Real bride story: Dana Boyle

This stunning bride finds all her wishes in our unique Adrianna gown from the Florence Collection. Being a bride is full of exciting moments and joyful memories! Dana Boyle shares her perfect wedding experience with us.

Here before you is her lovely real bride story, with all the details about her gorgeous sunny Italy wedding & her dream dress! 

Where/how did you discover Riki Dalal?

I knew I wanted a dress that wasn’t generic and found all my local wedding dress shops stocked the same style I’d seen a million times before and all the dresses I found in Pinterest or Instagram were more unique and modern but also weren’t available in the UK. I then came across Riki Dalal on Instagram and the Adrianna dress was exactly what I had been searching for, gorgeous lace that was modern and different and didn’t look like net curtains or a table cloth, it had the low back I was wanting and also the plunge front making the dress bit feel old and frumpy, I obviously wanted to look classy on my wedding day but I also wanted to feel a little sexy in my dress. Everything the dress had matched my perfect dress in my mind. I print screened the dress so many times and nothing else was coming close so I knew we had to make an appointment and come to London. I had already been to 26 dress shops and tried on over a hundred dressed but nothing gave me that feeling and there was always a “it’s nice but…” my poor mum had been to every shop with me. 

How was your experience in the Boutique?

We had the place to ourselves which was lovely, and all the girls were so friendly we were handed a glass of bubbly on arrival and there was sweets and biscuits all out on the coffee table. I tried on a few dresses before Adrianna, keeping the best for last, but I knew she was the one before even trying her on. 

What made you choose the dress you chose and what was your favorite thing about the dress?

My specifications for my dress were quite specific which I think was why my search was so long before I found Riki Dalal, I wanted: 
•  Modern lace with vine and 3D flowers 
•  Fitted but flowing I didn’t want a stiff-looking fishtail 
•  Low back but with detail 
•  Spaghetti straps (so many dresses had wide chunky straps making me frumpy)
•  Some sort of train 
•  Plunge front 
Adrianna had them all it’s like I designed her myself. It’s hard to choose my favorite thing about the dress but I’d say the lace is just gorgeous. 

How did you feel when you first tried on the dress and how did you know it was the right one for you?

I’d tried so so many dresses I’d lost the excitement for it and it had become a chore and I was rapidly running out of time which was adding the pressure so when I tried the dress on I was a little nervous as it was everything I wanted but I’d never tried every requirement on all together what if I didn’t actually like what I thought I wanted but as soon as I saw myself I knew this was “the one”. Me and my mum had a little cry it was a mix of emotions joy was definitely one but also relief that I had FINALLY found my dress. 127 dresses in total I tried on. 

Tell us all about your wedding day!

My husband Luke and I had decided we wanted an abroad wedding, I knew I always wanted to get married outside and ideally we wanted sunshine so we chose Sorrento Italy, it’s a gorgeous place with amazing food and amazing views it was perfect. We wanted it to be a relaxed day with immediate family and close friends. 
We arrived in Sorrento 3 days before the wedding with friends and family arriving shortly after. The night before the wedding we had a pre-wedding dinner at the foreigners and that’s where I said goodbye to my fiancé and spent my last night a Miss with my 3 bridesmaids and my mum in the bridal suite of villa silvana. 
I don’t think I slept that night just of pure excitement. The morning came and I felt no nerves I was just so excited. When it was time to get on my dress, time seemed to fly by that’s when the nerves kicked in everything was going 100 miles an hour and reality hit. When my dad first saw me in my dress he broke down in tears it was so emotional but such a lovely moment that I will treasure forever. Our wedding ceremony took place at the Chiostro San Francesco Sorrento a gorgeous outdoor 14th Century monastery courtyard in the middle of Sorrento town we had 26 of our closest friends and family we got married at 1 o’clock 26.06.2019. We headed off into the town for our wedding photos with our amazing photographer and videographer Lu & Ben (the Mchendrys), walking around the cobbled streets full of tourists and locals congratulating you and waving was wonderful. Our guests went on to the villa where a champagne reception and canapes. We hired villa Silvana for our reception and for immediate family and us to stay. The villa’s grounds are stunning and the fresh Modern Decor was exactly what we wanted. The views from the villa were amazing there was a panoramic view of the Bay of Naples with Mount Vesuvius in the distance. The atmosphere was chilled and relaxed just as we wanted, having a smaller wedding party meant we got to spend plenty of time with all our guests. The party kicked of just after the sunset and our first dance. We partied well into the night and I believe the last guest left about 3 am. The day was just perfect!

Beautiful Dana wore our unique Adriana gown from the Florence Collection. Adriana is a 3D floral applique mermaid dress with an open back, plunging neckline, and a gorgeous train. 
Get a glimpse of the magical Florence collection here.