BBC Surrey radio interview – What’s your story? – RELOVABLE

Yesterday, I spent my lunchtime on air at the BBC Surrey and Sussex studio as a radio guest, talking to Sarah Worrell about what to do with your old wedding dress.

You can listen to the interview on BBC Sounds HERE.

All morning, people had been calling in, sharing their stories about what they did with their gown. Some kept them carefully wrapped in tissue for their future daughter or daughter-in-law to wear. Some donated them to charity. And some repurposed them into meaningful items they could re-use.

The topic was popular and there was no shortage of people wanting to share their stories. Having an excuse to do so seemed to spark something beautiful in the middle of a work day, when most of us find ourselves in a very different setting to the one in which we wore a wedding dress.

As I showed Sarah some of the pieces that featured in my book, Relovable, pieces that had been made out of old wedding dresses, like a beautiful jacket, handmade soft toys, knitting, lingerie and even Christmas baubles, we talked about the importance of reviving a link to our own personal history. When the news around us across the world is so frightening, it seems all the more important to celebrate anything that makes us feel loved, secure and confident. An old wedding dress can do this for you.

Revisiting an old gown – even if it’s screwed up in a bin liner in the loft somewhere, is a link to a time in your life when you were full of hope, and had just been paid the ultimate compliment of someone demonstrating that you are so special, so unique and so important, that they want to spend the rest of their lives with you.

Whatever you did with your dress, why not share your story in a comment below? Take a moment to re-live how you felt when you wore it – there’s no pressure to do anything with it if you don’t want to. The benefit of nostalgia is well-documented, and with an estimated 10 million of us, just in the UK, with old bridal gowns tucked away in the loft, we may as well use the chance of wallowing in happy moments in our lives, and bringing that bridal mindset back into our lives, remembering the loved ones who surrounded us on that day.

Plus, if you share your story, you’ll be inspiring someone else to do the same. These stories connect us. And if ever there was a time when we need to be connected, it is now.

You’ll find more about this in my book which you can buy HERE. It makes a perfect gift for a bride-to-be, or as a Christmas gift for anyone who loves sewing, upcycling and wedding dresses. Use discount code SURREY at checkout to get the book for £39.50 instead of the £55 RRP and receive  free P&P.