Caroline Castigliano Wedding Dresses

18 September 2008 3,330 views No Comment

Last night, my friend Naomi came over to sleep over and we stayed up till 2 o clock chatting away. I’ve been quite hesitant to talk about wedding details to my friends because none of them are engaged so I didnt think they would be too interested. But my friend Naomi actually wanted to speak about my ring and other wedding details. I think you know when a woman is “ready” about marriage when she is actually interested in wedding details. A year ago, I never even thought about carat sizes and now that is the first thing that comes to my mind when I notice an engagement ring.

Anyways, I was speaking to my friend about wedding dresses and she recommended that I go to Caroline Castigliano. I first heard about them when I was at Vera Wang and when I was trying on the “Beatrice” dress, another customer told me to go to her as she is more affordable.

Luckily, Caroline Castigliano is not as snotty a place as Vera Wang. I called them around 1 o clock today and was given an appointment at 4. They also asked me if I was coming in for the sale and I told them I didnt realise they have a sale. So ladies, if you’re around, Caroline Castigliano is having a 60% sale at the moment.

I asked my cousin, a fashion designer, to accompany me. He was asked by the sales assistant how he was dragged here and he explained that he is interested in fashion so he wanted to come. We arrived at 4 and immediately, a pleasant lady took us in. The funniest thing is that I noticed she stared at my ring when I came in! My cousin was saying that the ring could be a good indicator of someone’s budget. Anyways, they lead you in and ask you a few question about your wedding. They asked me about the venue and what vision I had for the wedding. I think again the venue is an indicator of someone’s budget. They were very pleasant but still a bit rushed. Anyways, she said that I shouldnt see the dresses on sale as they wouldnt be bespoke and that the dresses were around £3,000. For London standards, thats on the affordable side.

The stylist immediately picked out a dress that looked gorgeous. I picked two more dresses to try on, one was similar to the Vera Wang “beatrice”. The other one was similar to Monique Luhliers. Unfortunately, I cant put up pictures of the dresses from their website, they’ve done it in such a way that you cant copy it. But here they are from the other website for some idea:

The final dress that I tried on was called Sabine and was absolutely gorgeous. My cousin even said it had the wow factor. The dress costs £2,500 but fittings and alterations were around £400. They said this dress is not the top of the range so it would be an average cost of a dress there. They brought out veils, they were absolutely divine. I really recommend trying a longer veil, it makes you look more glamourous. The only problem is that veil that I tried on, which matched the dress gave me a heart attack – the veil costs £1100 !!! I think some girls get dresses for the cost of this veil.

The assistant went on to explain how you can also pay in installments but a deposit would have to be made to cover half the cost of the dress and the cost of the alterations.

I could see that the salesman was very good at what she was doing and she was trying her best to get me to pencil in another appointment. I told her that ultimately, its my fiance’s decision as he’s paying for it! I say that because I dont like salesmen or women trying to pressure me into a quick sale.

The tiaras at Caroline Castigliano were also really beautiful. At Vera Wang, they only had a handful but they have a huge display at the Caroline Castigliano store near Tottenham Court Road/ Godge St.

Overall, I would definately recommend a visit to this store in the future for any bride to be. I would also recommend you go shopping for your wedding dress upto a year before the ceremony because they take 6-9 months to make them bespoke.