Brides get designer maternity dresses - The Telegraph

Asking "Does my tum look big in this?" is proving an unexpected success for retailer Natalie Gladman, whose formal and bridal wear firm is bucking the doom and gloom on the high street with a little help from Mother Nature.

Sales of her designer maternity wedding dresses have rocketed 107pc in the past year and she has smashed her weekly sales records three times in the past five weeks.

Ms Gladman puts her good fortune down to a growing awareness among brides-and-mothers-to-be that designer maternity wedding dresses exist, rather than an sudden surge in the size of her target market.

"There's a huge gap in the market for maternity bridal wear," she says. "Finally it's not being brushed under the carpet any more. These people are pregnant and they are getting married. It's a double celebration. Why shouldn't they look lovely on their wedding day?"

Ms Gladman launched the firm in 2002 after failing to find a formal dress to hire when she was heavily pregnant while working for a software company.

The Glasgow-born entrepreneur expanded her range from formal wear hire and purchase to bridal wear, and now also sells her own Madeline Isaac-James bridal designer collection wholesale to retailers across the country.

She has also opened a shop in Farnborough, Hampshire, called 'Does my tum look big in this?'. She says: "It does make people smile."