As a food and travel writer with a bank-account-draining penchant for holidays, I travel frequently for both work and play. In 2024 alone I visited 17 different countries, leaving the UK at least once every month. At the start of the year, I figured all of those places would have a few bridal stores that might help me in my efforts to find the one. So, I took my shopping on the road with me.
In Athens, I hopped in a scorching hot cab and trundled through rush-hour traffic to Costarellos in the Kolonaki neighbourhood – just west of the area around the Acropolis. There, I squeezed myself into sample dresses even smaller than the ones in London. They may not have zipped up, but it was the first time I had put on a wedding dress and felt like myself. The delicately draped silk chiffon moved naturally as I walked, and the design felt special while remaining modern. I felt hopeful that I could be a bride after all.
I decided perhaps it was worth looking to the past for some inspiration, so made an appointment at Those Were the Days Bridal while visiting a friend in Edinburgh. In a room full of sartorial snapshots of love-filled days dating back as far as the Edwardian era, I swooned over a delicate silk long-sleeve 1930s dress, the art-deco detailing perfectly matching my engagement ring. Given the way bodies have changed over the years, it was a rarity to find a dress from that era in my size and, had it not been long-sleeved, I think it would have come home with me. At the other end of the history spectrum, a slinky, cowl-neck, backless dress from the ’90s was the first time I felt truly sexy in something I tried on.
In Stockholm, I window-shopped By Malina’s chic gowns that epitomise effortless Scandi style because I was too late to get an appointment. In Buenos Aires, I made my fiancé hover outside El Camarin while I browsed vintage wedding dresses and tried and failed to work up the courage to try them on. In Ljubljana, I had grand plans to make my way to a wedding shop I had scoped out on Google Maps, but my flight was delayed and I ran out of time. At Laura Dols, a sizable vintage store in Amsterdam, I distracted my partner with the menswear and tried to sneak off to the wedding dress collection, quickly flicking through piles of ivory crochet and tulle, only to U-turn like Alan Rickman in Love Actually when he came looking for me.
