The Dress With Kotryna Whiteside

Kotryna and Angus Whiteside held their wedding at The Dairy on the Waddeson Estate in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. The grounds at The Dairy offer a romantic backdrop for a wedding celebration. We take a look inside Kotryna’s incredible wedding dress journey with Zuhair Murad. Here is The Wedding Editions exclusive first look…

The Journey

I went to a local store after proposing to my bridesmaids as a fun way to start looking at dresses. I visited a store in Chichester and could see what shapes and styles were available. I booked an appointment at The Wedding Club in Knightsbridge because they were the only UK store to stock Berta. In my mind I wanted to wear something fishtail that was glitzy. I went there with my mother-in-law and tried on two Berta dresses. Unfortunately after trying Berta, I realised it wasn’t my style. I lost interest in going for that style. As I was getting changed and ready to leave the store, they pulled out a huge lace dress, with a long train on the floor. It was everything I wasn’t looking at in terms of material and style. I get into the dress and I realised I really quite like that. I didn’t expect to find it in that way, but I fell in love with it as soon as I tried it on.

I took to Instagram to chat candidly about the dress and asked my followers there thoughts on the dress, the price point and I knew I needed to get people’s thoughts. Still keeping an open-mind as I was early on in my search, I tried more brands, even travelling to Barcelona to try on dresses from Pronovias. I landed and I drove straight there to try on the dresses they had pulled for me from across the country. I went there and using Google translate tried on 15 dresses. Unfortunately they weren’t quite right for me and were too heavy. As I was trying these dresses on, The Wedding Club posted that they bought on a Steven Khalil dress. That truly was the closest replica I could see online to the Zuhair Murad. I flew home and on a Sunday, went and tried on this dress. It was incredibly uncomfortable, the bones on the corset dug in and was way too heavy for me. That was the day I purchased the Zuhair Murad dress.

The Vision

It’s interesting how I ended up moving away from my initial vision of what I might pick for my wedding day. My biggest tip is when visiting each bridal store, those showing you pieces are aware of your budget. I didn’t have a budget in mind when I first started searching, so when it came to buying my Zuhair Murad dress, I didn’t realise how big the price point would be.

The Evening Look

I was dead set against a second look initially as my dress was such an investment piece. A couple of months before the wedding, I realised the dress would be too heavy to wear into the evening and I didn’t want to damage the dress into the evening. I left it too late to make something custom, something I would have perhaps preferred to have done. My non-negotiables were that the second dress needed to be short and fun. I ended up going for the Carrie dress from Nadine Merabi, a beautiful embellished mini dress that was crafted from mixed pearl beads and white feathers.

The Accessories

I wanted something that wouldn’t be too high and would be stable enough for me to walk in with my dress on a mirrored aisle. I was searching for the right pair of shoes, something away from the popular styles that I seen so many brides wear. I ended up opting for a pair of satin midi-heel from Gina. I wanted my jewellery on the day to be timeless. I was gifted diamond stud earrings from my mother-in-law and gifted an emerald cut diamond necklace to wear on the day by my parents.

The Second Day Outfit

The day after the wedding, we hosted a South African BBQ at a family friend’s estate. We decked out a yurt shoot lodge and had a DJ playing our favourite music. I opted to wear a Sandro two-piece white suit with Anthropologie boots. I wanted my second-day look to give a nod to the countryside theme while still looking chic.

Advice For Brides

I learnt so much throughout the whole journey. I would advise when you find your dress, you step off the podium and walk in it as much as possible in your dress trials, especially if you’re choosing a bigger dress. You need to be able to move in it so it is helpful to see what it will like.

Favourite Photo

There were so many images I loved, but there were a selection of photos taken of my kneeling down with my hands in my face. I think they captured the beauty and shape of the dress. I loved the editorial feel of the images.