My personal favourite? Has to be the San Juan.
And at Coast – it’s entirely worth losing your lunch hour to drool over their bridal offerings, see if you cn actually pick a favourite-it took me hours!
It’s also well worth checking out some of the higher end department stores – particularly Harvey Nics and Selfridges. Don’t worry – the dresses there can still come in at considerably less than the price of your average wedding dress.

8 Comments
Hi Clare.
Fab post and I am loving the monsoon and coast offerings!
I would also be really interested to hear how to go about finding a dress maker? And different peoples experiences.
I am a bit scared that i'll end up with one who makes 80s huge puff ball arms….probably because that is my experience of dress makers (when I was 5)
Oh and how to DECIDE what you would like! I am in Wedding Dress haze… they all start to look the same. Thought I wanted short but made me look wide & stumpy.
I cannot draw for toffee so not sure how I could even explain what I want…(fellow creatively challenged bride)
Dressmakers are the best. I didn't really know what I wanted and my wonderful dressmaker looked at all the pictures I kept finding and interpreted them, explaining which styles would work and then what type of fabric would be the best. She was brill (Lisa at http://www.dragonflydressdesign.co.uk) and I loved my dress.
Fantastic post! You know my dress story (won one from dressmakers House of Mooshki) – I have saved some of these pics to send to them as inspiration! Thanks Claire!
Thank you for this post – I love both yours and Aisling's dresses.
I found a lot of the dresses in bridal shops rather samey, and some of the shop assistants were quite pushy, trying to get me to try on styles that I knew before even trying the dress on that it was not me. All the assistants told me that I had to try on these dresses, due to the fit and feel, as I may love them, and should not go with preconceived ideas.
I don’t think they liked me, for being so assertive over the style that I wanted.
I went to a dress maker and was surprised by how reasonable she was priced (Trisha's in Oswestry – very lovely, but does not have a website). However my mum was concerned that I would not get to try on the final dress until it was made, and what if it was not right for me! We decided to carry on looking and I found my dress in a bridal shop. I knew before I even tried it on that the dress was “me”. It was from a discount wedding dress range, and cost £400 but was the style I had been looking for (with a few compromises).
absolutely beautiful…i love the options you picked out!
Love the new coast and monsoon dresses! Also, pleased that Harriet at Tasty Vintage gets a mention, I don't think I've recovered from my visit to that boutique yet! Can't wait to see what is coming next? Grannie's wardrobe perhaps…
Great post and there really are so many options. I didnt go near a bridal shop but used the internet for a lot of research. I knew what i wanted but found it near impossible to find in my price range so i went the dressmaker route. I designed it myself and took my drawings to a local lady my hairdresser told me about. The end result was perfect and exactly what i wanted. I also love the fact that i designed it myself, it is completely unique but still cost less than most off the peg dresses in bridal shops.
You have inspired me once again ladies – watch out for a 'how to get your dress from a dressmaker/charity shop/high street shop etc' series coming to your screens soon!