Finding a wedding dress in my home town of Ipswich has been such a lovely experience. There are more shops than I realised and more choice than I anticipated. I only visited three of the shops as it was in the third that I found my dress.

The first boutique I visited was Just A Day Bridal. My Mum was busy so I ventured in alone, wondering if they thought I was some sad loner, trying on dresses for kicks. I was warmly welcomed and invited to peruse the rails to select dresses I wanted to try. I had so much fun - rails of lace, satin, chiffon, beading and ribbon where at my disposal. I've been told that some brides feel overwhelmed by this but I loved it.

The very first dress I tried was this Lou Lou tea length dress, it swished and swayed beautifully. I wish I'd been allowed to take photos, if only to be able to show you here! I also tried something slinky with a cowl back, something with a pretty lace peplum and - just for shits and giggles - a pale pink pouffy strapless number, covered in flowers with the biggest skirt you've ever seen.

Next up I wandered into Grace and Lace, I hadn't made an appointment but they where very welcoming and having given them a budget and the stipulation that I didn't want strapless (which cuts down your options let me tell you) they happily selected dresses for me. It was here I found my biggest surprise, I was given a lace dress with a train (something I hadn't envisioned having) in a fishtail style. On the hanger I looked at it and thought 'yuck', but it was stunning. The shape gave me curves and the neckline gave me the illusion of boobs. Actual boobs! And even though I say so myself, my rear looked pretty damn hot in it too.



This is a perfect example of a picture not doing a dress justice - the fact that it doesn't fit the model very well doesn't help but the dress itself is so much nicer in the flesh. Moral of the story - when buying a wedding dress keep an open mind and try on everything.

I should say at this point I was thoroughly hooked and wanted to visit all the shops, every where.

I then waited a few days and, with Mum by my side, visited The Suffolk Bridal Company. I'd read about people putting on a dress and 'knowing it was the one' and as much as I'd like some of the dresses I'd tried I was intrigued to see if I would experience such a moment. I also wanted to share this experience with my Mum, I had no problem going it alone but this is a mother / daughter experience that shouldn't be missed.

I tried several dresses here, they had the biggest selection of dresses by far and the ladies were lovely. They made us a cup of tea as it was a pretty miserable day and my Mum and I had turned up looking rather bedraggled thanks to the rain (and I'd just come from the hairdressers!). I loved the first two I tried on, they were the closest to the sort of thing I'd had in mind so we put those to one side as 'possibles'.


The shoulder detail was so pretty on this Pronovias dress - lace covered in small, delicate chiffon flowers, with pearls and tiny diamante bead embellishments.


This dress was so lovely, the back was lace from the shoulders to the waist with tiny buttons up the back and it had a small sweeping train.

Then I tried on the final dress. I'd picked it off the rail because I liked the neckline and wanted to see how it looked on me. It blew all the other dresses well and truly out of the water. I'd fallen in love with it before I'd even seen my reflection in the mirror, I felt amazing. I looked at Mum and whispered, as I was incapable of normal speech, 'this is the one', then I cried. And then Mum cried. And then the lady in the shop cried.

Wearing jeans felt all kinds of ordinary after that.