Wedding Wednesday - High Street Dresses ♥

I've decided to start up a regular Wednesday post on all things I'm up to wedding-wise! I have set a date now and booked my venues, and I am starting to get really excited about all the different things I've still to plan - cake, invites, flowers, cars, dress, shoes! The list goes on!

A couple of weeks ago I spent a mammoth day on Oxford Street trying on lots of high street wedding dresses. I initially did not want to spend a lot on the dress, as I'm only going to wear it once! So I thought I should check out all the high street ones on offer to see if there were any hidden gems!

I've realised that my figure is not really suited to a 'one size fits all' kind of dress, and I think I'm going to have to get a dress fitted properly (I am dorito shaped - broad shoulders on top, little hips and legs on bottom - v.attractive!!) I've since found a designer dress that I've fallen in love with, but I thought I'd share my high street finds as they would certainly be perfect for others who don't have abnormal proportions like me!

Here is a review of all the dresses I tried on, and some bad iphone pics too. I've chopped my head off as it was chucking it down with rain all day and no-one wants to see my flustered face with hair plastered to it!

Monsoon

I went to the Monsoon store on Oxford Street and they had quite a few from their collection in store, but not all, and the particular one I had my eye on wasn't there which was a shame. But I tried on a few that seemed quite nice.



Margot Bridal Dress -  this dress is only £229 - an absolute bargain! It fitted quite well and the quality was good, but I felt it was a bit 1970's for me and the look I'm going for! This would be lovely for an outdoors-y laid back 'woodland' type wedding.




Olga Bridal Dress - They didn't have this dress in my size so I had to kind of hold it against me to see it properly. It was really pretty but didn't feel 'bridey' enough. It also had quite a Grecian feel to it. This is only £249, so again, fab price!




Annabel Dress - Again, I had to stuff myself into a size 8 and hold it closed at the back to see the fit. Looks pretty awful in this pic but I could imagine how it would fit in the right size. This was my favourite of the monsoon ones I tried. It was made of a thicker material and felt more like a wedding dress than the others.  It had really gorgeous embroidery around the neckline and straps. This is £249 too.


Phase Eight

I tried on a few dresses from the Phase Eight collection in a couple of different stores. I tried some on in House of Fraser (first 2 below) so they didn't have the full range or many sizes. And then I went to the flagship Phase Eight store which had a lot more choice. These were a little more expensive, but a lot more workmanship has gone into them in terms of details and embellishments. The fabrics used are also quite sumptuous and feel bridal-like.



Eliza Wedding Dress - Excuse the god awful photo and lighting! They only had this dress in a size too big, and so you can see it hanging a bit and not very flattering! I was impressed with the detail in this dress though - it is covered in lots of crystals and beads. It's a bit more at £750, but you are paying for the level and quality of detail in the embellishments.




Evelyn Lace Beaded Dress - Another bad photo! This was a couple sizes too small so I look a bit stuffed into it. This had lots of lace, bead and sequin detail all over it. It was really pretty and sparkly, but I found it weighed a ton! The amount of decorations on it do weigh it down a bit. It's really nice but a bit too covered up for me. Would perhaps suit an older bride, a winter bride, or someone who doesn't want to expose too much skin! This is £750 too.




Carolina Lace Dress - These two were tried on in the Phase Eight store so I was able to try them on on my size - hurrah! I absolutely loved the Carolina dress. It's so soft and pretty and romantic and has a rose lace detail all over it. It's a bit of an unusual fabric - it feels quite cottony and stretchy, but not in a horrible way. This was one of my favourites. My only drawback is the high neckline. High necklines don't really suit me (v-necks all the way) so whilst this was gorgeous it wasn't 100% right. If it had a v-neck I'd be sold! This one was £550.




Flora Embroidered Dress - This was another favourite from Phase Eight. The quality was amazing and it felt really elegant and special to wear. The material is embroidered with a lovely floral pattern and it has a gorgeous pearl encrusted belt to cinch the waist. This was £550 too. I really liked it but again had the high neckline problem! It also felt quite formal and I wanted something a bit more floaty and romantic. Would def recommend this and Carolina dress to others!


I didn't take any other photos of these, but I also tried some other brands on. They didn't suit me but I thought I'd list them in case any brides-to-be are reading and are interested!

 Damsel in a Dress Signature Dress -  I tried this dress on and it wasn't for me, but it was really figure-hugging (in a good way) and looked quite glamorous. Again it's affordable at only £229. One thing that put me off though was that the material seemed quite shiny, which isn't for me.





Ghost Sylvia Wedding Dress - This dress was really good quality but the material was quite thin, and so it showed every lump and bump! I think this would be good if you're quite tall and slim. It's very plain but really elegant and on the right person this would look lovely. Another bargain at £225!


Phew! Well that's my mammoth wedding wednesday done!

Which dress do you like best?

x


Follow on Bloglovin

Comments

  1. Hmm, i think I like the Margot Bridal Dress, and the Evelyn Lace Beaded Dress the best! I guess that must mean I like flowing dresses! I still can't believe how expensive wedding dresses are, even on the highstreet they seem like a lot for a dress you might only wear for one day. Would love to see the dress you finally pick though :) Will you be posting any photographs of your wedding? I've got two lined up to go to in the new future which will be fun! Oh and would love to see a monthly guinea pig post too! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, they're crazy expensive! The margot one was very floaty and flowy, very ethereal! Will def post some pics of my wedding! I've also got a few to go to this year so lots of inspiration. Would love to hear about ur weddings too! May do a pig post soon!! ;-) xxx

      Delete
  2. OOH, I love the Annabel and the Carolina dresses!

    Tanya xx

    November Grey

    ReplyDelete
  3. ahhh wedding planning! makes me reminisce! I had a phase eight dress, I loved it so much and nobody guessed it was 'high street' Although now I'm contemplating selling it as realistically, when will I wear it again! I love all the phase 8 dresses actually, so hard to choose! good luck with the rest of the planning! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just seen ur comment! What dress did u go for? Love ur blog btw, keeps me up to date with all goings on in brighty! Used to live there, love it! X

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts