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Ask the expert - A guide for brides | Bridal Elegance Boutique
A guide to choosing your wedding dress by Award Winning NI Bridal Boutique Bridal Elegance, Larne. Includes an update on wedding dress shopping during the current covid 19 restrictions .
When a girl get’s engaged, finding the perfect dress is probably the number one thing you will want to do. Most of us have been dreaming about this moment since we were kids. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Lauren from Bridal Elegance Boutique in Larne to answer a few questions.
Unfortunately, Covid-19 & the current restrictions on close contact retail has changed wedding dress shopping a little so we have updated this blog post, at the end, to include some current advice if you’re planning your wedding here in Northern Ireland during the pandemic.
Lauren worked in retail since she left school, in different roles such as customer assistant, supervisor and management. She took a break from it all and worked in community care before working night-shifts in a local nursing home after she had her middle child. It was when she was expecting her third child, that her and her mum Hilary opened the boutique.
When Lauren was getting married herself and looking for her own dress, she found the process quite stressful and she never had that amazing experience which everyone tells you about. In the three bridal shops she went to, there wasn’t much variation between styles. The consultants came into the changing room with you to put you in the dress (she hated this part, standing in your underwear in front of a stranger isn’t very nice), and the overall process was quite serious due to the lack of atmosphere in the shop. Lauren’s mum Hilary had been hiring formal and bridesmaids dress part time, and then the bridal shop in Larne closed down the year after Lauren got married. They both saw the opportunity to open a bridal boutique offering brides a relaxing and friendly atmosphere, to make their wedding dress shopping a memorable, stress free experience. Something you wouldn’t get in every other boutique.
Lauren’s top tip for choosing the right dress is to be open minded - try on dresses you think you don’t like on the hanger and styles that you haven’t thought of. Nine times out of ten, brides buy a dress that is totally different to what they had in mind. She would also recommend bringing only one or two of the people you are closest to. (e.g. mum or sister) Too many opinions can make finding your perfect dress a nightmare.
Lauren would recommend wearing a good nude, strapless bra and if you want to, shape wear to your fitting. Underwear can make a huge difference to the fit and look of a dress. Bring shoes with the height of heel you want to wear on the day. Heels can help your posture and it will let your consultant see if the dress needs shortened.
In normal circumstances, Brides should start looking for their dress 12-18 months before their wedding. Dresses can take up to six months to be made and arrive in store. Your alterations usually start eight weeks before your wedding. Lauren’s favourite style of dress would be the A line. It’s a classic shape and looks great on most people.
Covid Update from Bridal Elegance
With covid putting restrictions on everything in life at the minute, shopping for your wedding dress seems an impossible task. Although you can’t visit boutiques to see and try on all the gorgeous dresses, you can use this time to do some research on styles you like and wedding boutiques you would like to visit.
We recommend using Pinterest to create a board of wedding dress styles that you like, you can also screen shot dresses from boutique websites and add them to a folder on your phone, When you do visit a boutique these images can give your bridal consultant a good idea of the look you are going for. But remember to stay open minded, if a dress looks terrible on the hanger you can bet it will look absolutely amazing on and your bridal consultant will know exactly what will suit you.
At Bridal Elegance we are offering Brides virtual appointments during lockdown. This is another really good way of seeing styles and getting to know us before you book your Bridal appointment. Its very informal and we can add your mum and bridesmaids to the appointment as well so you can all see the dresses and have a wee drink while chatting all things Bridal.
If you are on tight time scale a virtual appointment is definitely beneficial for you. We have a large off the peg range we can show you and we will keep a list of the dresses that you like. As soon as we can re open you will get the first available appointment.
We still recommend looking for your dress at least 12 months before your wedding date although ideally 18 months! Although this sounds like a long time, it really isn't! Wedding dresses can take up to 6 months to be made and arrive in store for you, you also have to allow 2 months before your wedding date for alterations. That's an 8 month process! Throw into the mix covid restrictions/lockdowns and now Brexit causing complications with deliveries that 8 months could turn into 10 months or more. It really is a good idea to start looking at dresses as soon as possible and don't be scared to commit to your dress even if it is a year and half/ 2 years until your wedding. Dress styles do not change that fast so you wont be missing out.
End of a Decade & What a Decade its Been!!
So as I sit down reflecting on 2019 I am thinking more of the past decade and how much my life has changed. This isn’t going to a be a photography blog - there will be plenty of other wedding and family photographers summing up their years - hopefully this will inspire at least one person to look at themselves and find out what it is that will make them truly happy in themselves.
So as I sit down reflecting on 2019 I am thinking more of the past decade and how much my life has changed. This isn’t going to a be a photography blog - there will be plenty of other wedding and family photographers summing up their years - hopefully this will inspire at least one person to really look at themselves and find out what it is that will make them truly happy.
