Wedding flower bouquets

Continuing on the wedding flower theme, here is a quick guide to wedding bridal bouquets and the styles and shapes they suit.

Overarm Bouquets: Best for brides with slim figures, wedding dresses with lots of detailing and long slinky lighweight dresses. Usual flowers in these are calla lilies.

Trailing Bouquets: Best for brides that are tall as this bouquet helps draw the eye downward. The best wedding dress styles for this bouquet include A-Line, ballerina and princess skirts with a flowing train. Usual flowers in these can vary from roses to orchids.

Tear Drop bouquets: Best for a bride with a fuller figure, with a traditional wedding dress shape-bodice and full A-Line skirt. Any style that flares from the waist. Lots of varying styles some with roses others with mixed flowers including bouvardia, calla lilies, and greenery

Hand-Tied Bouquets: Best for medium height brides with the same build. Bias cut dresses that have an understated modern look. This bouquet is very popular though as most brides love roses. Most flowers can be made into a hand tie of some form so the choice is yours!

Don’t forget this is a guide not a rule book, and if like a particular stlye bouquet and it looks perfect wih your dress and your style go with it!

Planning your wedding flowers

When we meet a bride to talk about her wedding flowers most brides have an idea of some flowers but not unless she is a gardening enthusiast will she know what the flower names are. We usually show photos of available flowers in varying colurs and ask a bride which are standing out to her, and in our store we have arrangements doen in varying styles and the bride gets ideas of shapes and styles she likes. However it is not as easy as this everywhere-so here are a few tips.

1. Ask to see photos of the pflowers you are interested in or the florist is recommending.

2. Ensure you have a colour theme in mind and BE specific. If you hate a particular flower inform your florist to make sure they are not used on your wedding day.

3. Don’t be afraid to talk money. If you have a budget tell your florist from the start and then no-one is in the dark.

4. Ask about ways the florist can create the wow-factor without the expense. We generally work on unusual designs and different types of material-not always just flowers to create stunning and memorable looks.

5. Have a list with you of everyting you will need. Number of bouquets, buttonholes, pew ends, church arrangements, and if you want the florist to meet you in the church to go through everyting you have in mind don’t be afraid to ask!

Below is a list of flowers that are popular and flowers for the seasons. Also if you are unsure of the flowers this website will help you on your way! http://www.flowerguide.com/

Year Round-Calla Lily, Gerbera, Stargazer Lily, Rosa, Lisianthus, Freesia, Anthurium, Bouvardia, Carnation,

Spring-Muscari, Tulips, Lilacs, Hyacinths, Lily of the valley

Summer-Delphinium, Agapanthus, Sweet Pea, Hydrangea, Peony Rose

Autumn-Sedum, Nerine, Gladioli, Zinnia, Hypericum

Winter-Eucharis, Amaryllis, Hellebore, Ranunculus, Anemone

Lace Wedding Dresses

One of the main keyword searches on our website for brides looking for their perfect wedding dress has been Lace Wedding Dresses. We have only 1 full lace wedding dress in our store at the moment which is Aline from Youlin and had our most popular lace wedding dress style discontinued. I would love if any brides out there could tell us what style of lace wedding dress they are looking for and we will start to get that style in. I am relooking for a similar style lace dress to the discontinued one-which was a slimline fit lace dress, with straps, empire line and some sequins in the lace-giving sparkle but in a subtle and elegant way rather than a christmas tree! It fitted snugly over the body and hung over the hips-it did not go out in anyway, and had a deep v neckline front and back-truly gorgeous!

If you would like to reply to this blog please do and for our next new dresses we will try to get in what brides are looking for and cannot find! So what type of lace dress are YOU looking for???

How to choose the perfect wedding dress

Starting is always the hardest thing to do and trying on your first wedding dress is one of the most nerve wracking experiences for most brides to be. When we have a bride instore for the first time we generally start talking about likes, dislikes, colours, shapes and her style ideas. Most brides have a picture in their head of what they think they want. Sometimes this really CAN be thedress of her dreams but a lot more times it is the opposite of what the bride ends up getting. You will hear from your friends of what they thought they really wanted and when they went ot put it on, they did’nt like the style at all! So don’t be surprised if you thought you would never wear a ‘boob tube’ and that is exactly what you buy in the end. It does happen but if it looks stunning and feels right-go with it and enjoy yourself.

