The rise of the low-key wedding dress and our fashion editor’s pick of the best to buy now Chloe Street
Following Boris’ announcement yesterday, UK summer weddings are officially back on the agenda, with 15 attendees allowed from April 12 rising to 30 from May 17.
London wedding dress designer Kate Halfpenny says she’s already been “inundated” with calls. “We already had a large waiting list of brides wanting to come in and have seen another surge since yesterday’s announcement,” she says.
But following a year of yo-yo lockdowns, repeat postponements and micro-nuptials, are women still looking for the princess dresses they lusted after pre-pandemic?
It’s the opening chapter in the story of every dream wedding: a bride trying on a series of white dresses while the bridal party –
party, even the word seems alien, inspiring the kind of longing reserved for teenage crushes and Simone Rocha dresses – sips champagne and issues oohs and ahs on cue. No romantic novel, chick flick, or wedding-themed Instagram Highlight would be complete without it, but as we know, most aspects of that particular fairytale have gone out the window. The window we stare longingly out of while staying at home.
To date, I’ve booked, rescheduled or cancelled physical appointments at various bridal boutiques four times, and I doubt that will be the final tally. So, as we entered lockdown number three with no end in sight, no dress, and my September wedding fast approaching, I began to explore other options. I won’t pretend I didn’t grieve for my own hoped-for experience of the scene I’d watched excitedly in countless rom-coms (I’d almost take