To Sample Sale or not to Sample Sale.....?

That is the question! On Friday (16th March) we are starting one of the biggest sample sales we've held in quite a few years - around 75-90 dresses will be on view the whole store will be showcasing only sample sale gowns! The question we get asked all the time from brides is "Is a sample sale good for me?" The easiest answer comes after asking 4 simple questions:

Do you have a restricted time scale - less than 4-6 months?

Do you have a limited budget - under £1000 (through choice or necessity)?

Do you mind if its not a brand new dress?

Do you love a bargain?

If you answer Yes to any of the above questions then a sample sale could be perfect for you. That's not to say only brides who scream YES to those questions can shop in a sale but those are the brides we specifically hold the sales for.

For us at Aurora Bride, the appointments still run the same way. You will always have a one to one consultant to help you, your own changing room and 1 hour 15 mins for your appt. There's no F.R.I.E.N.D.S style moment - I will not be on hand with a whistle guiding you to the promised land and I will step in to stop any fisticuffs! No fights in here please ladies, well not unless you fancy being streamed on BRIDES GO MENTAL, you know Channel 5 have that in the future schedule! That's not to say that its not first come first served though - you need to be ready to go and it's always advisable to bring any must have Team Bride members with you, remember you can always bring them back afterwards for a viewing if you are keen to come alone.

For our Aurora girls and those across the UK visiting a sample sale the main benefit is that stores will reduce their gowns by up to 80% off and during our sale there will be a few gowns starting as low as £200. BUT remember if you love something you won't be able to put a hold on it during or after the appointment. You need to be decisive there's no 2 ways about it, get your SAY YES TO THE DRESS hats on ladies!

With that in mind if you had no time to think it over why would anyone shop at a sample sale? Well let me enlighten you. I cannot be the only one who has googled those stunning Vera Wang gowns or checked out HELLO! magazine sitting wide eyed at Royalty and Heiresses across the globe and thought wow, I want one of those! Only to find out its at least £17,000 and unless they take Monopoly money, and even then I'm not sure I'd have enough, I quickly realise I'm bang out of my depth. It's not an unusual feeling and help is on hand, sometimes you don't want to or can't spend what was the £1,112 national average spend in 2016/2017 and that's perfectly OK - we have a plan for you!

Now for me, I never wear Prada or Chanel so for that one day, given that society gave me an excuse, I was going all out to have the dress I wanted. However, I was lucky I liked plain non beaded, non laced gowns, but, had I wanted something a little more elaborate I would definitely have considered a sale. Take the dress in the image for example, its £1,599 to order new but in the sale only £795 - that's a fabulous discount of over half off! It's a gorgeous dress and dropping the price from nearly £1600 by over half makes it an option for brides that will look amazing it in but would not have the bank balance to stretch to it. That's not in any way a criticism of those brides, just because you don't have millions in the bank doesn't mean we won't try hard to help - honestly some times we try even harder! It's built in our nature to want our brides to look amazing and those honest with their struggles budget wise it can be genuinely nice to have a challenge and to stretch those Bridal consultant muscles, it feels like you have accomplished more!

For others a Sale is not the right time or place for them to shop and the question "When is the sale not right for me?" is again an easy answer. Sales are great for girls that know what they want, what they want to spend and are decisive. If you think you need time and space to think on a dress a sale is not your friend. Size range wise our sale goes from a size 6 to 26 but having said that only 1 dress is a size 6 and only 6-8 dresses are above a size 18 so check before you visit a sale to confirm they have something for you. Most sample sale gowns with us are sizes 10/12/14 but can be adjusted. A good bridal seamstress can adjust a dress down by 3 sizes and up by 1 size so remember it doesn't have to fit like a glove at the appointment just close enough to be adjustable. Don't buy a size 8 if you are an 18 and hope to slim into it as it's not adjustable should you not get there and vice versa a size 6/8 girl is never, with all the will in the world, going to look a perfect fit in a size 20.

So you are decisive, you know what you want and your ready to fight for it (joking!) - next thing to do is call us on 0208 6416041 or email cheam@aurora-bride.com for an appt for our next sale! There is also a guideline of samples shown on our sale page www.aurora-bride.com/sale and remember we keep our sale section stocked all year round should you have missed out on the bargain of a lifetime! Watch this space brides we look forward to seeing you soon!