Forget tradition, grooms help choose the dress

Grooms are now more likely to help their brides pick out their wedding dress. Photo / iStock

Tradition has it that brides should keep their wedding dress a secret from their groom before they walk down the aisle, for fear of bad luck.

But increasing numbers of women are ditching the superstition and bringing their fiances with them when they go to choose a gown.

Boutiques say brides want to know their other half loves their dress before the wedding.

Sue Lovell, who owns Savvy Cinderella in March, Cambridgeshire, said: "It has become increasingly common over the last 18 months to two years. I think people aren't as superstitious as they used to be."

She added that for a bride the groom is "the one person they can trust to give them a completely honest opinion".

Sophie Vickers, a sales assistant at the Bridal Factory Outlet in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, said around one in 15 of their brides now bring their fiances with them. "Grooms are very involved now. It's a modern thing," she said, adding: "They will go round the rails and choose the dresses.

"They tend to like the fitted dresses that show their bride's bust and bottom off."

Gordon Symonds, spokesman for the British Bridal Retailers Association, said its members had reported a "noticeable trend" in brides shopping for gowns accompanied by their fiances.

Couples were increasingly abandoning traditions and opting for "alternative", less formal weddings, he said.