Roll back a whole 10 years - I was a 35 year old wife & mum to two daughters, working as a team leader in a workplace that sucked the life out of me. I was a size 32 and was literally comfort eating myself to death
This picture was taken in Dec 2010 - it makes me so sad to look at this but also immensely proud of how far I have come in my life since then. This photo was taken to mark the start of my weight loss journey before I had a gastric bypass. This was to be my magic key to being thin. Yes I lost 4 stone relatively quickly but then had to work really hard at the gym to lose another 6 stone during 2011.
During 2011 my now ex husband & I had to have the hardest conversation with our girls, telling them that their lives would be changing massively. I still think this was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do in my life & for years after, I felt an immense sense of guilt at the heartache I had caused to both my girls and their dad. It took a few years to really come to terms with this.
It was in the summer of 2012 that I hit rock bottom, emotionally & physically. I just couldn’t cope with everyday life. I really needed time to heal from my marriage breakdown and also from working in a toxic environment. I battled on for another couple of months till I just coudnt’t continue any longer. I took a weeks annual leave, which turned into 3 months sick leave. A lot of you will already know that it was during that weeks leave that I discovered my love of photography when someone loaned me their camera to try & get me out and about in the fresh air. Photography literally made me feel alive & the minute the camera was put away I was back to feeling low again. I learnt a lot during that 3 months about other people too and had never felt so alone. My friends were also my work colleagues and their feeling was that if I was fit to take photographs I should be in work. Ironically, the day I returned back into work from sick leave, they had a meeting with someone about the mental health & well being of their teams - yet I was ignored by most of them and made to feel like I was a nobody. If I had a leg in a plaster cast & on crutches I am sure I would have been treated differently but they actually did me a favour. I knew that I was in the wrong place and it made my decision to hand in my resignation a no-brainer.
The only other thing that I was half decent at was taking photographs, so I decided to start my own photography business which officially opened on 2nd January 2013. I concentrated on being a wedding photographer capturing local couples in Larne, Co Antrim & across the rest of Northern Ireland. Roll on 3 1/2 years & I was super proud to open my photography studio where I was now able to offer family portrait sessions and newborn sessions, which were made even more special by the fact that a lot of my brides and grooms asked me to capture their little ones.
Fast forward to 2019, one of the most pivotal years in my life so far. I found myself in another failing relationship and had just started studying for an MA in Photography. I was flat out working in the studio & had a really important project to start for my MA. So off I travelled to Tyrella Beach & Ballykinler, where I came from before I was adopted as a toddler. My project was about belonging. I took two photographs that were to lead to my life changing dramatically. I was to find myself hitting rock bottom again.
It was at this stage that my life changed dramatically. I went through an intense course of Timeline Therapy with a local hypnotherapist & life coach. This was to be my turning point. Dealing with my adoption and the ultimate type of rejection, from biological parents. My whole life had been full of thoughts of no self worth, not being good enough, constantly seeking approval etc & this was despite the fact that I was adopted by two of the best parents. My timeline therapy helped me deal with all those issues, helped me to not eat based on my emotions. Do you remember I had lost all that weight back in 2011… well I ended up putting a lot of it back on .. down to that old thing called “comfort eating”. I joined my local slimming world group and with the emotional eating switched off I found myself losing weight again but more importantly starting to believe in myself, believing that I was worthy to be loved, that I deserved to do well in life. I have achieved goals this year that I didn’t think were possible in both my personal and my business life, I am in a happy place with my life & am hoping to be able to share that with others through 1:1 business mentoring for photographers.
So this decade started off with me unhappy, eating myself to death & ends with me 9 stone lighter, 8 dress sizes smaller, with a successful business, two beautiful daughters who are growing up far too quickly, an amazing partner who I wish I had met a long time ago, & about to embark on training to become a Wedding Celebrant.
So I suppose my message (if you’ve read right through to the end) is to never lose faith in yourself, surround yourself with people who build you up and who are genuinely happy when you succeed in life.
I cant wait to see what the next decade brings
Happy New Year
Caroline
xx
Samantha & John // Whistledown Hotel Wedding Photographer
April 2019 - Mayobridge Chapel & The Whistledown Hotel
I had a fabulous day at Sammy & John’s wedding back in April. I love going back down to Warrenpoint as I grew up in Newry. It was lovely meeting up with John again as he was the best man at his own best man, Conor’s wedding a couple of years ago, a day I thoroughly enjoyed being apart of. One of the highlights of the day was getting to photograph Sammy & John with their treasured horses, they are absolutely stunning. The wedding team at The Whistledown Hotel did a fabulous job with the decor, it was so elegant - definitely Instagram worthy! Luckily the weather was on our side for some of the day, allowing us to get some lovely photographs at Donaghaguy Lake.
