A-dressing the issue.

The bonus about being newly engaged is the sheer amount of advice that comes your way, which puts you on the right path about so many issues.

Some subjects seem to divide opinion though. 'The dress' being the one where I feel really confused. As I'm planning a winter wedding I didn't think I'd need to start looking at gowns until the summer at the earliest - some people agree, others are rolling their eyes and pointing out that you might not find 'the one' straight away, and it also takes a while for some dresses to arrive after you've ordered them.

I'm hoping to lose a bit of weight before my big day (a stone at the very least - especially after Jez compared me to Rik Waller - the cheeky monkey!), and so to me it seems a bit mad to look for a dress before I'm closer to my goal size, but again opinion seems to divided on this.

As for the dress itself - I've flicked through some bridal magazines and I've been shocked to see that 99.9% of dresses are strapless. I love that style of dress on other people, but it really isn't a style that looks good on me, as I've got strapping shoulders and so I want a wedding gown with some sleeves. Wearing a shrug or small jacket with a strapless dress won't cut it either, as I want the security of knowing the dress will stay up without me tugging at it.

I'm hoping that because it's winter right now, all the dresses I'm looking at are for Spring and Summer - maybe in the heat of July and August these magazines will feature big bridal coats with thermal lining!