It was a wet and windy March morning when, Addie, the Bride to be,Julie the Mum and Sarah the chief bridesmaid arrived at the Rainbow Showroom.

We got in the car and made our way to Ampthill for our first appointment at 10.00pm. We arrived at All things Bride and Beautiful and were met by Caroline, who was expecting us.

She spoke briefly about what to think about when buying a wedding dress and listened carefully to what Addie had to say. She asked Addie, together with her supporters to choose 4 dresses she would like to try on. They looked excitedly at all five rails and picked out six! Caroline explained the “rules” of trying and buying your wedding dress. She then started with the dress with the least full skirt and took Addie into the fitting room.

Addie looked lovely, but she felt a bit uncomfortable. Caroline suggested an A-line dress with a fuller skirt to balance out what she thought were her “big manly shoulders”. She tried on the next and the next until she tried on a very full tulle skirt – full-on fairy tale! She looked amazing but said it wasn’t for her – she felt a bit like a wide load! Caroline chose a dress that had all the elements that pleased Addie and suggested she tried it on. As she stepped out from the changing room she looked stunning, relaxed, happy, confident and beautiful. All the areas that had bothered her an hour go had been addressed. She looked at others and then put this one called Papillion back on – this was the dress to beat! I had my work cut out, but I was confident that we were going to the right place to try! We went to Questor in Woburn, where I introduced Chris and Nicky. We went into the viewing room and Addie started to try on dresses byRonald Joyce and Mori Lee. By this time she knew which style she preferred so the “choosing “ time was reduced and we had more time for her to try on wedding dresses. There were some beautiful dresses but one stood out from the rest, it was a white, full gown with sparkles designed by Mori Lee. Julie found a dream hat and was temped to buy, but Chris advised her to wait until nearer the wedding, reluctantly she showed restraint and the hat stayed in the shop.

It was then time for Luncheon. We went to The Inn at Woburn and had a scrummy lunch with soft drinks, coffee and a tasty lemon pud’ served with blackcurrant sorbet – delicious!

Our next and last appointment was at The Woburn Flower Shop. We were greeted by Julie, who sat us comfortably around the table, aptly covered with a floral cloth! She asked Addie her colour choices for her wedding and of course her date 4th April 2009 – the week before Easter. Julie showed the wedding party lots of photographs and had lots of ideas for Addie to think about.  With eight Bridesmaids including four little ones, a flower girl three grown up bridesmaids and a little page boy, there was a lot to think about! Julie’s passion for her craft and her vast experience gave Addie, Mum and Sarah lots of ideas to think about. Addie will make another appointment later this year to go back, probably with her Groom to make decisions for their Big Day!

We said our goodbyes and travelled back to the Showroom at Rainbow, for a cup of tea and cake. Good old fashioned non-stop wedding chat continued – what else would you expect?

I really enjoy arranging wedding shopping safaris and spending a special day with my brides and their friends and families – do I have the best job in the world?  I think so!

This is the story of one of our shopping safari days. Now obviously, we would recommend a Rainbow Shopping Safari as the perfect way to do some wedding shopping. Addie said it was particularly useful having me there because otherwise she wouldn’t have known where to start! But, we do realise that this is not for everyone. One thing I would say is make sure you have some fun whilst shopping, and when you go for the first time it may be a good idea to take a friend or relative who has shopped for wedding dresses before – there’s nothing that can quite prepare you for it!