It’s a cliché rooted in fact: many little girls dream of their wedding dress from childhood. Yet despite the way it’s shown in the movies – all Champagne glasses clinking with girlfriends and that “wow” moment when they find “the dress”– the reality can be altogether different. For some brides-to-be, it can not only be stressful, but also disheartening – particularly if you don’t fit into a sample size box.
That’s where a new book – Dressed, Styled and Down The Aisle: How To Be A Stylish Bride – comes in. Written by entrepreneur Julie Sabatiano, it’s based on over 20 years of experience in working with women to help them look and feel their best on their wedding day, via her personal styling service, The Stylish Bride. “Our clients come to us to help them with all the different fashion pieces for the wedding,” she explains. “We start by doing a deep dive into their personal style, and from that information we set up a schedule and appointments with the designers, showrooms, stores, to take them exactly where they need to go and then guide them through the process of selection and making decisions.”
Three years in the making, the book is already an Amazon best-seller, and is set to be a must-buy for any brides-to-be in your life. “I started The Stylish Bride to help as many women as I can feel beautiful, amazing, confident on their wedding day,” shares Sabatino. “My mission for the last 20 years has been to help as many women as possible. So I wanted to share all of these tips, tricks and actionable things I’ve learned to help women navigate the process. It’s supposed to be fun but it can be pretty stressful. So I want to help guide them through what I’ve learned.”
The book begins with an exercise that allows you to narrow down what kind of bride you are – and what kind of wedding you are having. “I think all the information you need to understand your bridal style exists already in your closet,” she shares. “So the Bridal Style Blueprint is an exercise that allows you to take into account all the aspects of your wedding – date, venue, formality level – and all the different aspects of your personal style by analysing what you already own, and putting them together and formulating them to create a blueprint that you can hand to a consultant in a store that will tell them everything you need to know to help you find a dress you love.”
Another theme throughout is decisiveness, and how important it is to understand what your decision-making style is. “One of the biggest problems is that brides have so much information coming at them at all times, whether it’s from social media, or, well-meaning friends and family, there are just so many opinions that it can be very hard to quiet that noise and understand what you want for yourself,” shares Sabatino. “That’s what the book is designed to do.” In fact one of Sabatino’s top tips is: “Doubt means don’t”. As she explains: “If you can’t actually pull the trigger and buy the dress, then it’s not your dress.”
Having worked with plenty of brides with a long list of things they want to change about their dress, Sabatino advises women to think carefully about whether or not it’s the right dress at all. “Don’t try to change too many things about a dress,” she says. “You really need to be careful with what you do. The ideal goal is to find a dress that you love with minimal adjustments. A lot of the time I’ll get brides that want to make it shorter, longer, change the neckline, and a few things are fine, but if you’re changing more than say, two things, it’s just not your dress!”
With first-hand experience of how disheartening it can be when you have to try to squeeze into a sample size dress, Sabatino’s main takeaway is one of body acceptance. “There are so many challenges for women who are outside of the ‘sample size’ space, whether you’re very petite, tall, curvy, big-busted – all of these things can pose challenges when shopping for your wedding,” she explains. “I hope the book helps women love themselves for who they are now and empowers them to feel good about themselves and the choices that they’ve made.”
And if you’re in the market for some in-person help, The Stylish Bride also offers an on-site service, which is now available in London. “We’ve got a trained group of stylists and dressers who are at your wedding and prepare everything and troubleshoot any problems,” Sabatino explains.
Dressed, Styled and Down The Aisle: How To Be A Stylish Bride is on sale from 3rd June, but you can pre-order it on Amazon now.
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