Wedding - The Dress, Makeup, Hair & Nails - The Essentials!

Seeing as I've written about the wedding suppliers and venue. I figured it would be nice to follow on with the wedding prep!

My dress - Jasmine Couture - Brides of Berkhamsted

It stills brings a tear to my eye when I think about the day I found it! I loved my dress so much, it's true what they say you know when you've found 'the dress'. Brides of Berkhamsted stock a wide section of gorgeous dresses all of which vary in price I believe from around £750-£2000. Lucy and her mum that own the shop are lovely, If you're looking for great service and a friendly atmosphere then look no further. I was made to feel welcome as soon as I walked in the door and offered a cheeky glass of Buck's Fizz! As well as a wide range of dresses, they also have a great selection of headpieces and veils (mine pictured below both chosen by Lucy). The Jasmine Couture dress I chose was made up of double layered chantilly lace, with the smallest amount of beading around the middle. I truly felt like a princess in it, the veil I chose was delicate with tiny little crystals dotted on the edges. The head piece was made up of crystals, pearls and beads, it was perfect with my dress :) 

I can't thank both Lucy and her mum enough, your service was amazing. I wish you did more than just wedding and bridesmaid dresses, just so I could come and shop with you again! You really made the dress shopping experience a fantastic one. I will most definitely recommend anyone getting married to visit the shop! 

Bridesmaid dresses - Jenny Packham - Debenhams - £150 

I really struggled with my colour theme initially, which made it a tad bit of a problem when trying to find dresses for the bridesmaids. I'm a little indecisive.....! Anyway after months of deliberating on which colour to go for, I came across the Jenny Packham dresses. As my bridesmaids are all different shapes and sizes, the dresses ticked all the boxes and looked perfect on all of them. I wanted all of my girls to feel and look amazing. I've been to too many weddings where the bridesmaids end up in a dress they're not comfortable in (and it shows!). I fell in love with these dresses instantly and had to have them, plus even better they were the perfect colour for a spring wedding. If you're looking for chic and sophisticated dresses then look no further, it also comes in a dusty pink if you're not a fan of the green.

The beautiful bridesmaids :)

My little nieces dress was from Monsoon and was a bargain in the sale for £27.50! 

My gorgeous sister aka maid of honour & me. 

Alterations - Perfect Fit - Jacqui Walsh

My dress needed a few alterations to make it fit, especially on the length (I'm not blessed with long legs!) To make all of our dresses fit, we visited Jacqui, who is amazing and reasonably priced. If you need any alterations and your based in Hemel Hempstead or nearby I highly recommend. 

Makeup - Jade Denwood 

I am a massive perfectionist so I found the makeup part paticularly hard, being a beauty therapist I find it hard to trust or let anyone else do anything for me! However I am so glad I came across Jade, she is AMAZING! She uses Urban Decay, which I'm now a convert to! The makeup stayed on perfectly all day, so many of my guests commented on how flawless it was! I cannot recommend Jade highly enough and I will most definitely continue to have my makeup done for special occasions with her. Thank you! 

Hair

I'm a massive pain when it comes to hair, I must have changed my mind about a million times! Thanks to my boards on Pinterest I managed to decide on a style! Debbie a family friend, who has been doing my hair for years did all the hair for the bridal party and she was fab! My recommendation for for finding a hairstyle is to use Pinterest, but make sure it's something you're going to feel comfortable in all day! Don't forget updo's involve a lot of pins! 

My lovely cousin & I, sporting our lovely hairdo's! 

Nails 

Incase you didn't know, I do Calgel nails, so of course being a control freak like I am, I did all the nails (including mine!). I managed to find a colour that matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly - ticklish pear to be precise! As I tied peach into my theme I decided to be creative and put some peach rose transfers from Hail the Nails on their ring fingers. 

For my nails as I didn't want to go with the classic French. I decided to go for a nude peach - Calgel's hide and seek. It worked perfectly with my peach and green theme. I love this colour :) 

For all you lucky brides to be, I hope you find my blog useful and have the most amazing day x