Almost as urgent as getting my dress ordered was sorting out the big bridesmaids' dresses. I wanted to go shopping quickly because it's the end of prom season and I was hoping we might find something suitable and reduced in prom sales. I also suspected that if we couldn't find anything, we might have to order some in, and then they might need altering.
Last weekend
(10th August) I went down to my parents' for the shopping trip because both Jenny and sister-in-law are based in that area. We started our hunt in Erdington, where there is a large bridal shop - The Wedding Centre - and a prom dress shop - Lulaann Prom.
The Wedding Centre was a large shop with lots of wedding dresses, a florist, and a reasonable selection of dresses for little bridesmaids/flower girls, but nothing for big ones. We mooched through the little dresses and made a note of a couple that looked nice, had a quick look at the accessories in the displays, asked about wedding shoes (they don't stock any) and then went.
We headed to Lulaann Prom, which is owned by the same people of a bridal shop two doors down, and we had to go into the bridal shop to ask the staff to open the prom dress shop. There were a lot of dresses in there, but half of them weren't really suitable for bridesmaids. We tried on a few different styles, and there were some that could have done at a push, but a combination of the styles not being quite right, the colours not being right, or the dress not being available in the right sizes or only one being available because they were end of line, meant we didn't get anything.
The next stop was in Boldmere, where there were two more shops - Singular Sensation and Red Rose Bridal. We went into Singular Sensation first, as much because I knew they stocked shoes as because I wanted to look at their dresses. The shoe selection didn't have what I was looking for, so we turned our attention to the dresses.
 |
| THE colour! But not the dress :-) |
One thing I knew for sure before we started our shopping trip was that I
really wanted dark green dresses for the big bridesmaids. I had a
backup colour, but dark green was what I was aiming for. Singular Sensation was the first (and only, as it turned out) shop we went into that could do the dresses in the exact colour I was looking for. They had a variety of styles available, all very beautiful, and all able to be ordered in in a range of sizes and colours.
Jen and sister-in-law tried on a few different styles, and Jenny, very annoyingly, looked stunning in every single one! Sister-in-law is more curvy than Jenny though, so it was important to find something that would look good on both of them. We narrowed it down to two that we really liked, made a note of them, and moved on over the road to the next stop.
Red Rose Bridal was a much bigger shop, with its wedding dresses and bridal accessories in an upstairs showroom. I went to have a look at their shoes, and one of the first pairs I looked at was almost exactly what I was looking for. Most importantly, as well as being the right style, it had a low heel - pretty essential as far as I'm concerned if I'm going to be wearing them all day, dancing in them, and want to stay comfortable!
We looked at the bridesmaid dresses after I'd chosen the shoes, and there were a few which were quite nice, but nothing really reached out and grabbed me, and again there was the issue of them not being available in the exact style I wanted. The order time would also have been pushing it to get the dresses in in time, and some of the styles had such low backs they would have caused serious underwear issues!
When we got back to Mom and Dad's for lunch we talked through the various dresses and decided on one of the styles from Singular Sensation, so we measured Jenny and sister-in-law and phoned the shop to order. The lady was very helpful, took all the details, and reassured us that the dresses would be in in plenty of time before the wedding. She did have one concern, asking if 'the tall bridesmaid', aka
Jenny, was planning on wearing heels, because the dress might come up
too short if she was. Jen had already told me she's planning on wearing
flats, so I could reassure the lady, but I was very impressed that she'd
noticed that detail and had remembered to mention it to me even though
it was almost two hours after we'd left the shop, and they had been busy all morning.
I then had to call Red Rose as well, because I'd left my shoes by the till. They were very nice about it. I blame Bride Brain - the wedding equivalent of baby brain!
Singular Sensation
8 Boldmere Road, Sutton Coldfield, B73 5TD
e: info@singularsensation.co.uk
t: 0121 355 8158
w:
www.singularsensation.co.uk
Red Rose Bridal
11-13 Boldmere Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, B73 5UY
e: redrosebridal@btinternet.com
t: 0121 354 6292
w:
www.redrosebridal.com
It didn't involve excessive alcohol or silly clothes (with the exception of these beautifully stylish glasses...) - instead Jenny took me to Mitchells in Sutton Coldfield. It's essentially a posh shopping centre, with little shops throughout an old farm complex and a lovely café - sorry - bistro.
We started off with a meal in the Farmhouse Bistro, then we went to Cafe Ceramica to do some pottery painting. It was very relaxing and we spent a couple of hours in there choosing what to paint and playing with designs.
Some of my friends had travelled a way to be at the afternoon, so they had to get back. The rest of us (me, Jenny, sister-in-law and Jenny's sister) went back to Jenny's to eat Chinese takeaway and watch In the Night Garden (! while Jenny's niece and nephew got ready for bed) and then Coyote Ugly.
.JPG)