Bride & Bridesmaids dresses - Elody Bride
Suits - Louis Boyd Menswear
Makeup - Therese McDonald Makeup
Hair - Classique Hair Salon
Flowers - Fortfield Flowers by Genevieve
Cake - The Wee Cake Shop
Rings - Joseph Rea
Band - The Housem8s
DJ - Supplied by Michael Magill Entertainments
Venue - The Whistledown Hotel
Venue Styling - Whistledown Hotel Wedding Team
Videography - Paul Johnston Wedding Videography
Photography - Caroline Smyth Photography
If you’re planning a Whistledown Hotel Wedding, I’d love to hear from you. Click here to get in touch
Make sure to follow my beautiful Weddings on Instagram
Orla & Steven // Larchfield Estate Wedding Photographer
October 2018 - Larchfield Estate
I was so excited to photograph Orla & Steven’s wedding, especially when I heard about all the fabulous suppliers they had booked to help create their dream wedding. I had been wanting to photograph some of my ‘bucket list’ wedding venue’s this year so I ran a competition a little while ago over on my facebook page - Orla & Steven were the lucky winners! Larchfield is somewhere where I had really wanted to photograph as it’s just the right mix of classy and elegant yet very ‘natural’ and photogenic. The decor is just stunning and there are so many nice areas and gardens to photograph in.
Orla’s dress is from designer, ‘Daughters of Simone’, and she was able to buy it locally at the amazing Archive 12. It was a beautiful two piece outfit which worked so nicely with the hint of mustard and foliage bouquet’s on the day.
When asking Orla & Steven for their most memorable part from their day, they agreed it would be when they sat down in the room for their evening meal and looking around at all the people they love sitting in one room laughing and talking together. If they were to give any advice to other couples it would be book additional coverage with your photographer to stay longer to capture the evening party & first dance
Have a look below to see a selection of photographs from their day and which wedding vendors they used;
Bridal Gown - Archive 12
Hair - Joanne Cooke (JMC award winning house of Hair and Beauty)
Make-up - Molly Cooke (JMC award winning house of Hair and Beauty)
Florist - The Rosehip and Berry Floral Studio
Venue - Larchfield Estate
Photography - Caroline Smyth Photography
Band - Top of the Popz
If you’re planning a Larchfield Wedding, I’d love to hear from you. Click here to get in touch
Make sure to follow my beautiful Weddings on Instagram
Ask the expert - A guide for brides // Catherine Hamilton, Soprano & Harpist
Next in our ‘ask the expert - a guide for brides’ series is Catherine Hamilton, from Larne.
When it comes to music, I couldn’t recommend anyone else but Catherine. If you’ve heard her sing along with the harp, you’ll know what I mean. She’s just amazing.
Catherine was brought up in a musical family and studied at Garron Tower before going on to study a degree in Music, at Queen’s University, Belfast. She started off playing the violin, followed by piano, and then she branched into the harp. Although, she focused mainly on her voice at University. Catherine started singing at events and was asked to do so at weddings as well. This is now a full time career for her, as well as being a singing teacher. Catherine would say she “found a gap in the market with the harp and soprano.”
When deciding on your wedding music Catherine would say to think outside the box. It can be nice to go for an old song which everybody will know and traditional is timeless - people will always love Pachelbel’s Canon in D. You should walk down the aisle to your favourite song as that’s the most important one. If a song isn’t that appropriate for a wedding, I can always change a few words!
A lot of people assume that musicians charge at lot for what they do but you get what you pay for. Catherine and her parents have paid a lot of money over the years to train and her instruments are also expensive. She is constantly investing in new equipment and puts a lot of time into learning new songs. It’s not also a case of just ‘turning up,’ there’s the set up time beforehand, soundcheck and then packing everything away again once it’s over.
Although Catherine has been singing at weddings for quite a few years now, she still doesn’t know what she would walk down the aisle too. These would be some of her favourite wedding songs;
Feel’s like home (her favourite to sing)
Tale as old as time (favourite instrumental)
Anything - James Horner
Your song - Elton John (her favourite song)
Catherine really enjoys quirky songs at the minute for walking out. Some of her favourites would be You’re the one that I want (Grease) and I wanna grow old with you (The Wedding Singer).
Click here to get in touch with Catherine if you’d like some fabulous music for your special day!
Ask the expert - A guide for brides // A Flower Lady
Once getting engaged, it can often be very overwhelming when you start to plan your big day. There are so many different aspects that you don’t realise until you start to do your research.
Picking the right suppliers is a very important thing to do - it is a good idea to start by reading reviews or talking to other people and who they have used to provide everything they needed for their wedding day. I am very careful about who I recommend to my clients or anyone asking for advice. Over the past few years I have had a chance to work with some amazing wedding vendors so I would love to share one of my favourite suppliers with you.