My top 10 tips for finding your Dream dress are as follows:

1. Think of your personal style before going to look at dresses-do you love to dress up and bling it up every saturday night? Do you keep to a more streamlined approach when dressing for an occasion, do you prefer to dress more organically and eco freindly? Keep this is mind when starting to get a picture in your head of what you want to look like on your wedding day

2. Start to view some dresses online-sites like ours have a ‘Find my dreamdress section worth checking out http://www.theweddingcollection.ie/dresses/find/ be warned though..this is addictive and you can look for days and days and start getting very confused, so look at a few websites, start looking at the styles the boutique is carrying and go from there. A useful resource when looking for designers is www.dressfinder.com and this will help you start in the right direction.

3. When looking online at particular designers find out where they are stocked-no point in falling in love with a dress only to find out it is not available anywhere near you..are you really prepared to travel to Australia-so keep it realistic!

4. Budget Budget Budget. Pick an amount and stick to it. In times of recession this amount may not be as much as you had hoped, but I would say 1 thing. There are 1000′s of fabulous dresses out there to suit all budgets, and if the dress looks amazing it does not matter how much you paid for it-no one will ever know!

5. If you are on a tight budget look into getting sample dresses.A sample sale is one where a boutique is clearing out stock for the arrival of new stock. These styles are sold as you see them in the shop and are not new-however they can look as good as with a clean and fit to your size. The cost of these samples is greatly reduced to entice you to go for them-remember this is the dress you will be getting married in so scrutinize it for permanent marks, or missing beading etc.

6. Try on as many styles in the 1st wedding shop as possible. Mermaid styles, a line gowns, princess gowns, ballgowns, empire gowns. Some will look great some will look terrible and no matter what a salesperson says-they will not all look ‘LOVELY’. If that was the case the 1st one would do! So be harsh here as you are weeding out what does’nt suit and working towards what will. Try on all the colours available, straps, boob tubes, long trains, no trains, everthing you think might work. At the end of this you will notice what suits your shape and what does’nt. If you don’t know what your body shape is this is a great website to help you decide http://www.shapeyourstyle.com/whatsyourshape.php

7. Don’t bring your mum, your 3 sisters, your 4 best friends, and your fiance along. I would advise a max of 2 trusted people to accompany you on your search. Vary the people if you like but don’t overload-it leads to confusion and can be quite a distressing time with all the opinions- good and bad -flying around. And it is also distracting for you-it’s your choice don’t forget, not the dress your mother always wished she had gone for!

8. You may find up to 3 dresses you really like in 2-3 stores. If this happens it is time to stop and focus on these 6-9 dresses. Revisit them with your trusted friends/mother and see if you still like them as much the 2nd time around. This starts the process of elimination and starts you thinking of possibly going for 1 of them. If none of this has happened yet and you have’nt found 1 that you like try to find out why you don’t like any of them-is it you are waiting to keel over when you find ‘the one’?, are your trusted friends being very negative, are you looking in the right places, is nothing in your budget, or you just don’t like any of them? If this is happening to you go back to step 1 and rethink what you are looking for-realistically now as you should have tried on lots of styles. If you can come up with a definitive style-for example a lace fitted gown with a small train, and some sparkle but not too much..then start talking to stores before you visit them-ring up ask if they have that style-send you a photo and then you can decide if you want to visit the store or not. This should help you save time and stop stressing about the gown as you now have a plan of action!

9. You usually need to make an appointment before visiting a store. You may be allowed to browse but not try on if they are busy, so if you have been on their site and like the look of a lot of dresses book you appointment in advance. Also the time it takes to order a wedding dress can be 6 months or longer so be aware of this before you start. Some stores can do rush jobs so don’t worry-it may cost a bit more to bump you up the queue but if you have found THE dress??

10. Enjoy yourself!

Wedding Day Services

Welcome to The Wedding Collection blog. We are now operating like a 1 stop shop, where you can book your wedding dress, wedding jewellery and accessories, wedding flowers, wedding cake, wedding photographer and wedding car plus more! all from 1 store. View our product list on www.theweddingcollection.ie