An Aisle Appointment - What to Expect

You’re engaged- Congratulations! This is such a crazy and exciting time of your life and perhaps planning your perfect wedding is something you’ve always dreamed of. We all have a vision, even if it isn’t always initially super clear, but you can’t deny that the main event and probably one of the first things you think about is THE DRESS! 

This is your moment, this is your chance to shine and it’s really happening, you’re the bride this time around. But hold on a second, put the breaks on. Actually, that can sometimes feel a little daunting and overwhelming, right? You’ve got big ideas, big plans and you’ve imagined walking down the Aisle since you were a little girl, but now suddenly you have to put all of these dreams into fruition. There seems to be so much to do from colour schemes, wedding invitations and seating plans to how the heck you’re going to get great Aunt Petunia to stay sober through all three courses. At this point, this all seems like a logistical nightmare! 

So wouldn’t it be so refreshing to know that part of this planning journey can not only be easy but it can also be relaxing, memorable and SO much fun. If you’re an Aisle bride, not only do you leave knowing you’ve made the right decision on your dream dress, but you leave knowing that you’ve just had one of the best experiences of all time with all your favourite people. So leave the hard part to your professional Stylist who will tailor your appointment to you and your needs. When you step into our world, we’ll make you feel at home.  

Let me break down in a nutshell what an Aisle appointment is really like so you know just how simple, seamless and enjoyable one will be. Even just knowing exactly what to expect can put your mind at rest so you can fully ease into the experience. 

We’re here for you! We love what we do and as your stylist we know all our dresses inside out, so please let us work our magic because we can find the perfect dress for you.

1. Welcome to The Aisle - You’ll be welcomed into our amazing studio on the top floor of the Craven Court Arcade by your personal stylist. That will be one of us, either Katie, Georg, Maya or Gemma. Probably the first thing you’ll notice (apart from our amazing dresses) is the beautiful smell! We get A LOT of compliments on our commercial diffuser - it’s hard to even describe unless you’ve been through our doors - but trust me, it’s divine! Your stylist will introduce herself, sit you down for a quick one-to-one chat, serve you a glass of bubbles and talk through your venue, styles you love, maybe some designers you particularly like and anything and everything that helps us visualise your perfect day and ultimately, your perfect dress!  

2. Picking the dresses- Once we’ve got a feel for your style and your vibe, we can start picking out dresses. Initially we will ask you to peg five. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but trust us, it can get overwhelming quite quickly. We’ll let you pick them yourself, however if you’ve given us a specific brief we’ll also guide you at this point and pull out dresses we think you’ll love. Unless you have no idea where to start and already feel a bit overwhelmed, then we are happy to choose your dresses. This first five is just a starting point, so if we haven’t found “the one” within those first five, your stylist will be constantly making a mental note of what you did like. Necklines, shapes, cuts, fabrics etc and from that we’ll then bring up some other options. Please put your trust in us, we have done this a lot! We can’t help it, but the second you walk through the door, we’re already analysing in our own heads what you’ll look unbelievable in! 

3. Trying the dresses in our fitting room- Once you’ve picked out your top five dresses, we’ll then take you up to our beautiful, spacious and bright fitting rooms. We have two rooms which we have (if we don’t say so ourselves) made incredibly gorgeous but also comfortable for you and your guests to relax and enjoy. Then we’ll try each of the dresses on. Most of our gowns are really easy to step into without any help, so you can have full privacy to do this yourself. Once you’re ready for us to come and do up the back, we’ll come in and pin or clip the dress where appropriate to make it fit just as it should. If you do need any help getting into dresses, please don’t worry! We’ve done this thousands of times before and we have lots of methods or added extra props to make you feel happy and comfortable. With each dress we try, we’re obviously trying to find the perfect one for you so throughout the appointment we are always trying to narrow it down to the top two dresses that you love! As we near the end of the appointment, we then try those top two dresses on again but we’ll try them with veils and accessories to fully complete your bridal look. This is the part where you really become a bride and your vision comes to life! We always say remember that it’s your dress, it’s your day and go with something that is authentically your beautiful self!

4. Saying YES to the dress- Once we’ve found your perfect wedding gown, we will then head back to the fitting room to take your measurements. It will just be you and the stylist in the fitting room whilst we take the measurements. Depending on the designer you’ve gone for, we’ll then look at those measurements against the designers individual size chart to see what size dress we should order you, based on those measurements. Once we’ve got the measurements we can then go through our contract with you so you understand everything about lead times, pick up appointments and getting booked in with your seamstress. We have five recommended seamstresses  and two who are local in Skipton. We strongly advise you use one of these options, as they are experts at tailoring the dresses by our designers. A lot of brides ask about changes to their body shape and size before the wedding day at this point. Depending on the dress you’ve chosen, we always advise you on how changes can be made, but the best person to discuss this with is always your seamstress. 

5. Never leave empty handed- Now it’s time to go back downstairs to the Studio and finish up the appointment with a few final touches. We’ll give you your copy of the contract and your receipt once we’ve taken payment. There are a couple of different payment options for you and we can talk you through them. Choose whichever is most suitable to you. We’ll give you a little goody bag full of a few treats, along with your list of seamstresses to use and some other wedding suppliers like florists and photographers we highly recommend. Finally, we give you a nice little keepsake to take away with you- a polaroid shot of you and your guests in our gorgeous studio so you can remember the day forever. We’ll let you know when your ACTUAL finished dress will arrive and we’ll usually wave you off with a great brunch/lunch recommendation so you and your friends can go and celebrate this momentous day! 

Now you know exactly what to expect, there’s nothing to stop you booking your appointment. We can’t wait to meet you!