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

When should I go looking for my dress? The simple answer - and the reasons behind it.

Every week I get lots of phonecalls, emails and Facebook messages from brides asking me for tips and advice about wedding dress shopping.  The most frequent question I get asked is 'When should I go looking for my wedding dress?' and I always give the same answer: 

Go looking when you are ready to buy.  

For one bride, she may be ready to buy 20 months before her wedding,  For another, it may be 7 or 8 months before the big day.

When a bride visits our shop, we give them over an hour of our time and expertise.  (And sometimes a lot more if she books a second viewing.)  Our aim is to find a wedding dress for each bride who visits us.   We gladly allow each bride to try on thousands of pounds worth of dresses.  We help her to get in and out of each dress, often pinning her into the dresses to get the best looking fit to help her imagine what it would look like if it was the perfect fit (brides visiting our shop often remark how well we do this compared to other shops).  We will guide her towards the dresses which we feel she will like and which will flatter her figure.  If she likes a dress, we will help her accessorise it, giving tips from what shoes to wear to how to do her hair and what jewellery and head dress she should go for.   We don't charge for these consultations - we do them for free in the hope that some of the brides we help will 'Say Yes to the dress' in our shop and do business with us (so that we can pay the bills!!!) 

Our job is to sell you your dream dress - and when we do that appointment, we are working with the stock we have on that given day.  Fast forward 1 week... 1 month.... 3 months... 6 months.... As each week passes, that stock is constantly evolving.  If you follow our Facebook page you will see constant updates.  Pictures of new arrivals.  New styles straight from the catwalk so that we keep our stock fresh, following all the latest trends that our designers have to show us.  You'll also see Facebook updates warning of imminent discontinued lists.   For example, we lost 13 Essense of Australia dresses at Christmas to one of these dreaded lists.  Before that, we lost 18 Maggie Sottero dresses in September.   Also, if a supplier runs out of a certain fabric or trimming, they will discontinue a dress with immediate effect.

As well as losing stock to the designers' discontinuations, at Beautiful Day, we have always sold current season dresses 'off the peg' in our shop, mainly to brides with wedding dates that are too close for them to order a dress in.  We cannot hold on to every single dress in case someone decides to re-visit it at a later date. With every new dress I get in, I have to move a dress along to make room for the new stock on my rails.  It's all part of keeping our selection fresh and current and helping to fund the process of getting new stock in.  I love seeing the new styles come along to replace the ones we've moved along - we're in a fashion business and following changing trends is what we do to avoid our business becoming stagnant.

So where does this all fit in with my advice on leaving your bridal consultations until you are ready to buy a dress?

I'm always harping on to people to strike when the iron is hot and to order their dress once they find 'the one' - we can never promise that a dress will not become discontinued or won't be sold to someone in between your first visit to our shop and an appointment on a later date when you've decided that it's time to buy. With the sheer volume of brides who visit us, we cannot be expected to track every single bride and keep her up to date on a style's status if she hasn't put down a deposit. (We do track them however is a deposit is paid.) For every ten brides who leave loving a dress in our shop but don't pay a deposit, we are lucky if one or two of them ever even come back to order it, so unless a deposit is paid, we do not mark a dress down as 'the one' for a bride. In the past few months we've had several disappointed brides who've come back to our shop to see a dress they'd tried on during a previous visit and they were bitterly disappointed when they found it was gone. Some brides had left it nearly a year to come back - for one bride, it was only just over a week. It's not nice breaking the bad news that she can't try it on again, or even worse, that she can't even order it. frown emoticon   I've had the tears, the drama - even the slamming of doors from brides who came back thinking all they had to do was hand over the deposit for that dress they saw on a previous visit, only to find themselves back to square one, often with a very limited time-frame to start from scratch.   One bride a while back had even got a custom made head dress costing hundreds of pounds to match a certain dress that she found was discontinued when she came back to order it.  Another had went and bought bridesmaid dresses to match in with a dress that was gone and no longer available to order.

Please ladies - only go shopping when you are ready to say 'Yes to the dress' should you find it there and then. Leaving the decision until a later date because you are not ready is a risky tactic, and you should only walk away from a dress that day if you are willing to take the risk of coming back and having the decision taken out of your hands.   To avoid this happening, shop only when you're ready so that you're not pouring your time and energy - as well as ours - into something that you may not be able to get at a later date.  Say 'Yes to the dress' that you know you can wear on your wedding day, not to one that you hope (fingers crossed) that you will be able to come back and still get in the future.

Happy shopping!!  Ciara xx

www.beautifuldaybrides.co.uk


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Book now for our Autumn 2 day sale! (plus top tips for visiting a wedding dress sample sale)

All sample dresses in the sale will be reduced by AT LEAST 50%, with discounts of up to 75%.  The selection of dresses will include current season dresses (reduced for those two days only and then reverting to full price) and discontinued dresses.  Most dresses will be Maggie Sottero gowns, with dresses also by Essense of Australia, Special Day and White One,  Book now to secure your 1 hour private slot.  Thursday and Friday the 2nd and 3rd of October 2014.

