Dusting Off the Fairytale - what to do with your dress afterwards

It's probably the most expensive outfit you'll ever buy and the one piece of clothing you'll treasure above all others for the rest of your life.  So once you've wrapped it in acid free paper and a UV-protective cover, what will you do with your wedding dress?

Well, unless you marry royalty, it's unlikely to end up in a museum.  However, that doesn't mean you can't showcase your dress.  Purchasing a mannequin and a display case is not unheard of, but you will require a lot of space and fair bit of cash too.  If you're not adverse to cutting up your dress, if you have some particularly beautiful lace or applique, you could cut it off and then frame it.  Alternatively, you could sew it into a decorative tablecloth.

In these times of austerity and great awareness of reducing waste, some people find it an unnecessary expense to purchase a dress they'll never wear again.  Monsoon is particularly great for creating beautiful yet understated dresses that you can use again and again.

You don't even have to turn to the high street for a dress you can wear again.  The ever-thrifty Duchess of Cornwall has been spotted in the dress she wore to wed Prince Charles many times since her 2005 nuptials.  The dress was a bespoke piece by Robinson Valentine.

If you still want to purchase that dream dress you've had your eye for longer than you care to think about, who knows?  If you put it away now, the generation after you may want to wear it.  Daughters wearing their mother's wedding dresses has boomed in popularity in the last few years; this is due in part to the tough economic climate, but also because nostalgia and all things vintage are very much in vogue at the moment.  Who knows: if you buy that dream dress now, it may well be back in fashion by the time your daughter gets married.

Lily and Sarah - Fashion rules on the big day

We all know that celeb weddings set the trend of the rest of us poor common folk, and many people quite rightly predicted the boom in lace detail following the wedding of the  Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Given how she's set up a fashion label as well as a vintage clothing boutique with her sister Sarah Owen, all eyes were on the sometimes-wacky-sometimes-uber-chic Lily Allen to see what she would be wearing on her big day.

And I have to say... I was rather taken aback.

We all know that vintage is 'the' by-word in wedding culture at the moment, and many brides spend hours traipsing around charity shops in a bid to find their perfect antique dress. In her line of work, I would be very surprised if Lily hasn't come across a dress or two like this, so why go to all the bother (not to mention expense) of making this 'modern' vintage, lacy oddbox.

Especially those Princess Leia earmuffs.  We can all see the Rag Time influence in this dress, but this detail feels overblown and over the top to the point of being ridiculous.  It seems such a shame too when the rest of the cap headdress looks rather pretty.

For a high profile fashionista wedding such as this, fashion etiquette cannot be entirely forgotten, but that's exactly what the bride's business partner Sarah seems to have done.  That is FAR too much cleavage on show.  And who told her that those shoes go with that dress??  Okay so she's got to draw attention to her outfit in order to get notice for her business, but is upstaging the bride really the way to go?

Having said all that, given the rough year Lily's had, it's nice to see her with a beaming smile on her face.  No matter what a bride looks like or does, we should always wish her well.  Marriage is a tricky business and the wedding is just the start.