27 year old Christina Quilter values her cherished wedding gown more than most brides, in fact the newly wed believes that it actually saved her life.

The Mother of three went for a dress fitting shortly before her wedding, during which the corset of the satin ivory gown pushed into her right breast, causing her to be to cry out in severe pain.

When the pain had not gone after a fortnight, Christina made an appointment with her GP and was sent for tests and she was quickly diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer.

Even though she underwent a mastectomy and began a course of chemotherapy as soon as she was diagnosed, the brave bride decided to go ahead with her wedding plans and married her 28 year old beau Dan.

Christina commented:-

‘It was a really hot searing pain. I’d never felt anything like it. It felt as though my breast was burning.

There is no doubt that my wedding dress had saved my life. I feel very lucky that my cancer was caught so early and I was able to have treatment.

I’ve got no history of breast cancer in my family and I am so young, so I never imagined it would be anything so serious. I felt as though my world had just collapsed around me.

I tried to put it all behind me on the actual day. All the guests knew that I’d got breast cancer and was having chemotherapy, but we still had a wonderful day.
I’d considered postponing the wedding when I was diagnosed, but it gave me something to look forward to and my dress was so beautiful.

Dan and the children really kept me going throughout it all - I knew I had to get better for them.

It has been a long haul getting through my treatment, but with three children to look after I didn’t have much time to feel sorry for myself.’

Thankfully two years down the line Christina’s doctors have advised that they believe that she will recover completely.

A Bridal firm from Harrogate in North Yorkshire has proved that a budget busting wedding gown can still be stunning by creating a beautiful gown from an old pair of winter curtains.

Employees at Brides International, Paula French and Jane Hardman Ferris fashioned the gorgeous dress between them at a cost of just £6.75.

Now Brides International, are set to auction their handiwork and give the proceeds back to the original source of the curtains - The Shelter Charity Shop in Harrogate.

Kim Mays, the manager of the Harrogate Shelter shop said of the auction:-

“What better way to support our local Shelter shop by bidding for a beautiful bridal piece that will certainly have people talking.”

The £6.75 dress was originally created as an application for the Yorkshire Brides designer of the year awards. The wedding dress only just missed first prize in the eco-recycling class.

The environmentally friendly dress is available to be viewed at The Brides International shop in Harrogate in the build up to the Yorkshire Brides Wedding Show which takes place at the Great Yorkshire Showground from the 4th-5th October, where the dress will go under the hammer.

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.

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%.