Many dresses will be from our current collection and will only be reduced for the 2-day sale and will then revert to full price once the sale is over.  So remember to bring your purse and your helping crew!! 

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!!)  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 2 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.   

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

You'd be surprised at how many people don't think about this one - remember, it's a two 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.

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

Tenth birthday offers at Beautiful Day

Beautiful Day Bridal Cottage in Greysteel is 10 years old this month - on the 10th of September to be exact, and we've got some great things going on in the shop to celebrate!!!

Firstly, we've decided to give 10% off any new orders placed with us from the 10th Sept to the 17th Sept inclusive. (50% deposit must be paid to get this offer and only applies to new orders)

Secondly, a big 2 day sale will be held on Thurs 2nd and Fri 3rd October.  All sale dresses will be discounted by at least 50%, including some newer styles as well as discontinued lines.  We will be booking 1 hr slots for this from 12 - 8 on the Thursday and 10 - 3 o the Friday, so book early to avoid disappointment!!  Styles in teh sale are from Maggie Sottero, Essense of Australia, White One and Special Day.

Thirdly, we will be holding our annual Maggie Sottero designer weekend / trunk show on the 4th and 5th of October.  You'll get a preview of the new collection (including many styles that we don't normally have!!), plus you'll get 10% all Maggie orders placed that weekend too.  Please note that the trunk show dresses are the dresses that are used for the catwalk shows and will normally not fit ladies who are bigger than a size 12 (we will be doing a 'curvy girls weekend next year, so keep your eye out for that if you want to come to an event with larger sizes).  Again, it''s strictly by appointment only, so book your slot as early as you can as this is always a popular event!

An organised bride is a less stressed bride - when should I get my wedding dress?

At recent wedding exhibitions, I have been asked the following question by loads of brides.  'When should I order my dress?'   As a rule, we tell our customers that they should have orders for wedding dresses in 6 to 7 months before the wedding (at the very latest!!! order earlier if you possibly can!)  and 5 months for bridesmaids - stick to that rule and you shouldn't go wrong.  

We always allow a ‘cushion’ of at least 6 weeks between the quoted delivery date and the bride’s wedding.   I like all orders to be in a good bit before the wedding to allow adequate time for a relaxed run-up to the big day for getting things like alterations carried out and accessories picked, so whilst the company are not actually quoting us the full 6 or 7 months, this is the guideline which keeps stressful timescales at bay!

If you can , get ordered a good 8 or 9 months or more in advance.  The earlier you get in your dresses, the sooner you can relax and get organised.  No bride wants to be be getting anxious over how close to her wedding that her order is going to arrive.  Organising a wedding can be stressful enough without having to worry about how close to your wedding your dress will arrive.  And as a busy shop owner, it is a worry that I can do without as I get stressed out over deliveries too!!!!! (especially when they arrive later than what I was expecting)  I often get brides who keep putting it off as they are losing weight, but don't forget, you can always go out looking a year before, and if you find your dress, you can still put a deposit down to secure it and get measured 7 months before the big day to give you a chance to start on your weight loss regime. The dress can always be taken in if you lose any additional weight.  Better to do that than to leave it a couple of months before the wedding and miss out on the dress that you really wanted. My heart sinks when a bride makes an appointment and tells me her wedding is only a few months away as I know she will be limited in her choice of dress.  Every bride should have the liberty of choosing any dress in any size in any colour that we can get.  The more organised you are, the more choice you will have.

In sum, my advice is 'be prepared and get organised!!'  Get out at least a year before your wedding if you can – the earlier you get out the more relaxed the whole experience will be and you won't be feeling pressure to 'panic buy'   Most brides coming to our shop for the first time have over a year until their big day. 

Our entire Essence of Australia range and some of our Maggie Sottero dresses can also be got on rush cuts (additional fees apply to most of these) so if you have left it a bit late, we won't turn you away - we always have options available including the option of buying off the peg (although your choices will be more limited).   Many of our bridesmaid dresses can also be got on a rush cut so don't fret about that either if you have left that task a bit late.    

And one last tip – only go shopping when you feel you are ready to buy..  Our stock is forever evolving.  New dresses coming… dresses being discontinued… dresses being bought off the peg.  So if you do decide to go shopping early, NEVER assume that you will be able to come back and revisit a dress in the future as it may no longer be in the shop or it may be discontinued. This is something I find happens all the time (and I often get grief from brides to be about it!)  so wait until you are ready to go shopping, as opposed to saying ‘Let’s go out for ideas and revisit those ideas in 6 months time or next year’.   It's a bit like you saying that you want to buy a house in 18 months time.  You wouldn't go visiting estate agents or arranging house viewings until you were ready to make a move.  You might have a nosy at websites to get ideas, but you wouldn't throw your energy into house-hunting until the time was right to act on making a purchase.

