Morn on the 4th of July

Hallelujah! After a good 6 months of internet searching, glossy magazine purchases, and some trying on sessions at various bridal shops, I finally bought my wedding dress!

The weekend before last, I woke up ridiculously early on the Saturday morning, and my mum and dad took me into town, where I met my sister-in-law Marie, who is also my chief Bridesmaid. My dad went off to Tesco (he's not one for clothes shopping, despite being asked to come along lots of times) and my mum and Marie stood outside a bridal shop waiting for it to open up.

The shop-owner had actually shut the shop for the day as she was planning a visit to London to purchase more wedding dresses, but when I rang her she offered to open the shop at 8am so she could see me and still fit in her buying trip.

We were going back to the shop to look at only one dress, it was one that I tried on back in February and after various other trips and more searching online, I still hadn't found anything I liked as much. My mum felt exactly the same way, and that was a sign that it was 'the one.'

Two weeks ago we'd had a second trip to Cheltenham (we were shopping there as it was midway between Herefordshire where mum and dad are, and me in Swindon) and had spent a lovely afternoon with a fabulous bridal store owner who showed me lots of lovely dresses, and also explained how they could be adapted for me. It was a fabulous shop and the gowns were gorgeous, but I still couldn't shake off the dress that I finally chose - just nothing else came close in fit or design.

So last weekend I tried it on again with some headwear. Both my mum and Marie assured me it looked lovely, and I still felt great in it, and so we bought it! It's such a relief to have got such a major purchase out of the way, and I think taking my time was the right thing to do. You need to allow up to 9 months ordering time for a lot of dresses, so in some ways it still feels early to be making this purchase, as I normally leave everything to the last minute. For once though, I think it might be better to be organised!

Jez, my co-host and radio husband has speculated that I will be getting married wearing white dungarees and trainers - is he right? Like my fiance, you'll have to wait and see...