Summer sample sale at Beautiful Day Bridal Cottage

All dresses in the sale are dresses which have been used as sample dresses, and will be reduced by AT LEAST 50%, with discounts of up to 75% (starting at £195).  The selection of dresses will include current season dresses (reduced for that day only and then reverting to full price) and discontinued dresses.  Most dresses will be Maggie Sottero gown and  Essense of Australia, with some by  Special Day and White One. 

Book now to secure your  private slot 

Thursday 9th July 2015.

 Many dresses will be from our current collection and will only be reduced for the 1-day sale and will then revert to full price once the sale is over.  Full price dresses will not be on show that day - just the sale dresses, so if you want to see non-sale dresses, please book an appointment for a different day.

People always ask me about sale days and what advice I would give anyone looking to come to one, so here's a list of top tips that I've put together which should help you to on your quest to find a dream dress at a bargain price!

Top tips for attending a sample sale..

1. Get out beforehand and try dresses on.
Don’t make a sample sale your first bridal shopping trip.  The girls who come prepared with ideas from trying on beforehand are the girls who have the most success at getting a bargain.  You will be restricted to the number of dresses you can try on (5 max in your allocated time slot!!)  so you don't get the normal private consultation to try and figure out what shapes and styles you prefer and which ones flatter your figure.  When you come to a bridal sample sale, you should already have a good idea of what style you are looking for, what size you need and what suits your shape.

2. Bring a friend

Don’t bring a whole entourage, but bring someone who will be brutally honest. Weddings are expensive and any discount you can get, especially if it’s on your dress, is well worth it - but only if you will be happy with it. Brief your friend to be brutally honest and listen to  her (or him!)  And remember that on a 1 day sale,  you can't go for a look and come back again the next week.  So if you need your friend/sister/mum with you to help you make the final decision, then make sure she comes with you to the sale event. 

3. Wear the right underwear
This is a wedding dress appointment necessity regardless, but make sure you wear the right undies! You need to do everything you can to see how the dress will fit you.   Plus, we ask for no fake tan, and that only light make-up be worn.

4. Bring your purse!!!!!!!!!!!

You'd be surprised at how many people don't think about this one - remember, it's a one day sale, and we don't hold items over.  So bring your purse (we accept all major credit/debit cards) so that if you do find 'the one' then you can actually buy it!!! (and many of the dresses will be reverting to full price after the event). 

5.  Ask the sales assistants about sizing.

Bridal sizes are generally a bit smaller than high street sizes, so when you are looking, bear that in mind.  But also, don't be afraid of looking at dresses which are a little bit bigger as they can always be taken in.  If in doubt, ask one of our sales assistants for guidance on the sizes when you are looking through the dresses.   All dresses will be grouped in sizes to make it easier.  The majority of dresses will be in sizes 12, 14 and 16, but we still have a good selection of smaller and larger dresses (it just means that the 12-16 bride will have a better picking choice!) 

Please note that the vast majority of dresses will be ex-sample dresses, which means that they have been tried on in our shop and/or have been worn in fashion photoshoots/catwalk shows.  They may have minor issues that need addressed, for example, some may need dry cleaned or spot cleaned or may have a few missing beads or buttons, and we have priced each dress accordingly to take this into account.   You are getting a genuine designer dresses for a fraction of the full retail price and are able to see them and try them on , unlike shopping online where many of the 'bargains' are in fact poorly made copies of designer dresses, made with inferior materials.  

Beautiful Day Bridal Cottage, Greysteel, Co Derry -  Tel 028718 13682
www.beautifuldaybrides.co.uk

Eight top mistakes to avoid when looking for your wedding dress

You've just got engaged and one of the first things on your mind is the wedding dress.  Questions race through your mind - what shape will I wear?  What neckline will mine be?  Will it be a modern style dress? Will it be vintage inspired?  When will I start shopping?  Who will I bring with me? Where will I go to look?  What is my budget?   How much research do I do before I go shopping?

There are so many questions and so many ways to go wrong when it comes to picking your dress. I've got to see these over the ten years I've had my shop (Beautiful Day Bridal Cottage) and I hope to address some of these questions and help you steer away from making some of the mistakes that many brides make which will help you on your quest to find that perfect dress!!