 And if you do go out early and find ‘the one’, then STOP LOOKING at wedding dresses!! Get it ordered, and when it comes in,  put it away when it comes in and don’t let it lose its magic by looking at it too much!  I get loads of brides visiting my shop who tell me that they have a dress at home that they have went off.  Wedding dresses are too expensive to buy and not wear, so don't fall into that category and be disciplined to tick the box as 'done' when you decide on the one.

Happy (stress free) shopping.x x   Ciara

Sample loan service

I often get phonecalls and emails from brides asking for particular dresses that are designed by the likes of Maggie Sottero, Essense of Australia or Special Day - all labels we carry - but we don't always have the particular dress that they want in store.  I only wish I could carry all the dresses, but I have to carefully select a selection which I feel my brides will like... and more importantly, I have a budget that I need to stick to!! (contrary to what some people might think, we have to buy all our sample dresses at the designer's full price!!!)

If you are looking for a dress that we don't have, we can check with the designer to see if there is any chance we can get it on loan.  Practically all the dresses featured on the designers' websites are available to borrow.  Most, however, are size 8 dresses (with exception of the Beautiful Brides Plus collection and a small range of Maggie Sottero gowns that are kept in plus sizes) so if you are a generous size 12 or more, these dresses might not be suitable for trying on.

There is a fee charged to cover the cost of the courier bringing the dress to us and returning it to the designer.  This fee is mostly set at £50, but can vary.  But the good news is that if you decide to order on the day you come to see the borrowed sample dress in our shop, we will refund the fee paid on that particular dress.

Call us on 02871 813682 if you wish to discuss getting a sample dress on loan, or go to our website www.beautifuldaybrides.co.uk and fill in the form on our contact page with your details and query and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
Thank you.
Ciara x
Beautiful Day Bridal Cottage, Greysteel, Northern Ireland

Wedding dresses and the 2013 Oscars red carpet look

It's that time again when I get up on the morning after the Oscars and check out what the latest trends on the red carpet are.  The Oscars are the designers' biggest opportunity to show the world what they can do by showing off their dresses draped on the rich and famous in Hollywood, and I have to admit that I always love checking out the latest trends and guessing how certain looks might be taken by the bridal designers that supply our dresses to inspire the latest 'Aisle Style'.

I was pleasantly surprised this year to see how some of the red carpet style has already been reflected on our shops rails and I thought I'd share a few of them.

I loved Jennifer Hudson's midnight blue dress with it's long sleeves and how it draped so elegantly on her - she really pulled it off so well!! It reminded me immediately of our Dalton dress by Maggie Sottero....

 

 

Charlize Theron looked stunning in her peplum dress with a fishtail skirt and when I saw Jennifer Garner's gorgeous purple dress with the ruffles at the back, they both reminded me of our new Essense of Australia dresses - check them out!!

The texture and silhouette of Kristin Stewart's dress immediately brought our Maggie Sottero 'Hope' dress to mind, with it's vertical lines of beading and wispy organza giving it a whimsical flair... although I do confess to preferring the wedding dress much more to the red carpet dress.

One of my favourite dresses was Sandra Bullock's, and whilst the detailing is completely different to anything we have, again, the silhouette can be seen on a few of the dresses which are literally just in the door.  Tia is one of my favourite new dresses by Maggie Sottero and you can see the neckline is almost identical to Sandra's dress - the Afton dress also has this neckline - I think it's going to a popular look for next year. 

It was great to see big skirts back again, and whilst they didn't resemble my dresses, I loved Amy Adams in her textured ballgown (which reminded me of Hayley's dress - our shop manager who got married 18 months ago), and the star of the show, the gorgeous winner of the coveted best actress award, Jennifer Lawrence.

Designer wedding dress sale

We've set the date for our next big 1 day sample sale.

It will be Thursday 28th March, from 10am until 8pm.

No appointment will be needed.  Dresses will be sold on a first come, first served basis.  Wedding dresses from £295, with discounts of at least 50% on all sale dresses.  Designer brands including Maggie Sottero, Essense of Australia, Estes, White One, Private label by Sincerity and Raylia.  We'll also have some bridesmaid dresses (most will be single dresses - no sets), mother of the brides outfits, and accessories.

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.  If the sale day is busy, you will be restricted to the number of dresses you can try on to make it fair for people waiting to use the changing rooms, so you won't have the chance of spending over an hour having a private consultation (as you normally would in a bridal appointment) 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 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 him or her.  And remember that on a 1 day sale,  you can't go for a look and come back again another day.  So if you need your friend/sister/mum with you to help you make the final decision, then make sure she comes with you that day. 

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. Don’t “overlook” things just because its on sale. Also,if it is busy, the dressing rooms will not necessarily be 100% private.  So don't wear skimpy underwear unless you are happy to be seen in them!!

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!!!

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.  All dresses will be grouped in sizes to make it easier.