Your wedding day should be one of the happiest days of your life, but unfortunately the pressure and strain of planning your nuptials can be huge. Your wedding budget in particular can be an endless source of stress in the run up to your big day, but it is possible to achieve your dream wedding on a limited budget.

A young bride-to-be who had been scouring the internet in search of her dream wedding gown, finally found one which ticked all the boxes but unfortunately carried a price tag of £1,500. After deciding to explore all her options in the hope of finding a bargain, Mother of two, Emma Dunn came across an accurate reproduction of the dress on eBay. With no reserve price and just 10 minutes of auction time remaining, Emma entered a bid of £2.50 for the beautiful bridal gown.

After an anxious and nail biting wait, Emma picked up an email from her inbox verifying that she had won the auction and that her gown would be dispatched from Shanghai, China in due course.

The elated 23 year old was advised that her wedding dress would be made in China once she had confirmed her measurements, and that she would receive it in approximately six weeks. Emma’s’ ivory coloured satin gown arrived on time via an international courier service, for which she was charged £16.50.

Emma went on to marry her fiancé Paul Worthington in mid-July in the presence of their friends and family. The overall cost of the wedding, inclusive of all outfits, the wedding entertainment and reception was just £3,000.

The average wedding gown costs in the region of £800 and takes many months of rummaging though scores of bridal boutiques to find. It is the dress of you dreams and for one day it will make you look and feel like a princess.

But once your big day is over, what happens to your fairytale frock? More often than not it’s left hanging desolately in your wardrobe.

Recent times have seen a surge in sales used wedding dresses, with many traditional white gowns being freed form their wardrobe detention and given a new lease of life. Charity shops across the country have reported a significant increase in donations of used wedding gowns.

Celebrities have also jumped on the band wagon. Jerry Hall recently auctioned the dress that she donned more than 18 years ago for her wedding to Mick Jagger. The short white dress sold for £2,420, five times more than it cost Jerry all those years ago. She donated the proceeds to charity.

August 29th is the 3rd annual World Wedding Dress Day, sponsored by Take a Break Magazine. Thousands of women will slip into their wedding dresses and help to raise money for charities such as Dr Banardos’ and The National Alliance of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisations, in addition to many hospitals and hospices. From holding Wedding themed charity balls to packing supermarket shopping in your wedding attire, or simply wearing your dress to work for the day, anyone who has, or has access to a wedding dress can take part.

Walking elegantly on your wedding day is dependent on a number of factors including the design of your gown, the width of the skirt, and the ease at which you are able to comfortably walk in the height of your heels. Unfortunately there is no magical technique that will ensure that you walk stylishly and gracefully on your big day, however there are certain factors that may help you to achieve a reasonably comfortable wedding day walk.

If you are not accustomed to walking in high heels choose a relatively low heel that you are able to walk in comfortably and easily. Where possible you should try to make sure that your feet are at least a little accustomed to wearing your wedding shoes as you will likely be wearing them for many hours on the day. Try walking around the house in them in the weeks before the wedding. If you don’t ever wear heels of any height or if you anticipate that you might do a lot of dancing or if heels are simply not a comfortable choice for you, consider flat sandals or ballet slippers.

Having your wedding gown hemmed to the correct height from the floor will allow you a small amount of additional room for an imperfect postures. When your hem is measured at the bridal boutique, the seamstress should force you to stand upright with your weight on both legs, and look directly ahead. You should pay particular attention to these instructions and endeavor to conform to her requests in order to achieve the most accurate hem. However, when you are wearing the dress on your wedding day, remember that the hem was cut whilst you were standing straight, correctly postured whilst looking ahead. Whenever you look down, the hem will dip slightly in front which could cause you to step on your skirt as you walk. Attempt to elevate the skirt of your dress gracefully with your hands whenever you are required to look down to walk up and down steps etc.

An estimated 50 bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses and various other wedding accessories have been generously donated to a charity shop in Southport, Merseyside recently.

An unknown benefactor deposited the gowns at the British Red Cross shop, every one meticulously arranged on a mannequin and with prices still fixed on them. The Red Cross has resolved to conduct a wedding exhibition, running from July 5th through until July 12th, with an evening opening on July 10th until 8.00pm in order to sell the items.

The wedding gowns will carry price tags in the region of £100 each and are presented in a choice of styles and UK sizes ranging from 10 up to 16. The majority of the bridesmaids’ dresses are available in children’s sizes and come in an assortment of colours. The bridal accessories on offer include tiaras, veils and a variety of jewellery items.

The Manager of the Charity Store claimed that the donation just came unexpectedly and without any warning. She expressed her extreme gratitude to the anonymous contributor, declaring that the donation would permit the charity to raise many thousands of pounds for the British Red Cross.

Red Cross charity shops are entirely dependent on contributions and donations from the public to elicit funds to in order to assist those at risk or in need across the UK and overseas. DVD’s, clothing, books, unwanted gifts, home wares and even used textiles such as curtains or linen can all be sold for cash which in turn funds the British Red Cross.

A magazine recently ran an article on the fact that boutiques offering designer wedding dresses for sale are forcing brides’ to pay a fee for the opportunity to trying on their expensive gowns. Some retailers are reportedly charging in the region of £50 to try on a single dress,

Given that the average woman will try on several different styles of wedding gown during her visit to a boutique and that the initial fitting can take upwards of one hour, it is hoped that the levy will discourage timewasters, with some women said to be choosing the dress before they have even chosen a husband!

The pretext of these new payments range from ‘appointment charges’ to ‘consultation charges’ dependent on which retailer you visit, with the costs varying from £25 to £50.

The fees are the most recent way in which the designers of wedding gowns have attempted to preserve the exclusivity of their creations. Cameras have also recently been forbidden in up-market boutiques as direct result of the many numbers of brides who take photographs of the exclusive designs in order to have imitations of them make at cheaper prices.

Smart brides craving exclusive attire for their big day but who are wary of spending excessively are visiting designer sample sales where bridal gowns can be found at prices discounted up to 70%.