1. Don't go looking too early.  You really shouldn't go shopping until at least 12 - 14 months before your wedding.  Couples tend to have longer engagements these days and the temptation is there to go looking as soon as you get the ring on your finger. If you go too early, you run the risk of over-thinking things and seeing styles that will be gone or discontinued by the time you are ready to buy.  New styles are always coming along, and if you buy 2 or 3 years before your wedding and a new trend comes along 12 months before your wedding, you may find yourself getting tempted to change your dress - a very costly thing to do!!  And as wedding dresses are made to order, there's no exchange policy in bridal shops if you change your mind!!!!  So go shopping when you feel it's time to start properly looking for a dress to wear for your wedding.  For some ladies, this time may be 9 months before, for others, it's 13 or 14 months before - each bride feels ready in their own time.  The key point is to go only when you are ready. This might sound logical, but we get numerous 'out for ideas' appointments where the bride isn't focused and ends up getting overwhelmed and more confused.   Plus, she may go back months later to see a dress she loved when it was too early for her to commit and find that it's been sold or has went discontinued. Don't assume that if you see one you love that it will be still there later on for you to come back to.
2. Don't go too late.  Wedding dresses have to be made to order, so if you leave it too late, you will be at a huge disadvantage as you will have a very limited choice ie. whatever the shop has in the size you are.  As a rule, most dresses need to be ordered about 7 months in advance (although some can be ordered a bit closer than that) so you will be cutting down your choices substantially if you leave it past this.  There is also a risk of 'panic-buying' your dress which you may regret!
3. Choose your helpers wisely.   I have a whole blog post dedicated to this one!!  My advice is to bring one or two helpers with you, and to make sure that they are on the same wave-length as you.  If your mother or sister or best friend is very opinionated and is always pushing ideas on you, then leave her at home and bring her along to see your dress once you've picked it.  I sometimes get brides who bring four, five or six 'helpers' and they are getting various opinions thrown at them before they even get to look in the mirror and end up feeling deflated if negative things are being said about how the dresses looks  (eg. 'that makes your bum look huge', 'you've got back fat in that one', 'you can't carry that style off', 'your shoulders are too broad to wear that neckline'.)  More of a hindrance that a help!!! Often your helpers will think they are giving constructive criticism, but what you find is that the whole experience just highlights your insecurities and turns into a bit of a nightmare - so choose wisely!! And remember that old saying about too many cooks!  
4. Don't have tunnel vision .   Many brides spend hours online looking at 6ft tall size 6 or 8 models who are perfectly proportioned and choose their type of dress based on what they see in these pictures.  They come to visit a shop and won't look at other styles, therefore limiting them to a style that may not be all that flattering compared to a different style of dress. It pays to keep an open mind when coming shopping, and don't forget that the staff in the shops have seen all the dresses on and will often be able to guide you to things that will be really flattering on.
5. Picking a dress to please someone else.  This one follows on from point number 3.  All brides will want to get opinions from friends, and/or family members - I can count on one hand how many have bought in my shop in the past ten years without bringing along a helper. However, she should be careful when it comes to taking opinions on board. Well-meaning friends may influence a bride to go for a dress that she doesn't really love. Up until she asks people for opinions, a bride may be over the moon with the dress that she has been considering, but if the negative comments follow, she may decide to choose something else based on the lack of enthusiasm from her helpers and she could end up with a dress that doesn't make her as happy, or as I call it, a 'compromise dress'.  Expecting others to refrain from voicing their opinions isn't realistic. Asking people for recommendations and advice is one thing, but asking them to give their verdicts about a specific dress is another. In the end, the wedding dress only needs to please one person: the bride. As long as she is happy with it, everything else should fall into place.
   
