Is it 'The One'?

When it comes to wedding dresses, every married woman tells you that ‘you’ll just know when you try on The One'.

But is this REALLY true? I’m not so sure it is. At least, not in the way that people expect.

I’ve seen literally hundreds of bridal appointments. And for me, the idea of the thunderbolt moment, where the bride cries when she looks in the mirror, and her mum dabs at her face as a solitary tear rolls down it, is a bit of a myth. That’s not to say it never happens. We’ve had tears in the shop from time to time. But out of the hundreds of bridal appointments I could probably count the times we’ve had thunderbolts on my fingers.

The thing is, it’s confusing for brides. So many girls expect to put on the perfect dress and hear angels singing as a sign that it’s ‘The One’, and when that doesn’t happen, even though they are in a dress they really love, they doubt that they’ve really found the right dress. Then a long and exhausting quest for The Thunderbolt begins, the quest for something that’s more perfect than perfect, involving a visit to every bridal shop in the country, endless internet trawling, and eventually a trip back to try on the original one she liked, which she’s been comparing everything else to, only to find that is perfect after all.

All too often, we have brides come back to us after months of trawling round shops trying on dress after dress, having confused themselves with too many dresses, too many styles, and feeling frustrated about still not having had The Thunderbolt. They have become tired of dress shopping and disheartened with the whole experience. Which is not how it should be. The relief once the dress is finally chosen and ordered is tangible.

So what do people mean when they talk about their dress being ‘The One’ and just knowing it was right?

It’s very easy with hindsight to look back and see how you knew it was ‘The One’ all along. Because you have the experience of going back, trying it on again, feeling just right, and comfortable in it, and knowing that you like that dress more than any other you’ve tried. But you possibly didn’t have that feeling of knowing, that confidence, the first time.

Finding the perfect dress is maybe a bit like finding the perfect partner… you may be struck with something at first sight, but it’s only later that you know it was really love.