It’s so hard to write an article about a wedding dress that doesn’t yet exist. But here goes nothing!

When I think of my wedding and walking down the aisle, the last word that springs to mind is tradition. I’ve always been the black sheep of my family and proudly so. So, when it comes to wedding dresses, where do I even begin?

Will I be frowned upon for straying away from white? Do people have expectations? Or even worse, am I supposed to cover my tattoos? These were the questions that instantly flooded my mind when I first started looking for a wedding dress. Straying from the path, although may be brave, can be a very difficult process. I found myself at times feeling almost self-conscious when telling people the plans for my wedding dress. Fearing the judgement that may come with my decision to do what’s best for me.

Much like most of my life, I started unconventionally. Many of us know exactly what we want to wear and have been dreaming of it for years, but I found the ideas for my bridesmaids flowed much easier for me.

With a wedding set deep in the beautiful autumn foliage landscape of New Hampshire, I knew I wanted my bridesmaids to represent the autumn leaves. I cycled through what feels like endless colour swatches, you wouldn’t believe how many different variations of ‘rust’ there are.

Whilst looking upon my chosen bridesmaid colours and the amount of warmth they oozed, I realised that there was no way I wasn’t wearing green to my own wedding.

My fiancé, Ryan, always jokes that each goth girl has their own accent colour to compliment their overwhelmingly black wardrobe. And mine is most definitely green. After all, the signature green streak in my hair is one of the reasons Ryan and I had our chance first meeting. But where do I find a green wedding dress? Do they even make them?

Well after hours upon hours of searching online, I finally found the exact colour of green I wanted. In a skirt. Not ideal. But I didn’t let that deter me, in less than 10 minutes I had an appointment scheduled to see if a dress was possible. And unbeknownst to my mother, she would also be going on this journey with me.

The green was perfect; the fabric was soft as butter. But it really all came down to two things, can this be made into a dress? And how much?

It weighed heavy on my mind that I may only wear this dress once in my life, so should I be spending 10% of our budget on this? One thought kept coming back to me. This will be the dress I marry the love of my life in; this dress needs to embody me.

Truthfully, I’d marry Ryan wearing a black trash bag, a white trash bag even! But I’ve learnt a lot whilst trying to find the ‘perfect’ dress. Trust yourself. Ask for opinions if you aren’t sure but never lose sight of what’s important. The dress needs to be YOUR perfect dress, not anyone else’s. I want to look back on my wedding day with no regrets, and if that means shocking everyone when they get that first glimpse of me walking down the aisle. Then so be it!

I spent so much of my younger years worried about what people thought of my unconventional choices. And at times during this process, I think back to my younger self, and what would make her proud. Traditions are built in the past, but we’re in the future. So let your wedding reflect who you are, and be true to yourself.

For this shoot, titled An Ode to Old Romance, the team selected vintage gowns from Old Harvest Vintage, based in Austin. Among the picks were a pale 1970s dress with Victorian influences and a black couture gown made in France during the 1980s. Together they wanted to reject the neat idea that bridal fashion should belong to one era, one colour or one fixed version of femininity.

“This shoot was created purely for the love of storytelling and creativity”, photographer Alexus Uchendu of Maka Studios told us. “I was inspired after seeing Old Harvest Vintage’s incredible collection of vintage bridal gowns, many of which date back to the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Rather than creating a traditional bridal editorial, we wanted to document a real experience. Our model is a bride-to-be who is currently searching for her wedding dress and hopes to find ‘the one’ before setting a date for her wedding.”

The dresses were styled with the bride, Maddie’s, own gothic aesthetic mind. The Alice in Wonderland-esque pale blue dress combines a full skirt, ruffled neckline and short puffed sleeves with an ivory corset worn over the top. It is romantic without feeling delicate or overly sweet. More importantly, it shows how a vintage dress can be restyled rather than treated as a museum piece. Layering a corset, changing the jewellery or adding a belt can alter its shape and style while allowing the original garment to remain intact.

The white lace gowns with their high necks, full sleeves and intricate trims were classic Victoriana. Against smoky eyes, dark lipstick, antique jewellery and loose hair, those traditional details almost took on a different, spooky character.

Then came the black dress. Made in France in the 1980s, its fitted bodice, dropped sleeves and vast skirt delivered the kind of drama that many modern black wedding dresses attempt to recreate. A small veiled hat and black flowers finished the look without crowding it. Maddie’s tattoos left visible also pulled the gown firmly into the present. Historic clothing does not require its wearer to disappear into a period costume.