6. Trying on too many wedding dresses.  If you end up trying on dozens of dresses, they all tend to blur together in your mind, and what happens is that looking back and trying to remember  a single one can be just about impossible. If you try on too many dresses, you are a lot less likely to experience that magical moment of discovering the perfect dress when you try on one after another - after another after another.....- over a period of several months. (back to point one in the first tip - this often happens when you start looking to early!!) If possible, try to limit yourself to about 12 dresses at most (unless the 12 are horrible and you need to keep trying to find one that you look good in!) You should only keep trying on more dress when you the ones you've been trying aren't the right ones for you. In some cases, a bride-to-be may be tempted to keep trying on different styles because she just isn't ready to commit to a single one. This kind of thinking is dangerous and can lead to a lot of wasted time and confusion. If a bride tries on too many dresses, she's far more likely to second-guess herself as well and later doubt her decision.  Don't fall into that trap!!  I did a survey recently and found out that 40% of brides found their dress in the first shop, 26% on the second shop, and 18% in the third shop. (leaving 16% who went to look at 4 or more - one even went to 24 appointments!!!) so don't be assuming that something is wrong if you haven't visited 7 shops!!! That isn't the norm - far from it! 84% of brides buy their dress after visiting three shops or less, with the first shop being the most popular shop to buy in. 
7. Trying on dresses that are over your budget.  If you have a strict budget of £850, don't be tempted to try on a £1700 dress if there is no way that you can afford it.  It will only leave you feeling down in the dumps if you fall in love with it and can't re-work your budget to suit,  You will always look at the dress you end up buying and feel like it's second best.  I had a very depressed bride in recently who made the mistake of trying on and falling in love with a £5000 dress in another bridal shop which was four times her budget.  She was very frustrated trying to find one that lived up to this dress.  Always let the sales team know your budget and they will always help to guide you - they might even have a discontinued dress in the store room that would be perfect for you. 
8. Waiting for 'that reaction'  Some brides have been told that you will get a certain reaction when you find 'the one'.  Some people tell you that you should cry.  Others reckon you need to be jumping up and down with excitement.  The truth is, neither of these are common reactions and I can never predict how an individual will react when she finds her dress.  Some brides are more dramatic in general than others and they will have a different reaction compared to a more placid or easy-going bride.   If you find yourself saying that you really like a dress, but feel that you still need to keep looking, then it probably isn't the one.  Some brides tell me when they visit my shop that they have a potential dress picked out in another shop but not ordered, and I always remind them that they wouldn't be out trying more dresses on in my shop if it was 'the one.'  When you find 'the one', you won't be interested in any other dresses.  I often compare it to finding your man - I ask brides if they felt they needed to kiss all the men in their town to be sure that their fiancé was the one for them.  They all tell me that they fell in love and didn't need to kiss any more frogs to know . Finding your wedding dress is a bit like that and you shouldn't put yourself under any more pressure when you find one that you love to keep trying on more and more dresses to try and get some sort of stronger reaction.  When you fall in love, stop looking!!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

The dress you will pick has to do one thing to you. It has to make you feel beautiful. You should look in the mirror and get a 'feeling' about it. For some, it's simply feeling like a million dollars.  For others, it's butterflies in their tummy or feeling their heart skip a beat.  For many it is feeling excited about your fiancé seeing you walking up the aisle in the dress you are standing in.  The earth won't move.  The tears probably won't flow, and you won't pass out with excitement, but you will will say 'I love this dress!!'  and the thought that for one reason or another you couldn't have that dress would probably make you feel gutted.                                                                                                                                                                                     

Best of luck with the wedding dress shopping!!!      xx Ciara           

Last call for Brides Across the Bridge!!

This year I've had the honor of being one of the sponsors  for the Foyle Hospice's 'Brides Across the Bridge' event.  Last year, myself, my staff, members of my family and hundreds of other women (and one man!) took to the streets of Derry in wedding dresses and set a world record of 748 brides making it the largest gathering of brides in history!!

The Foyle Hospice were delighted to not only have raised thousands of pounds, and to get the Guinness Record, but to top this they picked up The Institute of Fundraising - Fundraising Event of the Year Award earlier this month.

The craic was ninety!!

The people of our city and from beyond (they are coming from miles away to take part!!) will be taking to the streets this week again to celebrate in their dresses. The event takes place this Saturday the 5th July 2014 at 3.30pm at the Guildhall Square and once again a stream of brides will parade over the Peace Bridge in their wedding attire.  It costs £10 to register to take part (or £5 for 'mini-me' brides - children are welcome to come along in their little dresses!!) and the hope is that we will raise thousands more this year and re-capture some of the magic we had at last years event.  And for those who couldn't make it last year, it will be a chance to get to be part of this great event and to have a bit of craic in their wedding dresses too.  The atmosphere was electric last year and if it's half as much fun as it was then, then you'd be mad to miss out!!

Get down to Foyleside ladies!!

For those of you who have decided last-minute to take part and need to go searching for a dress, there will  be dresses to hire out at the pop up shop opposite DV8 on level 2 of Foyleside Centre on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week (see the Brides Across the Bridge facebook page for more details.)   The dresses were donated by our own shop, as well as from local shops such as Austin's and The Bridal Showroom.  Lots were kindly donated by the public, and I had boxes of dresses sent over the Irish sea - kindly donated to me by Giselle, Sarah, Cheryl, Linda and Laura who all own Bridal shops and wanted to help out.  There were about 60 dresses in total and about half are hired out already, so get your skates on this week if you want to get your hands on one!

