Just a couple of weeks ago, Stacey Solomon said "I Do" to her fiancé Joe Swash, 40, at a stunning ceremony at their family home in Essex. But when you’re one of the most famous influencers and celebrities in the country, how do you go about choosing the perfect wedding dress?
Stacey, 32, wowed us when she posted the snaps from her special day, showing off her princess-inspired gown – so we decided to track down the people who worked with Stacey on her dream dress.
Marie Therese Hickey is the owner of Verona Bridal which supplied the Loose Women star’s spectacular sparkling gown, and she let us in on why Stacey was the most special bride they’d ever catered for.
"We fell in love with Stacey as a young girl on The X Factor stage singing in front of Simon Cowell," Marie Therese laughs during our exclusive chat. "And Joe has appeared on our screens as a regular pin-up boy for years. They’re a perfect match – two of the nation’s sweethearts falling in love with each other – you couldn’t write it."
She continued, "When Stacey first reached out to us, we were blown away. It’s a bridal shop’s dream!"
Marie Therese – who has also dressed previous celebrity brides such as Made In Chelsea’s Nicola Hughes, Irish influencer Suzanne Jackson O’Connor and model Maeve Madden – recalls Stacey phoning her Magherafelt store in Northern Ireland and telling the stylists that she’d already fallen in love with dresses crafted by the designer Berta, but as they were one of the only two stores in the UK that held that particular range, she needed their help.
"We were never going to say no!" Marie Therese beams. "Although she didn’t have a particular style of dress in mind, she adored Berta’s Muse line, so we quickly jumped onto a Zoom to show her everything we had in store from that collection, as well as a couple of 'wild card' options – to save her potentially wasting a trip all the way over here.
"During the call, Stacey pointed out a couple that she could envisage wearing, but one in particular stood out to her… the Jessica dress in the line – a stunning A-line, waist-high, corset-style, marble-design tulle gown."
Due to Stacey’s busy schedule at the time – with hosting duties on MasterChef, Sort Your Life Out and Loose Women – Marie Therese and her stylists, Helene and Maria, flew to England to show Stacey the collection in person.
"We thought the bride would feel more relaxed in her own beautiful home, in her big bright bedroom," she explains. "And she was over the moon!"
Mum-of-four Stacey – who has Zachary, 14, and Leighton, 10, from a previous relationship, and Rex, three, and Rose, 10 months, with Joe – updated her 5.3 million Instagram followers in April that she’d finally selected her dream wedding dress that day.
She wrote, "I never want to forget this feeling. I’ve been putting it off I think because the more I got excited about it the more silly I felt for some reason. I wouldn’t have done life any other way EVER. I’m so grateful for how it turned out and I genuinely believe everything happens for a reason."
Reminiscing about her team’s first fitting with the buzzing bride-to-be, Marie Therese recalls, "Stacey told us she’d never felt before how she felt when wearing that Jessica dress, she was just overcome with emotion. There were tears. Her sister Jemma came over to visit during the fitting, which was really lovely, and baby Rose was there too.
"My girls really bonded with the Solomon sisters in that intimate environment. You need a bride to trust you with something as important as their wedding day, so it was amazing that our team really connected with them both. It was a complete dream. Stacey kept saying that she couldn’t wait for Joe and her little ones to see her in that beautiful gown."
The bridal boutique owner also revealed that the team customised a stunning headpiece to perfectly go with the champagne and golden colours of her gown.
"We wanted to get it to perfectly complement her sparkling dress so that everything would tie in," Marie Therese explains. "Her dress also had this gorgeous 3D applique floral design on it, so she adored this ivy 3D floral headpiece that we brought over too, and we added some custom gold leaves to it just to bring in a bit more of Stacey’s charming Pickle Cottage personality."
Before the first consultation, the future Mrs Solomon-Swash had told the bridal team that she didn’t want a long train on her dress.
"She wanted to be able to move and dance and didn’t want to bother anyone with holding it up all day. And she didn’t want to trip up baby Rose!"
Marie Therese adds, "As for the shoes, she opted for a pair of Jimmy Choo flats as she didn’t want to sink into her garden in heels. And with the jewellery, we advised her not to go for too much as the dress itself had so much beautiful detail, so we didn’t want it to take away from that."
During one of her final fittings with Verona Bridal’s seamstresses, Stacey decided to change her princess-style dress ever so slightly by adding a pair of delicate tulle off-the-shoulder straps.
"Throughout each visit, we couldn’t believe what a calm bride Stacey was being!" Marie Therese remembers. "There were no worries or cares, just more excitement at the prospect of marrying the love of her life. She always welcomed us with open arms and a cup of tea, and our girls found themselves being more excited to see Stacey again with every visit."
Marie Therese and her team were honoured with an invite to Stacey and Joe’s big day itself. "It was so beautiful to see her children’s faces when she first walked down the aisle. The set up of the day was just a magical wonderland. Stacey has such a knack for making everything she touches so beautiful, and her home is no exception."
Stacey and former EastEnders star Joe officially tied the knot on Sunday 24 July, with Stacey later sharing photos of the happy couple on their special day on her Instagram account. Alongside a gorgeous snap of the pair walking down the aisle, Stacey wrote, "Forever. Me and my husband. I don’t think I will ever get used to saying that. It all feels like a dream."
"So many people have asked us whether Stacey had a second dress designed for the evening," Marie Therese laughs. "But actually, the dress she chose was able to have such a classic, subtle appearance for the ceremony, but in the evening, it just lit up. The sparkles caused a Cinderella moment, it was such a magical transformation."
The boutique owner continues, "We’ve never experienced anything as magical as dressing Stacey Solomon for her fairy-tale wedding, it was a genuine honour. We’ll never have a bride like her, it was such a special occasion for us.
"It’s been a two-month dream that I still haven’t woken up from. My girls are still buzzing – they can’t believe they got to make such an impact on Stacey’s big day. We’re lucky enough to call her a friend now."
Marie Therese Hickey, is the owner of Verona Bridal, Magherafelt.
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