Okay so you don’t quite need to get the violins out yet but the last few weeks have been particularly tiring for us, we’ve been busy bee’s buying new wedding dress and Menswear collections. It’s all been exciting and fabulous daaaarling but tiring! We had an absolute ball at the British Bridal Exhibition but our fun packed three day trip to Harrogate was pretty exhausting straight after a busy Saturday in-store and then (with no day off) it was straight into another busy week and an even busier Saturday (see the trend here?) at which point Kirsty and I managed to bag a lift with my Beloved Husband Rob (a.k.a ‘Fuelled by Red Bull Rob’) to Gatwick airport where we hopped onto a plane to Madrid. Sounding glamorous? Er no! It’s not…. Exhausting ‘yes’, glam ‘no’.
Kirsty & I arrived at our hotel just after 12am Sunday morning after getting thoroughly lost at Madrid airport. A warning to anyone that may fly in there, depending at which terminal you arrive, it’s very confusing and finding your luggage and the exit is a tad complicated! In our case it involved a great deal of walking in circles around shops, several escalators, a few lifts, a Spanish information desk and a 20 minute train ride to another terminal! We were so tired it was hard to see the funny side and, put it this way, after arriving at the hotel and being told our rooms hadn’t been booked correctly for us (grrrrr) our heads hit the pillow that night with a massive thud!! Tiring journey’s aside we were up bright and early the next morning, alarms weren’t required as hotel luggage trolleys did that just brilliantly!! Kirsty & I enthusiastically slurped more than our quota of coffee (lush) and ate several Spanish pastries each for brekkie (yum).
We were really looking forward to the Catwalk shows that day and were there to see the 2012 San Patrick by Pronovias wedding dress collection and have a little nosey at their occasion wear too. 106 BEAUTIFUL (but very slim) bridal dress models paraded the latest up and down the catwalks. We fought for a front seat space and although Kirsty’s suggestion of me laying mid catwalk with one hand on head and other holding 6 month pregnant belly was a good one, we opted for no fuss, third row seat selection and craftily left our bags on the seats in front so no one sat there and obscured our view, besides; falling over on the way to the ladies had drawn plenty enough attention for me for one day!!?! So the show began and the wedding dresses were absolutely stunning as usual. San Patrick appeals to the designer Bride who wants an up market designer look for around £1500. Vintage Spanish lace, slashed, tired and layered tulle and elaborate ruffles, pleats and gathers of chiffon were in abundance.
One shoulder straps are thematic throughout and the fishtail style was strong again but this time with even more dramatic volume at the tail. The romantic Grecian trend is also set to continue with generous floats of soft cascading chiffon. Lots of dresses were beautiful and we brought a gorgeous 2012 collection that we predict our Brides will simply love. The occasion wear collection featured strong shades of blue and pink as well as baby tone pastels of pink, lilac and coral. Neutral mink and beige tones featured too and we loved the continuation of the grecian floaty trend in occasion wear but were also equally impressed by the shorter, snappier multi layered strapless looks. Kirsty and I spent time deciding which of the many dresses we would go for, I found one that was a bit of an ‘Abi’ dress with a v neck and floaty sleeves (I hate my arms!?) and Kirsty found several she loved and one for Tess (her best friend) that we b0th agreed she would look divine in! All in all the show was a huge success, inspirational and exciting – it was well worth the traveling – It’s just a good job we weren’t shopping for us, am not sure we’d have managed all the bags home!!!