20 of the gowns stolen during the break-in were couture dresses designed and created in-house by the owner, Patricia Onions. The owner of Patricia Couture revealed it would take her years to build up her bespoke collection again and is pleading with the people who stole the irreplaceable gowns, which have starting prices from £2,000 each, to return these dresses.

The other 20 dresses which were stolen after robbers smashed the front doors of the boutique were shop samples used for brides-to-be to try on. There dresses ranged in price from £1,000 each and Mrs Onions says these can be re-ordered, although the dresses will take 20 weeks to be delivered which she fears will have a detrimental effect on her business.

Luckily for brides who had ordered dresses from Patricia Couture for upcoming weddings, the gowns which the designer was currently working on were kept in another secure storage area and were not tampered with by the thieves.

The cost of the raid at the bridal boutique is expected to be many thousands of pounds, and police are calling for anyone with information with regards to the break in on Tuesday to get in touch.

Designed by David Emmanuel who was especially commissioned by Diana to create her royal wedding gown, the replica dress was never called into use on the actual wedding day itself, however it was seen by thousands when the dress was used on a waxwork model at Madame Tussauds for a special royal wedding display.

The ivory taffeta dress was sold by Madame Tussauds several years ago to an American collector who kept the dress in a private collection until its sale this week. The iconic gown sold for £48,000 yesterday with a fashion museum in Chile reportedly winning the bid.

The ivory slippers were designed to be an exact copy of Diana’s wedding shoes so that either the left or right shoe could be replaced with one of the replicas should either of the slippers had been damaged or stained during the wedding day.

The replica shoes were never actually paid for by Princess Diana’s mother, Frances Shand-Kidd, as she was unhappy with the final bill. The size 6.5 slippers, which feature the letters C and D on the soles, remained the property of the designer Clive Shilton, until this week when they sold for £36,000 at auction.

The wedding between Beyonce and rapper Jay Z was shrouded in so much secrecy that the newlyweds wouldn’t even confirm the wedding had even taken place until many months after the nuptials. The pair reportedly tied the knot in New York in 2008, holding the reception in a marquee at Jay Z’s Tribeca penthouse, decorating the space with 60,000 white orchids flown in from Thailand at a cost of $500,000.

No details have ever been released regarding what the bride wore, that is until this week when the footage was seen on as part of a video montage of important moments in the 30-year-old’s life which is released as her latest music video, I Was Here.

The former Destiny’s Child singer is seen grinning as she’s helped into her white strapless wedding dress. The dress features a plunging neckline and cascading train falling in deep folds flowing out behind the bride-to-be whose hair is scraped back and isn’t wearing even a scrap of makeup. Beyonce’s mother, Tine Knowles, was believed to have made the wedding dress for her daughter.

The brief clip of Beyonce in her wedding dress is seen as part of a collection of home movies featuring pivotal moments in the 30-year-old’s life including her performance at Glastonbury, footage from her time with Destiny’s Child and also the moment she announced her pregnancy this year. The video montage will be feature on Beyonce’s new DVD, Live at Roseland Elements.

Two of the Vera Wang designed wedding gowns worn by Kim Kardashian for her California wedding to Kris on August 20^th will be reproduced as affordable gowns for brides-to-be in the US, with the budget versions due to go on sale in January 2012 through David’s Bridal White by Vera Wang Collection.

However, there’s been speculation that the line maybe not sell as well as had been anticipated in the wake of the marriage break-up news as future brides may be wary of walking down the aisle in a dress which is associated with a marriage which ended in a speedy divorce.

4 million viewers tuned into Kim’s reality TV show which aired the fairytale wedding in all its glory. However fewer brides might be looking to snap up the $1,500 replica Kardashian dress now the marriage has soured so quickly.

However the official line from the wedding designer is that the gowns due to be launched early next year will have taken their inspiration from Kim’s gown, although they will be beautiful wedding dresses in their own right and likely to be appeal to brides despite its association with the ill fated marriage.

The bridal gowns will be put under the hammer along with almost 400 dresses, also shoes, handbags and other accessories owned and worn by the double Academy Award winner. The auction of items belonging to Taylor, who died in March at the age of 79, will take place at Christie’s in New York on December 14^th and 15^th.

Many of the items being sold are couture and were custom made for the Cleopatra star by top name designers such as Versace, Chanel and Christian Dior.

The highlight of the auction is likely to be the wedding dress Elizabeth Taylor wore the first time she married Richard Burton in 1964. The pair remained together for 10 years, divorcing in 1974, only to remarry the following year. The second time round the marriage only lasted 11 months, after which the couple split for good.

Both of the wedding dresses will go up for auction, with the gown from the 1964 wedding to Burton expected to fetch between $40,000 and $60,000. A ruby and diamond necklace designed by the actress herself and featuring a 16^th century pearl said to have been once owned by a member of the Spanish royal family is expected to generate a lot of interest with an anticipated selling price of between $2-3 million.

The 51-year-old tied the knot with Steve Craig for the second time and chose to wear the same long sleeved lace gown as she wore on their wedding day back 1981. The couple were originally married for 3 years and had a son together, Stephen, who the pair say was instrumental in getting them back together again after almost 3 decades apart.

Although the singer and actress had ordered a new dress for the nuptials, after trying on the gown ahead of the big day, Marie admitted the new wedding dress didn’t “feel right”. With 5 days to go until the big day, and no dress, Marie happened to stumble across her original Ret Turner wedding gown from the first wedding, and everything fell into place.

The wedding was Marie’s third as she’s was previously married to Brian Blosil for 20 years.

