It has always struck me as such a waste that a bride only gets to wear her wedding dress once.

I adored my Pronovias wedding dress. Made from Chantilly lace and bought from Harrods (costing waaay more than my original budget allowed), I couldn’t wait to wear it and found it more than a little sad packing it away after my big day.

So, the prospect of wearing it again didn’t take much selling to me! Especially when I’d get some fabulous pictures, too… While my Be Beautiful Bridal Boudoir (www.bebeautiful-boudoir.co.uk) shoot took place a couple of years after my wedding, this is something that brides-to-be should totally think about booking when they’re in the wedding planning stage (or, if you’ve just got married, get booking now!).

Your boudoir shoot – in which I wore my wedding dress (yay), some wedding accessories and some of my honeymoon lingerie – lasts about two hours and takes place in the rooms at the Be Beautiful Health & Beauty Centre in Carshalton, Sutton.

You’re pampered by your own personal hair and make-up stylist, who will create the look you want for your shoot (I had my hair in an up-do for my wedding – it was lovely to see how I could have looked with my hair down).

Wedding photographer Sofie Hughes (www.sofiehughesphotography.com) takes your pictures and directs your shoot – and is brilliant at helping you to relax into the experience (because it’s not every day you have photos taken when you’re in your undies).

The experience is not only a great excuse to wear your wedding dress again, it’s also a brilliant way to get photos which you might not have had time for on your wedding day (there’s only so much time on the day, after all). Plus, they also offer party packages (erm, hen party idea anyone?).

And the photos make a brilliant present for your husband. Not that he’ll need any help remembering how fabulous his wife is, but still…

FIRST PUBLISHED AS A GUEST POST ON A REAL BRIDES’S GUIDE: http://www.arealbridesguide.co.uk/guest-blog-mrs-katy-pearson-enjoys-post-wedding-beautiful-boudoir-shoot-dress/