Bridal Trousseau...

I had never heard of this until flicking through a recent American bridal magazine, and well any excuse to gather more clothing is always welcome. So, what is a Trousseau. Traditionally, it was a kind of dowry or 'the clothes, linen, etc., collected by a bride for her marriage'. Now, dowry I think of Mary Kate Danaher wrestling John Wayne in the Parlour, but that's not it. Young girls would sew away in the years before their marriage to gather together the clothing & linens they would take with them to their new marital home. The word Trousseau comes from the French (you know they have to be involved when there is something chic mentioned) 'a little bundle'. Now...girls if you had to up and pack and over to the grooms house would it be a little bundle…eh no! So, I had seen a beautiful photo of a Trousseau (now...if I could find it) and it was made up of mostly silk lingerie, night slips and nightwear...that I could see as a 'little bundle'. So I think you could consider your bridal underwear and honey-a-moon (as Nanny Sally likes to call it) your Trousseau. And here we begin. A lot of thought is put into bridal underwear, luxury, attractiveness, fit, comfort and of course invisible under wedding gown. So far I don't know of too many modern brides whose grooms have actually seen all of this effort. I know of one bride who had to sleep in her dress because she cried too much thinking of taking it off, and one bride who's groom was too tipsy to undo the tiny buttons (I recommend going for buttons with a concealed zip!) and she had to knock a few hotel rooms to get a wedding guest to help her. One item I would recommend is the Wonderbra Ultimate Strapless, available in nude and nude lace, it has metal hands inside that literally support you as if you were holding them up and in yourself. Available at House of Fraser, Next and Online. Recommended by a bride who married last year,  I have since tried and tested it on a few dance floors and it doesn't move...it is hands ‘up’ the best strapless bra I've tried. Then, for sheer luxury there is the Agent Provocateur Bridal Range....just beautiful! If you can’t stretch to the whole range, even just the garter is stunning (be careful though with any slimmer silhouettes as it will probably show through).