IT WAS a dream come true for three lucky brides when they each won a stunning gown in our wedding dress competition.

Two months ago the Daily Echo teamed up with Bournemouth's new bridal boutique, Tiaras and Dreams, to give away a £2,000 wedding dress.

Readers were invited to write in and explain why they deserved the prize of a dream gown, chosen from the designer collection at Tiaras and Dreams in Christchurch Road, Boscombe.

Shop owner Lesley Salmawy was so touched by some of the readers' pleas that she found it impossible just to pick one overall winner.

So she decided to give the £2,000 dress to one bride-to-be, and chose two runners-up who can take their pick of gowns from the boutique's sale stock.

The winner of the main prize is Natalie Baseley from Verwood, who was nominated by her future mother-in-law for being "a lovely, unselfish girl" who has "welcomed my grandchildren into her life, supported my son's voluntary activities and has two jobs to help out financially".

Natalie, 23, who is marrying 33-year-old Alex Baker in August next year, said: "I didn't know Alex's mum had entered me for the competition so when I found out I'd won I was shocked and surprised in an amazingly good way.

"Alex has children from his previous relationship so the wedding is going to be fairly costly with all the outfits, but this is going to help us unbelievably - it's fantastic."

The two runners-up were Olivia Hartnell from Wimborne, who is marrying Andrew Parkins from Poole next May, and Clare Shervington, 24, who is marrying 23-year-old Andy Lord in August next year.

Olivia, 25, said: "I wrote in saying that my daddy wants me to look like a princess but doesn't have the wallet of a king. I filled out the application and then forgot about it completely, so it was a total shock when I found out I was a runner-up.

"It's brilliant and my dad is really excited. I've only been shopping for a wedding dress twice before and now I've put in an order."

Clare was put forward for the prize by Andy's parents, who want to help the couple with their wedding arrangements but can't afford much.

Clare, who lives in Farnborough and met Andy while they were both working at a children's holiday camp in Devon, said: "Andy's mum wrote in and I didn't know what she'd said.

"I'm really thrilled because this will help a lot with the cost of the wedding."

First published: May 21