Even if we’ve already had a formal rehearsal, I always make a point of having a word with the bridal party in the half hour before the wedding. It’s a chance to settle last minute nerves, and most importantly give some advice about how to ‘negotiate the dress’.

At the rehearsal, brides are almost invariably wearing skinny jeans and sneakers, so walking down the aisle is easy. It’s only on the day that I get to see what she’s really going to wear and it’s the ideal time to talk about how best she should come down the aisle.

Like many brides, Carly had chosen a beautiful A-Line dress, with a fitted bodice and a skirt that flows to the ground. 

A lot of online advice about making your entrance suggests you ‘lock arms’ with your escort, but in an A-Line dress, that won’t work.

What’s actually going to happen is that at some point your escort is going to put his size twelve feet foot right onto your skirt – and that’s not a shot you want in your wedding album!

That’s why I usually suggest that for this style of dress, the bride holds her bouquet in one hand, and lays her other hand on top of her escort’s (in this case, Carly’s dad, Garo). 

That way, you have the freedom to move and you can be as close or as far away as sense and the skirt dictate. Even if it does make you look a bit like you’re on ‘Strictly’…

You can see more of Carly and her beautiful dress here: thanks again to Raymond Keith for these photos.