usually is.

Thursday 10 July 2014

Ever After Bride - Michelle

Dear Ever After Bridal blog readers.....

Something to warm us up on this cold winter's day..A blog on one of our Ever After Brides Michelle.

 Michelle and Trevor got married on the 17th of May 2014.They got married at langkloof rose farm. The beautiful pictures were taken by Tasha Secombe. Michelle looked so elegant in dress Tigris by the White One collection.

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful day with us Michelle. You looked breath-taking!!! We wish you all the best on your journey together.











Ever after bridal team

Monday 26 May 2014

Ever After Bride - Marlise

Good morning to all our followers.

I cant think of a better way to warm up this day with a look at one of our Ever After Bridal brides special day.

Marlise got married on the 7th of March 2014...

She wore the beautiful dress Emma by Maggie Sottero. Her jewellery was designed by Hayley Goodrich for Hayley Goodrich accessories. www.hgaccessories.co.za.

Photos were taken by Gilliam. www.gilliam.co.za.

Marlise you looked stunning. We would like to congratulate you and Pieter on getting married. And we hope that you will share a lot more special memories together.







Ever After Bridal Team

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Ever After Bruid - Adelein

Middag aan al ons lesers...
 
Vandag deel ons met julle die fotos van een van ons beeldskone Ever After Bridal Bruide Adelein. Adelein is op die 9de November 2013 getroud.
 
Adelein het rok Nieves van White One by Pronovias gedra. Adelein was so gaaf om vir ons die volgende mooi email te stuur. Baie dankie Adelein vir die mooi woorde. Jy het so mooi gelyk op jou troudag. Baie geluk met die troue en mag daar nog baie liefde en geluk op jul pad vorentoe lé.
 
Liewe dames van Ever After,

Bitterlik baie dankie vir julle bydrae om my groot dag absoluut sprokiesagtig en amazing te maak!
My rok was presies wat ek wou he en het soos n handskoen gepas! Die verstellings is uiters proffesioneel gedoen en al wou ek heelwat strukturele veranderinge aan die rok maak het julle dit so natuurlik en perfek gedoen.
Ek het deurentyd spesiaal gevoel en Nicola het die gawe om n mens soos die heel belangrikste en mooiste bruid wat julle al ooit gehad het te laat voel en dis uniek!
Ek heg n paar fotos aan vir julle van my rok, weet julle wil seker nie so baie he nie maar ek weet nie watter tipe fotos julle wil he nie so nou kan julle self kies!

 Dankie dat julle my "Ever After" perfek gemaak het!

Adelein xx






















Ever After Bridal