From the moment a person announces their engagement, life becomes a matter of questions, choices, decisions: the bridesmaids, the venue, the cake, the flowers. Chief among them, though, is the wedding dress, which must (and no pressure here) serve as both the apex of a bride’s personal style, while simultaneously transforming them into an unrecognizably Botticellian, princess-at-her-peak vision. Little wonder, then, that the process of finding the right dress can be just as tiring as finding the right spouse.
“The truth is, however ballsy you may be, there is something about a wedding dress—this mythical concoction of tulle and taffeta that’s supposed to encompass the essence of your style while also making you look like your very best self—that is quite simply crippling,” said the fashion journalist Katherine Ormerod, who memorably tried on 120 dresses before marrying in 2024, adding, “even for a woman like me, who has likely worn more dresses than you’ve had hot dinners.” But where better to seek counsel than from Ormerod and her peers? Here, eight fashion brides on the wedding dresses they wore in 2025.
Eniola Dare
Photo: Paulina Bruni
Photo: Paulina Bruni
Fashion editor Eniola Dare hosted back-to-back celebrations for her wedding weekend at Casterton Grange in Cumbria. For the first traditional Nigerian ceremony, she opted for a sculpted, chocolate-brown dress created in collaboration between Couture by Tabik and Woven Market Africa. For the second Western ceremony, she chose a sinuously beaded jersey gown by Standing Ground. “I messaged [designer Michael Stewart] in January 2024, and he replied within minutes,” says the stylist, adding that the starting point for the design was look 11 from the brand’s spring 2025 collection, and that she didn’t try on the garment until about a month before the wedding. “I just trusted him; I love his vision, I love what he does,” she says. “It fit like a glove.”
Jodie Hill
Photo: Jaime Lopez Cano