The process of buying a vintage gown requires a slightly different mindset from ordering a new wedding dress. Vintage sizing bears little resemblance to the number currently printed inside your clothes, so measurements are far more useful than labels. Ask for the bust, waist, hips, shoulder width, sleeve length and total length of a dress before travelling or buying online. Compare those figures with a garment that already fits you, rather than measuring your body and assuming the dress will sit in the same way.

This shoot is a visual reminder that you have permission to style vintage bridalwear according to your own life and tastes.

Getting engaged suggests you’ve already answered the big relationship question. So why, with the wedding approaching, would you pay a psychic to ask it again?

Maybe you want reassurance because wedding planning has stirred up doubts you thought you had dealt with. Maybe you believe the universe has useful information and would quite like it to speak now, or maybe having your romantic future read sounds like a fun way to spend a Friday night.

Whatever brings you to the psychic’s table, it helps to decide how much power you are prepared to give whatever happens there. Ultimately, you know whether you have doubts and whether they are the right person for you. There is no harm in asking for guidance, but don’t do so at the expense of common sense.

People seek psychic readings for all sorts of reasons so the important question is what you want from the experience. If you’re hoping a psychic will make a major life decision for you, step away from the crystal ball. No tarot spread can tell you whether your relationship is healthy, whether your partner respects you or whether you both want compatible lives. Those answers live in your everyday reality. They show up in how you handle conflict, money, sex, domestic labour, boundaries, family and the aggressively complicated process of choosing somewhere to eat.

A reading can still create an opening for conversation. A card about change might prompt you to talk about what marriage means to each of you. A question about your future could reveal assumptions you have never discussed. Try treating the reading as a prompt rather than a prophecy. You can explore psychic readings for love and relationships online, visit a local reader together or book one as part of a pre-wedding celebration. Agree beforehand on the kind of experience you want. Are you looking for something reflective, spiritual, theatrical or purely entertaining? Establishing that makes it much less likely that one person will arrive ready to commune with their ancestors while the other spends the session trying not to laugh.

You also have full permission to keep your reading private. Your relationship does not become group entertainment simply because you are getting married. A psychic at a hen party may be great fun when everyone is asking whether they’ll have a holiday romance. It can get uncomfortable when somebody starts discussing infidelity, fertility, death or trauma in front of twelve people and someone’s mum.

Choose your reader carefully. Look for someone who explains their approach, respects boundaries and avoids presenting frightening statements as unavoidable facts. Be wary of anyone who claims you are cursed, insists your relationship is doomed or pressures you into paying for additional sessions to prevent a disaster. Fear is a powerful sales technique and it has no place in a responsible reading.

A good practitioner should also understand the limits of their role. Psychic guidance cannot replace couples counselling, financial advice, medical care or support relating to abuse. If something serious is happening in your relationship, speak to somebody qualified to help.

You can also ask questions that encourage reflection rather than demanding a verdict from the universe. “Are we meant to be together?” hands over all your agency. “What should we communicate about before getting married?” gives you something useful to discuss. Ask about strengths, recurring patterns, shared goals or the energy surrounding this next stage of your lives. Leave space for interpretation without treating every sentence as legally binding correspondence from the cosmos.

So, should you get a psychic love reading before your wedding? Go for it if the experience feels interesting, meaningful or entertaining to you. Let it spark conversations, enjoy the drama of the cards and ask lots of questions. Enjoy!

Brandea and Dawson looked to old Las Vegas, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, rodeo culture and the rhinestone-heavy work of American tailor Nudie Cohn as inspiration for their wedding. They booked two iconic venues to host the day – the Little White Wedding Chapel for the ceremony and the Golden Steer for dinner. “We really just wanted to lean into the magic of old Las Vegas,” said the bride. “A little Elvis, a little Frank Sinatra, some rodeo, and a lot of sparkle.”

The celebrations started with a casual welcome party in Brandea and Dawson’s suite at the Bellagio. Around 30 friends and family joined them in Vegas, so the drinks offered everyone a chance to settle in without a packed itinerary. “We didn’t feel the need to over plan or orchestrate the weekend, it truly felt as if we were hosting an intimate cocktail party at home the whole time,” they said.

The couple chose the Amore Chapel at the Little White Wedding Chapel where Elvis was waiting to make things official. The ceremony was short, joyful and intentionally silly. He performed Can’t Help Falling in Love and Viva Las Vegas, although his tribute-act polish briefly faltered when he needed to check the lyrics on his phone! “I really didn’t think that I would be nervous on the day of, but I think those butterflies catch up to you no matter what”, Brandea admitted. “Elvis having to consult his phone for assistance with song lyrics certainly lightened the mood.”

