Wedding Dress Shopping In Newcastle: The Best Bridal Boutiques

With our wedding date finally confirmed and the 12 month countdown fast approaching, I took advantage of the fact that my mum was visiting us in North East England to book a day of appointments at bridal boutiques in Newcastle city centre. As with most big purchasing decisions I have to make (lol I never buy anything expensive), I asked for advice on Instagram before I booked anything. The recommendations were unanimous: there are three great places to get your wedding dress in Newcastle. Armed with these recommendations, I scheduled appointments at all three bridal boutiques on the same day, with a break for lunch. Does shopping make anybody else STARVING?

I thought I’d share a little review of all the wedding dress shops we visited in case any other future brides are looking for a wedding dress in Newcastle and aren’t sure where to shop. Hope you enjoy it!

The Best Wedding Dress Shops In Newcastle: My Reviews

Accent Original

3 Mosley Street

This antique-style boutique was the first bridal shop we visited on our big day of wedding dress shopping in Newcastle. It’s a small boutique and one wall is lined with gowns. The lady who helped us was so friendly and knowledgeable, she made the start of my hunt for the perfect wedding dress extra exciting. She was full of tips about things I would never have even considered, like the type of shoe I’d need to avoid if I chose a certain style of dress. We had the place to ourselves, which was lovely.

The gowns at Accent Original are hung in no particular order so it was a good shop to start in because I was able to just pull out whatever caught my eye, rather than sticking to a section with the style I liked. This meant I tried on dresses I probably wouldn’t have considered otherwise, which was actually very useful – and lots of fun!

I tried on seven dresses in this shop and could easily have fitted a few more into my hour and a half long appointment. I left with a clear favourite, but was keen to try more dresses on to make sure I got exactly what I wanted.

Mia Sposa 

Blindfold Square

A little bit of a trek from Newcastle city centre if you’re on foot, Mia Sposa was the largest bridal shop we visited. It’s an impressive shop, with multiple floors and a huge dressing area at the back. Our assistant Claire was very helpful and professional.

Mia Sposa stocks Justin Alexander, Pronovias, Lillian West, Mark Lesley, Callista Bride and Martina Liana dresses. There was another appointment taking place in the fitting area, which is set up to accommodate two people at a time. It didn’t bother me at all but I know some people might prefer to have a private appointment.

The gowns at Mia Sposa are organised by designer, which is helpful if you’ve done a lot of research and know which designs you like best. We picked out four dresses to try on and then based on my comments once I had seen the dresses on, the assistant brought a few more dresses in for me to try. I fell in love with one dress in this shop but don’t think it will be the dress as it’s a lot more expensive than I was expecting it to be!

Y.A.P Bridal

St Marys Place

The acronym on this Newcastle bridal boutique’s sign stands for ‘You Are Precious’, the favoured sign-off in the owner Jo’s late parents’ love letters to one another. It’s a lovely sentiment!

Y.A.P has won loads of awards and is one of the top five bridal boutiques in the country. I must say, they really do make each bride feel precious. I arrived a little tired out after traipsing around Newcastle for a full day of dress try-ons, but was immediately put at ease by the beautiful pink and white interior design, the fresh lilies on the coffee table in the waiting room and the lovely Brogan’s welcoming manner.

Brogan sat with mum and I for a little consultation where she asked questions about my wedding, the style of dress I was looking for etc. She then immediately pulled two gowns she thought would be perfect for me based on my answers. Each gown, (referred to as ‘she’) was absolutely beautiful. Brogan even made getting into the dresses really easy, by creating a ‘tunnel’ for me to step into. The Y.A.P ‘fitting room’ (it’s more a curtained-off section than a room) itself is really spacious, much bigger than the fitting areas in the other two shops.

All in all, I think Y.A.P is the best wedding dress shop I’ve visited in Newcastle so far – though the other two were lovely! If you’re looking for a really special experience, you can even hire the boutique for two hours and invite five of your friends and family for a little try-on session with champagne and music. It comes at a cost (£150) but it would definitely be a memorable evening!

The search continues

I’m currently torn between a few different dresses so I may expand my search to the wider North East region, and I’ll probably return to two of the above shops to try my favourite dresses on again. I don’t really enjoy the practical tasks involved with planning a destination wedding (finding our wedding venue in Italy was a nightmare and then we had some problems with the wedding planner not doing their job properly), but I’m  REALLY enjoying dress shopping. I’m going to take my time because I’m told most orders take six months to arrive, so that gives me a few months before I really need to choose my dress. 

Trying on wedding dresses – even the ones you’d NEVER get married in, is a real dream and I’m going to relish every beautiful gown I get to wear, even if it’s only for a few minutes. It’s so interesting to see which dresses actually look good on me and which I’m drawn to. I’ve heard most brides end up choosing a completely different dress from what they had in their head, and it remains to be seen whether I’ll be one of those brides.

I have to say though, that stepping back into your jeans and trainers after swishing around in all those dreamy white dresses is a bit of a comedown. Normal clothes are so boring!

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