The couple exchanged vows for the second time in a ceremony in Las Vegas. The pair chose to marry on the birthday of Marie’s son, Michael, who tragically took his own life last year.

The Las Vegas wedding was a small affair, with just a handful of friends and family invited including the couple’s son, and also Marie’s brother, Donny Osmond.

The bride and groom were travelling in a vintage blue Chevrolet wedding car on the way to their reception venue after exchanging their vows and having their wedding snaps taken when the vehicle suddenly burst into flames.

With events unfolding so quickly, 27-year-old groom Nathan jumped out of the car as the rear of the vehicle was ablaze as a result of a suspected fuel leak. However, weighed down by her lavish princess style dress, bride Stephanie became trapped in the car, with her wedding dress and hair both alight as the fire spread to the back seat.

Seeing his new wife was stuck in the back seat of the burning wedding car, Nathan leapt to her aid, dragging her from the inferno. The force from which 23-year-old Stephanie fell from the car helped extinguish the flames which had caught fire on her dress, while Nathan helped put out the flames on the bride’s hair.

The wedding car hire chauffeur suffered severe burns and was taken to hospital, as was groom Nathan as he was found to be suffering from smoke inhalation.

Despite their ordeal, the newlyweds made it to their wedding reception for the speeches, and even managed a first dance, before heading to the hospital to be checked out.

After the couple’s wedding day turned into a nightmare, Nathan and Stephanie say they are still planning to jet off on honeymoon at the end of the month – let’s hope they have better luck.

Bride Helene Manca bought 18 dresses for her wedding day

For one bride from Surrey, one wedding dress really wasn’t enough as the 25-year-old ended up with a wardrobe stuffed full with 18 gowns by the time the big day arrived.

Helene Manca estimates she spent £20,000 on her selection of wedding gowns, the average amount most couples in the UK spend on the whole of their big day. However with a wardrobe bursting to the seams with lace and ivory taffeta, even shopaholic Helene had to admit, she had gone slightly over the top.

When the big day arrived, model Helene managed to choose just 9 out of the 18 dresses to wear throughout the big day. The blushing bride decided to change her dress at various intervals throughout the wedding day, wearing one dress for the ceremony, another for the photographs, etc.

The wedding dresses ranged in style and price with the most expensive designer gown costing an eye-watering £5,500, and the cheapest dress coming in at £220 from the sale at popular high street store, Monsoon. Helene paid for eight out of the nine dresses she wore on the big day herself, with her parents paying for the most expensive gown as a special gift.

Of the nine dresses Helene was unable to wear when she married her long-term partner, Joe Glass, one was returned to the shop, three were donated to charity, and five were sold on eBay.

The good news for wedding dress boutiques in Guildford area is that the 25-year-old is planning to renew her vows to her new husband next summer, and she’ll be buying 10 dresses especially for the occasion – we’re not even kidding!

Bruce Oldfield is the front runner to design Kate Middleton's wedding gown

There are strong indications that bride-to-be Kate Middleton has already selected her wedding dress designer after the bookies stopped taking bets after a surge of interest in one name in particular.

Since the news broke of the royal engagement between Prince William and Kate Middleton, bridal designers have been queuing up to give their opinion on what the 28-year-old should wear to walk down the aisle at Westminster Abbey on April 29^th.

However bookies suddenly stopped taking bets on who would design Kate’s dress after one designer’s name kept cropping up.

Bruce Oldfield started out as joint favourite by the bookies odds to create the dress for the royal wedding, but in the last few days, he’s become the 1/3 favourite, after a flurry of bets were place on him.

The bookmakers decided to stop taking bets as they feared a leak as many of the bets being placed were for £500 or more, suggesting that Bruce Oldfield may have privately been confirmed as Kate’s wedding dress designer.

Couture gowns from Bruce Oldfield start at £8,000 and the designer has a reputation for dressing high profile names having created the wedding gown for both Jemima Khan and Samantha Cameron, and his designs have also been worn by Sienna Miller, Rihanna and Jerry Hall.

The 60-year-old designer was also a favourite of the Prince’s late mother, Diana Princess of Wales, so his involvement in the big day would be especially fitting.

The bride has been left £800 out of pocket after the wedding dress shop went out of business

A bride-to-be from South Wales is now facing walking down the aisle without the dress of her dreams after the shop she bought her wedding gown from went bust.

Not only is Tracy Thomas from Newport having to cope with the stress of losing out on her ultimate wedding dress, the 42-year-old is also over £800 out of pocket after paying in full for her dress upon placing her order.

Tracy spent 6 months trawling bridal shops trying on numerous wedding gowns in a bid to find the perfect dress. And then she found it, in Always and Forever bridal boutique in Newport. Thrilled to have found exactly the right dress for her big day, Tracy ordered the gown and paid the full amount, £854 in cash.

However disaster struck when two weeks ago, Tracy discovered the bridal shop had gone bust and was no longer trading. Worse still, the order for the dress she was planning to wear for her wedding to fiancé Andrew Stephens in May next year, hadn’t even been placed by the shop or paid for.

Unfortunately there seems to be no way of Tracy getting her money back as she paid in cash. Had she have paid using a credit card, this may have offered a form of insurance.

Bride-to-be Tracy says she is “devastated” and fears she won’t be able to afford to pay out a second time for another wedding dress.

Tracy is now in contact with the wholesalers who sell her wedding dress and is discussing the possibly of buying the dress at cost price direct. But even at a heavily discounted rate, Tracy’s dream dress will still set her back at least £500, which she’s unsure she’ll be able to afford.