After the ceremony, the newlyweds and their guests boarded a party bus to Fremont Street. Brandea changed into a feathered, crystal-covered mini dress with matching boots, while Dawson swapped his wedding suit for Wranglers and a cowboy hat. They drank, explored Old Vegas and took portraits beneath its neon signs.

The wedding finished in the Armoury Room at the Golden Steer, a Las Vegas steakhouse which has served diners since 1958. Brandea and Dawson chose a plated, multi-course meal with cocktails and wine pairings. Dinner was the largest expense of the wedding and the part they were happiest to prioritise. “During wedding planning I told Dawson that all I wanted for our reception was an intimate dinner with our nearest and dearest. The Golden Steer was the perfect venue for that, and the perfect end to our day.” They didn’t need to add extra décor, but their florist did add red centrepieces to the long table to match the wedding’s colour scheme.

A guest list of only 30 allowed Brandea and Dawson to spend proper time with everyone. “We let go of almost all the traditional ceremony and focused on what was most important to us. Meaningful time and connection with our friends and family, dirty martinis, and damn good food.”

“Just go for it!” Brandea advises. “It is beyond worth it to stay true to yourself and tailor the day to what is most important to you and your partner. It’s also not all or nothing, there is no reason why you can’t incorporate the traditions that matter and abandon the rest. There’s not a thing we’d change. Looking through the photos, you can feel the joy.”

Emma walked down the aisle to a piano cover of Welcome to the Black Parade. Later, she and Dylan entered their reception doing the dance moves to Rollin’ by Limp Bizkit. Somewhere between the two came Celtic handfasting, cowboy hat ring boxes, an oathing stone and some pissed off crows. It was exactly the wedding day they wanted.

The Irish couple met shortly after lockdown and moved to London together before getting engaged in Japan two years later. For their wedding at The Station House Hotel in Kilmessan, County Meath, they returned to Ireland with a plan keep it low-key, make it fun and fill it with music.

Pink and red was the overarching colour scheme. Emma had already dyed her hair pink and had always pictured herself wearing a pink wedding dress, while red-haired Dylan completed the accidental colour coordination. The couple added traditional tattoo motifs, retro typography and a hint of Vegas, then sent their guests Pinterest moodboards and asked them to dress for a rock ‘n’ roll wedding.

“We had a mix of inspirations, including simply the colour pink”, Emma said. “We skipped the white dress, but I was always planning on that – I look terrible in white! Getting my dress made was the best part of the planning. I tried to find what I wanted everywhere but my mum had heard about C&M Designs through her work. We went out there on a whim and Rebecca did such an amazing job, I could not have had a more perfect dress.”

Dylan designed the stationery and table decorations, including using a collection of old seven-inch records from her dad, who had passed away, as the table markers. The stickers were changed to represent a song they had seen performed live together with the date of the concert.

The couple handled much of the styling themselves, buying disco balls, candlesticks, fairy lights, sweet bowls and decorations. Emma’s mum created the flowers around peonies, Emma’s favourite, while a friend made their vintage heart-shaped cake. The venue’s team helped arrange the decorations and flowers on the morning of the wedding.

The ceremony took place in the venue’s forest area. Emma’s friend, Faolan, walked her down the aisle. The couple had shared their vows with each other in advance, but both still cried while saying them. Their celebrant, Trisha Bonham Corcoran, incorporated two Celtic traditions – a handfasting and an oathing stone for them to hold while making their commitment.

The woodland setting did come with an unexpected backing track. “The crows at our ceremony were so pissed off from the rain that you can hear their cawing in every video clip!” Emma laughed. “Dylan and I are getting crow tattoos on our anniversary in their honour!”

The couple didn’t have a live band, because they don’t personally enjoy them, Instead their friend DJ Coleen, who us a famous DJ in Ireland, provided the entertainment. Emma is also a DJ, so she took over for a 45-minute set.

Planning a less traditional wedding in Ireland required some compromises. Emma found that the available choices were narrower than those she had encountered in the UK, but thankfully their friends and families supported their ideas. “I don’t think Ireland is as well set up as the UK in terms of options for planning a less traditional wedding, which can honestly make things harder”, she admitted. “We ended up being fine, but it did make things a bit challenging.”

However, as they did so much themselves, they were able to design their wedding to be exactly how they wanted. They had a great experience with all their vendors but do have a few comments about the wedding industry in general. “I wish we could give up the idea that everything should be ‘perfect’. No one’s wedding is perfect but we all try to project this completely serene perfection. I want more people to be open about the funny little things that go wrong so we can all take a deep breath and remove so much pressure from ourselves. There is so much pressure on particularly women, to have this insane, perfect, editorial day. Let’s just throw that out the window and talk about the fact that the crows at our ceremony were so pissed off from the rain that you can hear their cawing in every video clip!”