Follow this link for more details and for the pop-up hire shop opening times. 

Brides-Across-the-Bridge facebook page - click here

Best of luck to the Foyle Hospice and I hope that everyone taking part has a fab day.  I'll be wearing my mum's wedding dress (my granny bought it for her this time 40 years ago and my parents will soon be celebrating their Ruby wedding anniversary) 

I'd love to hear about you and your wedding dress!!!  Leave a wee message below and tell us what you will be wearing on Saturday :) 

xx Ciara
Beautiful Day Bridal Cottage

www.beautifudaybrides.co.uk

After-hours appointments on Wednesdays and their refundable booking fees

Just a wee note to explain all about how our appointment system works for late nights.
We open Tues - Sat during the day with late nights on Wednesdays (normally until about 8pm or 8.30pm) and for any appointments booked in for a Wednesday evening after 5pm, we take a £25 booking fee.

This fee is refunded
a) when the bride arrives for her appointment, or
b) if she has to cancel and gives us prior notice.  (Normally 24 hrs, but if she contacts us first thing in the morning when we open we will go ahead and refund)



I implemented this three years ago after a string of no-shows (three on one particular night!!)  It's a problem we have every week during the daytime, but it's even more frustrating when you have given up your evening with your family to stay on late at work and don't get any notice that a bride will not be attending her appointment.  It does work.  In the 3 years we have been doing this, I've had one no-show who lost her £25.  I've also let two slip the net who gave me excuses why they couldn't pay, and both let me down which is why I am very strict about taking the booking fee.  No fee, no evening appointment!!  I hope this explains why we do it.  Most people are very understanding and are happy to pay.  We do get the odd protest about it, but I hope anyone reading this will see why I brought this system in.

If you are booking a late night, you'll have to ring the shop on 02871 813682 so that we can get your credit or debit card details (we don't like people sending details by email!!) .  Alternatively , you can pay by paypal at beautifuldaybrides@hotmail.com (you'll need to request an invoice from us via email), or you can call in in person to the shop.

Let me know if you have any questions!!

Put on a wedding dress and help break a world record!!!

What are you doing on the afternoon of Saturday April 27th?

How would you feel about dressing up as a bride and heading for the Peace bridge?  

When I first heard about the idea I thought it was a great fun way of attempting a world record, but it made it even more worthwhile doing when I heard that all proceeds were going to the Foyle Hospice.

We're helping to spread the word to see if the Foyle Hospice can gather at least 2013 'brides' together, and the response we've had so far from our customers, friends and family has been unreal!!  Loads of our past brides and brides-to-be have decided to take part (any excuse to get a wedding dress on!!) and we've even had a few who have started fitness regimes to get into their own dresses which are a bit on the tight side!!   (I didn't stand a chance of getting into mine but my mum is currently working on letting the seams out, so fingers crossed!!)

You don't have to be a past bride to take part - as long as you are wearing a traditional wedding dress (from any cultural origin).  And if you haven't got a wedding dress, perhaps you could borrow one?  Or hit the charity shops perhaps?   Our shop has donated 5 big boxes with 20+ wedding dresses and veils to the Foyle Hospice to try and do our bit - they will be available very soon at the Foyle Hospice fundraising centre on the Culmore Road for any of you who are on the look out for a dress, and all proceeds from their sale will go directly to the 'Brides on the Bridge' fund.   I'll be on the lookout to see how many Beautiful Day dresses I can spot on the day!!!

Like many families in the North West, our family has availed of the services of the Foyle Hospice.  My daddy's sister - my aunt Mamie - spent almost 3 months there before passing away.  It was 9 years ago, but our family always feel indebted to the hospice for the kindness shown to her and the dignified way they dealt with her suffering and her passing.  I remember being shocked when I discovered how much the hospice rely on donations from the local people and when I got to see first hand what they do each and every day, it's easy to see why it is so well supported in our area and why it needs to keep being supported to continue making a difference.

So get on that dress, get your £10 and your registration form (and some extra sponsorship if you can) and get down to Ebrington square on Saturday 27th April and help make a difference.

You can register by contacting the Foyle Hospice-  visit their facebook page

click here to go to the page

Or you can call in and pick up a form in our shop.  You can also register on the day if you came along a bit earlier.