Believe it or not, wedding dress shopping can be a difficult task! What looked great on someone on Pinterest may not look the best on you, and a dress you never thought you would even try on could be the one you want to wear on your wedding day. But what are the best ways to pick the dress that is right for you? We have compiled some helpful tips to help you with this essential bridal task.
1. Budget
Like everything else in a wedding, a bride must have a budget laid out that can be stuck to when it comes to a dress. It is easy to fall in love with a dress without seeing the price first, so brides should always let the dress assistant know which budget range to stay in. Do not forget to add accessories, shoes and jewelry into this budget.
2. Location
A big deciding factor on what a wedding dress will be like is the location of the wedding. If the wedding will take place on a beach, a ball gown styled dress with a long train should quickly be ruled out. Instead, a bride would want to look at lighter materials such as linen. Location is everything and should be a deciding factor when it comes to the style of the wedding dress.
3. Accessories
If you already have some items that you want to wear on your wedding day, bring them with you when going to look for a dress. This will help you decide how the accessories look paired with the dress. Some jewelry for example may be very sentimental and it is easier to match accessories to a dress instead of getting attached to a gown that may not work with the jewelry you have in mind.
4. Limit Who You Bring
Picking a wedding dress is a momentous moment in a bride’s life, but chances are, some brides have seen ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ where the bride has brought all of her female family members and her huge wedding party to help her pick out her dress. In this case, less is more.
Bring a close family member and your maid of honor to help you make your decision. This will make choosing a lot less difficult; no bride wants everyone else’s ideal wedding dress taken into consideration but her own. Leave the entourage at home and send photos to everyone else. It is much easier than causing an argument over bead work in a bridal shop.
5. Don’t Worry About the Size
A bride-to-be may find that she is a size 8 in her usual dresses but is a size 10 in a wedding dress. This is because different stylists have different sizes, and this can change with the style of dress. A bride may find one dress that is a mermaid style and be a size 10 because it fits much more snugly to her body than another style.
If you plan on losing weight before your wedding, do not order a size down: order the size that fits now. Wedding dresses can be taken in and altered, however they are not let out as easily and it can be costly.
6. Begin Your Search Early
Shopping for the ideal wedding dress for a bride’s special day should begin six to nine months before the wedding date, said co-founder and creative director of Winnie Couture Inc. This may seem silly to begin so early, but it can take months to get the dress in and back from alterations. If you haven’t begun shopping yet, your best bet is to buy a dress off the rack that will only need minor alterations. Rush jobs can usually be ordered, but they can be quite costly. Thinking and planning well ahead will save you both a headache and money.
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