The Wedding Diaries #3: Trying On My First Dresses at Dotty Bridal
I can’t believe it’s 2026, aka the year of the wedding. It’s time to ramp up wedding planning and also ramp up with a few more entries to the wedding diaries. I’ve got loads to catch you up on, but I’m gonna rewind to October 2025 when I tried on my first lot of wedding dresses. I didn’t do too much research before my first appointment, but I did have an idea of what style of dress I was after. I’m sure it will shock nobody that I didn’t actually like the style that I had as my number 1 choice. I decided that I would book my first Wedding Dress appointment at Dotty Bridal in Wakefield. I’m sure if you are a bride, you’ll have seen them all over social media.
To book the appointment, I had to pay £25 for the session, which included drinks during the appointment. I was able to bring upto 4 guests, which I would say to really have a think about who you want there. Who can give you valuable opinions and who don’t you want to see the dress before the big day etc.. Before the appointment, I was given access to their online portal where I could pick out some styles which I was loving, and the stylist would then know beforehand the vibes I was loving.
Dotty Bridal has become somewhat of a phenomenon on social media and is absolutely storming the bridal world. I wanted to go and see what it’s all about. Dotty opened on Navigation Walk in Wakefield last year in a massive warehouse-style building, making it one of the biggest bridal shops in the UK. Alongside wedding dresses, they do have a Mother of the Bride area, bridesmaids’ dresses and loads of accessories too! There are also so many different photo opportunities, including a ball pit for when you say yes to the dress!
I brought along my mum, her friend, and two bridesmaids to the appointment, which was a nice balance of opinions. On arrival at Dotty, we were greeted with a big chest of drawers where my name was on one of the drawers and inside was a map to the huge building. We got the elevator up to reception, where we got sat down in the bar area (yes, this place has its own bar/cafe!).
My bridesmaids were running late, but so were the stylist so it worked out really well for us. We all got a glass of fizz while we were waiting, and then we were taken to a dressing room with our stylist. As I had already pre-selected a couple of dresses on the online portal, my stylist had selected those to try on. Additionally, I then took my bridesmaids into this huge room full of dresses, where we got to pick another five. I’ve got to say, it was quite overwhelming as there are so many dresses. Dotty carry designers such as Justin Alexander, Madi Lane Bridal, Allure Bridal, Pronovias and Disney! I’m sure you can also imagine that I was buzzing to see the Disney range, but it was quite expensive.
I did tell my stylist my budget on arrival. But one thing I’ve semi learnt when trying dresses on is that the price is never something that is discussed. I was briefly told which designers to potentially avoid in terms of sticking to the budget. I would lie, I was quite nervous about trying on dresses for the first time. Getting half naked in front of a stranger is kind of daunting, and it’s also a massive milestone in wedding planning. I try not to put too much pressure on finding the one and just having fun with it. Which is what we did.
The dressing rooms are really spacious, and they fit my four guests in well. We all had several drinks, including fizz, coffee and tea, and it was really a lovely experience. I wish I’d bought paddles like in Strictly Come Dancing, which is how we ended up rating the dresses. Overall, I tried on eight dresses, I think. Sadly, I didn’t find the one, but I did have two dresses I really liked the style of, which I think helped me realise what I wanted. As I mentioned before, the dress I had as my #1 choice was not for me at all! I probably tried on too many of the same style after ruling it out, which ate into our slot. One of the two dresses I tried on was very close to being a top contender, but when I got home, I found out it was really above budget, which we wouldn’t have been able to make work.
The stylist wasn’t pushy at all, as I’ve heard some horror stories from other bridal boutiques. But I think the thing with going with a big business is that you aren’t getting as personal experience as you would have at a smaller boutique. I did think Dotty Bridal was a lovely experience, and I’m definitely glad to have gone just for the whole experience with the girls. I felt totally comfortable, and it was a great spot to ease me into trying on dresses. We ended up making such a lovely day of it. If you are visiting Dotty Bridal, we ended up going for lunch at a place called Qubana, and it was great value and absolutely delicious!
I will be doing more Wedding Diaries blogposts, including eventually finding THE DRESS. Do let me know below if you want to know anything else in particular about my wedding planning, as I’m hoping to cover ALOT.
Read more from The Wedding Diaries Series.
