Today I went to see different types of veils to match my Pronovias dress. I had called the Pronovias store on Bond Street to ask if they had the veils to match my dress. The assistant on the phone said she found one designed specially for the “Nerveo” dress and it was £310. I thought that was a bit pricey but certainly cheaper than the veil at Carolina Castiligano which was £1000. I don’t know how these designers charge something that is not even a piece of cloth! Throughout this whole wedding planning, I find prices are doubled and tripled for industries that deal with weddings. Its almost like when they hear the word ‘wedding’ businessmen and businesswomen think brides lose all reason when making purchases. That is true because it’s a once in a life time event (for most of us atleast!) but I still don’t want to walk away with a bad deal.

When I turned up at the store a few days later, the assistant said she couldn’t find the veil anymore. They were very kind to allow me to see other veils. I don’t think other bridal stores are as flexible as they were but maybe it helped that the same sales assistant who sold me the dress saw me today.

Anyways, I tried on a plain veil but it seemed a bit too simple for my dress. I think a plain veil is great for dresses that have lots of detail because you don’t want it to look like you are over accessorizing. However, I asked for one with lace trimmings because my dress has a lot of lace on it.

The lace veil looked beautiful and made it look like part of the dress. However, Pronovias has only long lace veils, so they are all cathedral length. This has two effects: one, that they are a bit too dramatic and may be problematic when walking and two, they are more expensive. Flipping through the Pronovias catalogue whilst waiting to be seen, I noticed that the cheapest lace veils were around £200 and can go up to the same price as the dress. I’m not a veil connessiour so I cant really see the difference between a £300 and a £700 veil. Although I think these veils were more expensive than I thought they would be, I think its important to find one that matches your dress and one that matches your personality. If you want to go all out and make a dramatic entrance, go for the cathedral one.

Since I hadn’t seen the veil that was designed for the dress, I decided not to make any decisions yet. I walked over from Bond Street to Oxford High Street to the other department stores. Debehams has a bridal department but there were only two veils!!!!

I went over to House of Fraser next. The bridal department seemed very busy at the time I arrived but the sales assistant still showed me their veil collection. I found one that was lace trimmed and about elbow length, multi layers. The multi layers meant that if I wear it with my hair up, it puffs up and creates a dramatic bride look. I’m still not sure how I will wear my hair but I thought the veil would be a good compromise between a long, lace cathedral veil and a short plain one.

Then… when I asked the sales assistant if I could try the veil on with my dress which I had bought for my Pronovias appointment, she said I couldn’t because it was the director’s policy. I can understand if they want me to wait for a free opening on a busy night but it makes no commercial sense if bridal stores don’t allow you to wear your dress just because you did not buy the dress at their store. They explained that they had been sued by someone who had their dress damaged at their store. Sometimes lawyers make life so difficult for themselves. I almost asked if I could draft my own waiver. When I later recounted this story to my fiancé, he said that it wouldn’t be worth my time and obviously House of Fraser doesn’t want my money!

Update: I went to Beketex Brides, just around the corner from Pronovias and they have the same annoying policy that you are not allowed to wear your dress in their store if you didnt buy it from them. How are we supposed to know if the veil from their store goes with the dress we’ve already bought?????