This bit was done months ago, but I want to show the whole process so into the blog it goes!
The first thing I did was to look through my pattern box to see what I could find with approximately the right shapes. I settled on Butterick 6583 for the top, which I made many moons ago and and which had a really nice fit, and has shoulders (although unfortunatly not sleeves). In fact, thats probably the first serious bit of dressmaking I did. The other pattern I used was Butterick 6533, which has the kind of shape to the skirt I nee to start with - straight at the front and slightly trained at the back. The fishtail shape will come from godets inserted into the side front and center back seams.
I traced out the pieces from each pattern and overlayed them, matching the waistlines marked on the patterns. There are 3 parts - front, side front and back. I combined the two back pieces of 6583 into one, and raised the necklines at both front and back - since I don't know yet where the neckline will be I'm starting as high as possible - you can always take off excess fabric but never add on fabric you haven't got!

Well, I visited Berwick street in London and was massively disappointed by it - after spending half an hour in the New York Fabric district last summer, London did not live up to my expectations with a small selection and astronomical prices! I saw a total of 2 white beaded laces, one for £250 per metre and one for £600 for 3 metres. So Naomi by Carrington it is - delivery times are 7 to 10 days so thats a brilliant news!
On the subject of silk, there was a good selection of colours available in the London fabric stores, but it was priced at £20/m for 60" wide (which is what I worked out my yardages for) compared to £15/m from silk baron (after adjusting for postage) so that going to be an internet purchase too.
I guess at least its all decided now!

So, some more on the search for lace. The picture to the left is of the inspiration dress - its lightly beaded and has a flower pattern, but the main thing is to have the right components - that is a scalloped border of a reasonable width (at least 6"), at least one type of free standing motif, and a symmetrical border of 2-3" in width.

For the benefit of anyone else searching for lace (and maybe my future benefit!) here are sources I've looked at:
Ebay.com seller bridal girl 55 has some lovely lace, but the one I really like isn't beaded (and john likes sparkle so I want beaded if I can get it!)
Ebay.com seller wowfabric4less123 has beaded lace in an interesting pattern in lots of colours - not quite my taste as the beading is a bit chunky, but if I was looking to make a evening gown rather than a wedding dress I might be back!
Harringtons has lots and lots of yummy laces, but nothing that fitted with the piecing I want to do - no prices on the website!
Bridallace.com is an american site, again with a lot of choice but nothing that works. Prices are not too bad but I find the layout of the site annoying.
Bridalfarics.co.uk has nice stuff too - I really like the look of olivia, which is a laser cut lace - very different from everything else I've looked at. It went off the short list when I realised I'd never find a border to match because it was so different. This one is trade only.

And finally, the pictures (massively colour altered so you can see the outlines over the glare) below are of a lace called 'Naomi' by Carrington (stockist Fabulous fabrics). I really like this and, since I can buy the border separately, works out to be reasonably priced. It has all the components I wanted, comes in white or ivory and in beaded and unbeaded varieties. The one thing I need to check is delivery times (once bitten, twice shy right?)

So the fabric samples came, but none of them were what I wanted - the two silk dupions were cream rather than white, and the duchesse satin, while it was white, didn't have the wow feeling of the expensive stuff. To be honest, the polyester version from fabric land feels much more luxurious, and if I was having a winter wedding I'd probably be buying that right now!
But I'm not, so the latest sample I've ordered is for 'arctic white' (sounds good) machine woven silk dupion from silk baron (a US seller) for $16 a meter. Fingers crossed its good and that the shipping doesn't make it more expensive than the hanssons stuff!

Anyway, the silk wasn't even meant to be the difficult bit of this fabric quest! The lace is the really tricky bit!
About a year ago when I was first thinking about making my own dress, I found what I think is my dream lace! Its from www.bridallace.com and I ordered a sample and its yummy! Unfortunately, back then they had it in stock in both white and ivory. Since then, they've run out of the white, and white I must have! They very kindly offered to order more in white, but the scheduled delivery is 15th-20th May! Waaaaayy to late! So thats off the list. That said, they'd be my first recommendation because they did everything they could to help me, and both their range and their prices are fantastic.
Here it is by the way, just in case anyone knows of another stockist! I like it cos it has just the right amount of beading and different siz