Dress for 2nd time around 42 yr old !

Hi there

Have you had a look at these - some obviously won't be to your taste but as a starting point there are some very elegant less bling dresses

https://www.morilee.com/browse/bridal-wedding-dresses/voyage/

https://sassiholford.com/

Justin Alexander do a variety of dresses too from elegant slim fitting satin gowns to full on princess type. I could go on and on ? Maggie Sottero too have a fabulous range of bridal dresses available

/maggie-sottero

Tracey xx

Not an older bride, but I didn't want anything to huge and blingy. In the end my dress is a Venus Bridals one and it's from their 'informals' range. I hate that name as it makes it sound like it's less of a wedding dress, but the dresses are lovely! Not huge, quite understated, lovely fabric etc. Mine was £750.

Might be worth a look: http://www.venusbridal.com/bridals/venus-informals

Have you thought about buying a Jenny Packham from one of the preloved sites such as preloved or sellmyweddingdress?

I have gone for a biiig Ronald Joyce dress with lots of bling, but they also do another range, Victoria Jane, which has much less bling on them and mine was around the 1k mark www.ronaldjoyce.com, click on english language, 2011 collection and then go to the Victoria Jane section.

Have you thought about monsoon? best of luck in finding your dream dress

OMG ! That Victoria Jance collection is stunning ! Especially the 2009/10 collections sadly ! I love them ! I know there is somewhere nearby that does the Ronald Joyce dresses but I doubt they have the whole collection. I wonder if there is a main place that has the majority of them that I could visit.

Hi Oldgal, I too am a 2nd time Oldy (44). There are some realy lovely dresses out there. What area are you in ?

I'm not a girly girl so a long girly dress is out of the question for me. I'm having a short 60s style dress made, as I do wear alot of vintage clothes anyway, , , ,

Keep me posted, I'd love to see what you choose, , ,

xx

Hi, I will be a 2nd time 40 yr old bride. I too didn't want anything to big and blingy but when I browsed the preloved sites for dresses within my budget I did a complete turn around and opted for a straples Maggie bridal dress, it was too good too turn down. I did see some dresses in the style you are looking for at good prices. Other options are Coast, Monsoon and Department store evening wear depts.

I don't know whether this could help. If you click here it takes you to my gallery where there's real brides of varying ages and their choices of dresses. Obviously, it won't be able to tell where they sourced it from but it may give you ideas of what style may be suitable to yourself and what some of my more 'mature' brides have chosen.

My dress didn't have a single sparkle on it. It was by Essense of Australia and they do lots of classic looking simple styles.

I was 41 when I remarried so "an old gal" too this was my dress, my daughters are my bridesmaids:

I am quite a lot older than you and have bought a dress from Monsoon.

I got it from their outlet shop in Bicester and have added some bits to it to make it more "mine".

It was the princely sum of £60 and is silk, with some vintage beading around the bodice but it quite simple and elegant (so I'm told!!)

Attempted to post picture but it came out huge and scary!

You all look lovely ! Your colour scheme is gorgeous. It is amazing as what I want is something like a glamorous evening gown and because it is a bridal dress the price shoots up lol ! I have looked at preloved and seen some lovely dresses sadly wrong height/size/too far away. I think if I fail to find what I want once I have tried a few I may get it made. I have an appointment with a bridal dressmaker on Thursday so will check that out then go try some more. In the bridal shops at the weekend all the brides were young enough to be my daughters lol With second marriages on the up and women leaving it later to get married I have to say I think there is a missed market out there ! Thankyou so much for all your help

I'm not an older bride but wanted a dress similar to what you describe.

Keep looking, they are out there. I can highly recommend Justin Alexander for elegant figure flattering dresses.

Have you thought about a bridesmaid dress?? They're more ball gown style and you can get them in white or ivory and much cheaper.

As someone mentioned you could always get a seamstress to add some extra sparkle or something?

I saw a dressmaker yesterday I may have the dress made. I see lots of dreses online but can't find them in store and I also may steal bits from each lol

Hiya

I'm getting married in 2 weeks (2nd time) and am 40years old. Because of this I wanted a specific colour too (deep Purple) but didn't want a bridesmaid or prom dress - I have a lovely dressmaker local to me thats making mine and I get my final fitting tomorrow and it's very bridal with a bit of bling

hope you find yours x

Hi I too am an older bride (will be 47 when I walk down the aisle later this year) and wanted to look like a bride but not ridiculous! I got my dress from Monsoon - it's from the bridal range but very simple and elegant (I think so anyway!) and was a bargain at £200! Have you checked out department stores? Lots of them do their own ranges now which are not too fussy. Good luck!

I would have recommended these as well. Although not technically an older bride, I really didn't want the big ott bling dress either as it's just not me. I tried on lots from Justin Alexander and loved them all. My best friend is getting married on the beach in Thailand next year and has been looking at Maggie Sottero as they are such elegant dresses and again she wanted something that was more beachwear. I'm sure you'll find what you are looking for.

Oh, and my dress was £1200 but my lovely mum spoke with the shop manager and we got it for £500 because she asked to take the sample dress. I have had it cleaned and a family friend is altering it for me. It was brilliant because i also budgeted £1000 for the dress and this meant I had more money to go towards other things.

I looked in Monsoon for bridesmaid dresses and fell in love with the wedding dresses there. Also saw some on Very website that were quite elegant and most under the £1000 mark.