h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: How to choose the right wedding dress - A3818739
Author: fatKelli - inside this thin person is a fat person who is very angry indeed - U181082

Ok, it is ages since I did a solo entry so please be kind. It is a subject that has been on my mind since last March so I thought I'd offer the benefit of my experience to future brides to be.

I was going to include men's attire too but it got a bit long and unweildy. Maybe I'll try that next...

I had a quick look - didn't get to the end, but I've got to dash now.

The first thing I noticed was this - 'Princess Diana proportions'. I think if you use this you need to explain it a bit. It was over 20 years ago, and there might be some people who haven't seen any pictures of the dress - there might even be people out there who don't know who she is!!!

Can you find a decent picture and link to it? Something like this - http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/29/newsid_2494000/2494949.stm would be ideal because it mentions the length of the train as well as having lots of stuff about the wedding on it.

I might be back later on to read the rest (after small boy has been beaten into doing homework and going to bed).

I wondered about leaving in that reference to Di. I also mention what a crumpled mess the dress was when she got out of the coach. I may re-word the second reference, but I'd like to keep the first one - adding a link to the picture is a great idea

A very good Entry and an uplifting subject. Thanks!

I think the superstition is that if a bride sews her own dress, she will shed a tear for every stitch.

Maybe this is a useful link : A378731

Pin

A1067780 Wedding Etiquette
A3383633 Popular Wedding Traditions and Superstitions

Might also be useful - if not in the body of the text then added in between and as

I only gave this the briefest of skims earlier but it looked pretty comprehensive.

I have the attention span of a at the moment so won't insult it by giving it a thorough read just now. Although I doubt there will be any *major* faux pas

Pin, I link to that article in the first paragraph. I think I'll add a link to the traditions and superstitions one where I talk about colours.

Will have a look at the ettiquette one - may be appropriate to link to it somewhere where I (bang on ) talk about the fact that you can really do what you want and you don't *have* to stick to the rules.

Have got to the point in my planning where Wedding Ettiquette can take a running jump

Good stuff!

Some tips from Mrs sprout's recentish experience.

1) Small independent dressmakers can be cheaper than you expect - Mrs sprout's rather gorgeous dress was about 700€.

2) If you get a separate top and skirt, it might make it possible to wear one or the other again afterwards, by combining it with something less 'weddingy'.

3) Mention the superstition about the husband not seeing the dress before the big day? Most sensible males will take advantage of this superstition to avoid participating in long fitting sessions

4) Co-ordination with husband's outfit - more likely to be the other way round, but something to bear in mind.

sprout

What do people think about the fact that I have given some *very* broad UK price ranges for dresses. I really worried about putting these in but thought it was important to talk about budgets and didn't know how else to cover it.

Thanks for those points sprout, although I am not sure about point 4 - do men really think they have any influence over the dress?

Actually I quite fancied a coloured dress but my fiance made it clear that he did have a picture in his head of how his wedding day would be and it didn't involve a colourful bride - when I asked him if he would mind if I wore a coloured dress he said "what, you mean cream?" I've snuck a little bit of colour in there but nothing too scarey for him. I may mention at least talking to him about it in the what type of dress section.

I've added a bit about sizing in the What happens next section, as it can come as a shock that wedding dresses come up a lot smaller than high-street sizes so it doesn't come as a shock.

I'm now worrying because I haven't included anything about wedding attire for other cultures. This would be beyond my experience and I don't want to just chuck in a throwaway line about it. Um.

Hi fatKelli .

I reckon this is quite a good entry - and as I've just chosen a wedding dress myself, I wish I'd read it earlier! All your advice is sensible, and I enjoyed reading it. The range of prices you've got is pretty reasonable for off-the-shelf stuff in bridal shops, and matches what I've seen around.

One minor thing - maybe it would be better to list/bullet point neckline styles and what sort of shapes they suit (or what shapes should avoid them)? There are so many variations in neckline style that it might help to clarify this for confused brides to be. It may be worth adding something in about empire-line dresses, as there seemed to be loads of those around when I went shopping.

Not sure about the other cultures aspects, though. Maybe state that this entry applies to UK/Western brides?

But anyway - and good luck on your big day .

Hi Rains, thanks for your comments I'll pop over to your PS to have a nosey about your wedding plans to keep the girly gushing out of PR

I wondered about separating the necklines section out a bit but as I didn't want to put a line or two in a separate paragraph it couldn't think of how to do it. Bullet points is so obvious *smacks forehead with hollow wooden thumping sound*

I mention empire line dresses in the skirt shapes section - maybe I should retitle this bit to dress silhouettes to make it a bit clearer.

I'm still not sure what to do about other cultures, I think I could maybe include a line in the opening paragraph that indicates that I am talking about western culture (not just UK). Not sure how to word that, I want to make the entry as inclusive as possible but I just don't know enough about (for example) Indian wedding attire (I know it seems to require several outfits) to be able to write something useful.

I think covering other cultures is going to bring in a lot of research, although it would be very interesting.

One of my friends married an Anglo/Tamil chap - she had the traditional colours of a Tamil wedding (red and gold if I remember right) woven into something that was a cross between a sari and a more western style dress. She looked fantastic.

sprout

Do you think the entry can stand on it's own without that? It is already quite long and I get the feeling that each culture could end up with a section that is as long as this one.

I think specifying that the entry relates to western culture would be a good idea.

I suspect that there would be enough variation in the wedding dresses of other cultures for each culture to have an entry on it's own.


Geggs

It's definitely OK on its own, no problem.

sprout

"One of the most exciting parts of your planning is deciding what you will wear on the big day and this entry aims to help brides-to-be with the bewildering choice of gowns they will soon be faced with."

This is the original final sentence of the opening paragraph, how can I word this so that it makes it clear that I am talking about western-style ( just had a mental picture of gunslingers, stetsons and spurs) weddings?

>>One of the most exciting parts of your planning is deciding what you will wear on the big day and this entry aims to help brides-to-be from western cultures with the bewildering choice of gowns they will soon be faced with.

don't like that at all now I've seen it written down.

"One of the most exciting parts of your planning is deciding what you will wear on the big day and this entry aims to help brides-to-be with the bewildering choice of gowns they will soon be faced with. The entry only deals with wedding dresses in the western tradition, other cultures have equally varied styles to choose from."

Any better?

Yeah, the second one sounds better. Or reads better, rather.


Geggs

Right, bullet points added - I've moved things around a little so the part about silhouettes comes first and is followed by sleeves/necklines etc.

Oooh. Just realised I didn't put in anything about trains.

Any suggestions for what I should do with that first para are still welcome