Now the start of any blog is always the hardest isn’t it… A blank piece of paper staring you back in the face with the pressure of writing something profound or ground-breaking down. This is literally the fear for me so I will start with a little caveat that the spelling may not be perfect and the grammar somewhat ‘artistic’ but the love is there either way and I hope you enjoy and have a giggle (*at my expense, I don’t mind) along the way.
In all honesty, I wish there was never a reason to write this post. I wish that not one single one of our clients of 2020 or 2021 had ever had to go through the trauma of will it / won’t it, can we / can’t we go ahead with our wedding. I have brides who are working on the front line battling the ugliest traits of the virus by day and then coming home to plan the 5th version of their wedding by night. These women are what keeps us driven and if we can provide even a little escapism or relaxation through the somewhat superficial (by comparison) powers of social media in their downtime – then I will gladly fly that flag with pride.
I have always been a firm believer in ‘Control the things you can control’. And for that reason, for the first time ever (say what?!? You own a wedding dress shop Julia…) I will be throwing myself wholeheartedly into the magic of Saint Valentines’ arms this year and I urge you to join me – metaphorically of course…
Lets face it… the sparkle of those quizzes, cocktail parties or any other activity that is translatable through the powers of zoom have worn a little thin now. And we are left finding ourselves rolling from one evening to the next, in the same repetition of expandable waisted joggers. So this year, on the 14th of February let’s make a stand. Let’s mark the day as ‘National Date Night Day’!
Here’s what this is likely to look like in our household;
We will both get dressed up (myself more reluctantly than my husband surprisingly… but as I have written this blog, I need to practise what I preach!) I’m thinking I will more than likely wear one of 25+ of my Hope & Ivy dresses… Having a wardrobe bursting with these insanely beautiful pieces is a rather lovely bi-product of counting the owner and Design director as one of my besties…. (its not what you know and all that eh?!) I’m going to settle on the Coralie Dress though – my current crush!
Now I’m all for a bit of wrist candy… especially in the form of the Phine Forever Interlinked bracelet. The V-Day hints have most definitely been dropped and if making it ‘blog official’ doesn’t work then I don’t know what will!
Earrings will be my trusty old favourites ‘Sunburst’ from our accessory designer at FDB – Miss Clemmie Bridal Accessories. And to finish off the look, I will wear my most cherished sheepskin Slippers… well we still have to keep an element of ‘lockdown’ realness don’t we?!
If you want to go all out and celebrate the night in true couture style… why not wear your wedding dress?! Perhaps an odd idea in years gone by but as we all know, the rule book has been well and truly ripped to pieces, so anything goes doesn’t it?!
So with that, I raise a toast to you all. Let’s celebrate the most important thing we hold dear to us and remember: LOVE WINS.
Julia, Owner and Founder of Frances Day Bridal, Nottinghamshire.
Listen to our podcast with Julia and join both Julia and Rebecca with a glass of fizz on Thursday 28th January at 7pm for an Instagram live where they'll talk all things bridal.