We have all grown up with some sort of traditional wedding dress look pictured in our heads – it may be something fit for a princess, something you grew up watching on a classic disney movie or perhaps something your mum wore when she did her own I do’s, when I look back at my own first experiences of wedding dresses growing up it was my mums wedding video, then on tape, poofy sleeves, satin and pastel coloured bridesmaids dresses. Thankfully the wedding world has moved on somewhat from 80s bridal fashion and modern brides are open to much more choice and are able to reflect their style and personality in what they wear and with the wedding dress trend of 2018 being very much about reflecting your own individual style we wanted brides to learn all about the options available. Here at House of Oliver Bridal we wanted to show you that whether you wanted to go traditional or something more individual there’s an option out there for every bride and a way to Rock your wedding dress!

Before we get into it all, brides should remember to be themselves. Don’t let the stress of all the planning sway you from what you have had your heart set on or what you know will suit you whether that be an ivory lace fit and flair or a tulle blush ball gown. For some brides, their dress is their dress and they plan to wear it for as many hours as humanly possible. While other brides plan to step into something less formal for the evening reception so they can party all night long and switch it up. There isn’t a wrong or a right answer, but we want to share a few different ways to rock your wedding dress.

THE RECEPTION LOOK

If you’re looking to have a second dress and wow your guests or maybe just want something more fun to dance the night away in, we say GO FOR IT! You won’t get this opportunity again and you may have chosen something less practical for your main wedding dress. You will always have tons of pictures of your ceremony dress so don’t feel bad if you think your first dress will lack attention. Trust us, everyone will remember the gown you walked down the aisle in! To switch it up, try a sequin dress in on trend rose gold or champagne, a more fitted style to your main dress or even a different colour like blush or lavender.

THE SHORT STUFF

Not just for the more petite bride, (and girls if you are a little more on the petite side for height you may wish to try an A line full length, sometimes they just elongate you in ways you weren’t expecting!) a short wedding dress can be fun, quirky, a nod to the 50’s and an excuse to show off a pair of sensational heels too! Tea length and ballerina length dresses fly out here at House of Oliver Bridal, but remember we are an off the peg shop which means we get new dresses in weekly! Every time you visit it could be like walking into a new shop again with new styles arriving all the time! Short styles aren’t for everyone though and with less of a dress to make a statement with they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Definitely don’t let that stop you though especially if they suit your personality. None of our Tea Length dresses are above £500 here at House of Oliver too so they can be extremely purse friendly!

ACCESSORISE IT UP

So unless you go for something couture chances are they’ll be at least a couple of hundred other brides in the country with the same dress as you. Here at House of Oliver Bridal we are very lucky to carry a couture label, and at present we only get one of each design in! Our India Grace Label retails at under £1000 so is still cost effective but when you choose one of these prestigious dresses you’ll know you’ll be the only bride in the world wearing one! If couture isn’t for you and you still want to personalise your gown we have literally hundreds of options available to you. Talk to your assistant and let her guide you through what is possible in terms of alterations, perhaps you want to add a sleeve, scoop a back or add some jewellery to your dress in terms of a back necklace. Boleros and jackets can totally transform your dress and can start from around £40 and can be a cost effective way of getting 2 looks in one, take it off for the nighttime and get an entirely different dress! Belts can accentuate a waist and there’s a world of ways as to how to style these with your gown, creating a look as individual as you are. Use your bridal assistants knowledge of alterations to know whether hems can be shortened, buttons added or changes to the way your dress fastens or whether those full length sleeves taken up to 3/4s – there’s so many ways you can stamp your style on to your wedding dress and playing around with all of the different accessories in your appointment is great fun too.

Just worth mentioning too, always ask to try on your dress with a hoop, it can totally transform the look of a dress and can always be slipped off if it’s not for you!

We hope we’ve given you some inspiration and some possibilities on how to stamp your style and personality on to your wedding dress. 2018 is a big year in bridal because the possibilities are endless – we talked in our previous blog ‘The Top Wedding Trends of 2018’ about how the bridal market is changing this year and how savvy brides are pushing back against social media pressures to find ‘the perfect dress’ for an image on social media and are staying truer to what reflects them as a bride, which is a trend we are all for! It means that variety will be the trend of 2018 and we are all about giving our brides choice here at House of Oliver Bridal, with over 200 dresses in store, a couture line of dresses you won’t find anywhere else plus new styles arriving all the time we have a dress for every kind of bride here, along with a trained bridal specialist on hand to answer any questions on how you can rock your wedding dress too!

We invite you to schedule an appointment today with one of our consultants to find the wedding dress of your dreams.

House of Oliver is an Off the Peg bridal boutique based in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. Specialising in high quality, affordable designer bridal wear from leading and up and coming designers. Exclusive stockists of India Grace Couture. Stocking wedding dresses in sizes 8-24, bridesmaids dresses and suit hire.