Just across the road from my studio in Larne is an amazing florist called A Flower Lady, owned by a lady called Iris. Iris is the mother to four children and was born and bred in Larne. As her parents are in the Hotel business, Iris worked in the catering industry before moving into Floristry.
Around fifteen or so years ago, Iris completed a three year BTEC Diploma in Floristry and has been working in the industry ever since. As her parents are business owners as well, it seemed natural for Iris to do the same.
Iris loves being in the wedding industry because it is an enjoyable experience to discuss their wedding day with her customers and it’s also a pleasure to be apart of their day. It’s lovely to have an insight into their day and to assure them that everything will be kept confidential.
Iris has an amazing team of people who work in the shop with her. They are a great help, especially at busy times like Christmas or Mother’s Day.
Choosing your wedding flowers can be very daunting, especially if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for. It can often be easier to arrange your flowers if you have a theme or a colour scheme already picked. A lot of the time your flowers will be matched in with your bridesmaids dresses.
Iris’ favourite flowers to include in a wedding bouquet would be a Freesia. This is mainly because of the beautiful perfume as it’s a soft scented flower. The white Freesia would be her favourite. In A Flower Lady, they like to use a lot of seasonal colours at peak times which can tie in very well. It’s amazing to see the different array of colours in the shop at different times of the year.
Choosing the style of your bouquet can often be hard to decide on. Most brides tend to go with the typical posy style bouquet, mainly because it’s easier to carry than a teardrop bouquet which were very popular many years ago. The size of your bouquet really depends a lot on your budget and you. ie. A very large bouquet might not suit a petite person.
A lot of people ask about different packages for their wedding flowers. The price of flowers changes very regularly so wedding bouquet’s are individually priced dependant on the size and what type of flowers have been used.
If anyone is looking for a florist for their wedding day, I would highly recommend A Flower Lady. Iris and her team are amazing at what they do and you are sure to be looked after.
Click here to get in touch with A Flower Lady
Louise & Michael // Breckenhill Wedding Photographer
August 2018 - Breckenhill
When Louise and Michael asked me to capture their special day, I knew it was going to be a cool one. They had so many quirky and personal aspects to their day. They decorated their venue themselves and they even brewed their own cider! The sun was stunning throughout the day which was great for archery and outdoor gatherings. They had a scrumptious hog roast buffet for their evening meal, finished by playing their first song with their friends. Breckenhill was just the perfect venue for Louise & Michael, and all they had planned.
Louise’s most memorable parts from their special day were seeing the peacocks out of the balcony at the hotel. She was aware of saying “awfully” wedded husband and ended up in fits of laughter when she overcompensated at that part. She really enjoyed learning archery after the ceremony and that the guests had something more quirky to do. The whole day was a whirlwind for her but she loved playing their first song instead of having a first dance and of course being so happy that her face ached.
Some pieces of advice from the bride herself -
If any brides and grooms are decorating the venue themselves, plan more time than you will think you will need.
Get as much sleep as possible, leading up to the day
Have a cold shower in the morning before getting ready (I swoll up with the heat and the girls had to wrestle me into the dress!)
Bring a spare pair of shoes - they were life savers!
The day goes in so fast so take in as much as you can
Have a look below to see some of their photographs and which wedding vendors they used -
Bridal Gown - Wed2B
Suits - The Bank Menswear, Randalstown
Hair & Makeup - Laurel Hair & Beauty, Parkway
Cake & Appetisers - Cindy Shields, Belfast
Hog Roast Buffet - Andrew Mulholland Butchers, Lisburn
Evening Buffet - Flipping Crepes, Carrickfergus
Photographer - Caroline Smyth Photography
Venue - Breckenhill
Lauren & Martin // Ballygally Castle Wedding Photographer
September 2018 - St MacNissi’s Chapel & Ballygally Castle Hotel
What a beautiful summer wedding. Lauren has been a customer of mine for a while now and I was delighted when she asked me to capture her and Martin’s special day. So many happy memories were made that day - especially for their two little ones.
I always love it when bride’s say their reception is in Ballygally Castle - it’s amazing how such a stunning wedding venue is right on our doorstep. The pale pinks and purples were absolutely gorgeous for time of year and they blended in so nicely with the flowers in bloom at the gardens. The weather really was good to us, the light in the afternoon was beautiful and added a really nice ‘glow’ to the photographs.
Have a look below to see some of their photographs and which wedding vendors they used!
Dresses - Perfect Day
Suits - Red Groomswear
Makeup - Savage Beauty
Hair - Karen McCullough Hair
Cars - David Andrews
Cake - Gemma’s Cakes
Flowers - Cherry Blossom Flowers
Stationery - Darling Stationery
Photography - Caroline Smyth Photography
Video - Timeless Productions NI
Music - Anthem Band
