Choosing Your Dream Wedding Dress

Tips To Saying YES
To Your Perfect Dress!!

Choosing your dream wedding dress may seem a little stressful, but trust us, it doesn’t have to be. Dresses come in all shapes, styles, sizes, & budgets, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. This is the fun part of planning! You take your girls, you get to dress up, & you find the gown that you want to start your forever after in! This is such an amazing moment! Finding your perfect dress doesn’t have to be a stressful & daunting task! As we talk about in our post – The Most Important Wedding Planning Decisions you must make, finding your “YES” dress is an important step in planning, but it is also one of the most fun! 😊

Today on the blog we are sharing ideas & tips for how to help find your “YES DRESS!”

Dress Styles:

We didn’t know there were so many different styles & options for dresses. There literally is no wrong option, but it’s important to get a general idea of what you like before you start trying them on. Let’s look at some of the basic styles of wedding dresses.

Sheath (Column)

Every bride is gorgeous & a sheath style shows off your body confidence. It’s typically very hugging of your figure & usually low cut depending on your confidence level. A longer train is gorgeous with this style dress.

Empire Waist

Perfect for the shorter bride, the empire style has a higher, sometimes cinched waist to help elongate & accentuate the torso. Adding the perfect heels or even flats will change how this dress looks. It can be super formal or more relaxed depending on your wants. Imagine a twirl during your first dance as a married couple! 

Ball Gown

Or the Princess dress! Can we use the word Poofy?! We love this style. They are great for any shape & can be fitted on top with a skirt or full bodied fluff!

A-Line

Great for the brides who don’t want to accentuate their curviness, it’s flowy & flattering. So many options for the top to show as much or as little skin as you choose. 

Mermaid

This is one of the most popular dress styles with brides, especially if you have those 🔥🔥 curves. There are many options for this style. Usually the top is fitted with more of a loose bottom. (Picture a real mermaid). Whether you choose strapless or an off the shoulder top, your Fiancé’ will be spinning you around to look at you from all angles.

Online or Bridal Shop?

In today’s world of online shopping, we are seeing more & more brides choosing options online vs traditionally shopping at a Bridal Shop in person. There are pros & cons to both. Let’s look as a few tips for deciding how to choose your perfect dress:

Ask Married Friends For Referrals

We totally live in a review & referral driven society. Odds are you have at least one friend or more that has recently gotten married or is planning her wedding just like you are. Text them & ask where & how they found their perfect dress. If they ordered it online, ask what challenges & issues that arose. If they went to a bridal shop, ask where they went & what their experience was like. 

Read ALL Reviews

Reviews are so important, especially when ordering a dress online. Yes, there are some trolls out there which is why it’s vital to read more than just one review. See what the issue was & also see if the company responded & how they handled the issue. The biggest issue we have seen with ordering a dress online is sizing. Where is the company located & how do their sizes differ? When checking online reviews, make sure to pay attention to any that involve sizes. Do the sizes run small, or too big? This will dictate if you need to have alterations or order a size bigger than you’d normally wear.

Do Your Homework

There is no substitute for doing your homework before you buy or before you walk into your Bridal Appointment. We have heard from countless brides who “KNEW” what style they wanted only to try it one & hate it. There is a wealth of information online, through the KNOT, wedding magazines, etc. so you can find photos & examples of the styles you may want to try. We recommend creating a personal Pinterest board & saving all the ideas you have. It’s as easy as searching for “Ball Gown Wedding Dress Size….” & looking at the images tab.

Once you have several ideas, you can show your board to your wedding consultant, if you go to a bridal shop, & they can lend their expertise to what you’re wanting

Finding Savings

There are several ways to save on your perfect dress that you may not have considered:

Online Marketplace is a great way to find savings as well as local FB Wedding Groups. Many previous brides, or a bride who has found a different dress, will list their gown for a discount. You could fall in love with a totally different style than you originally planned!

One tip most brides aren’t aware of is looking at bridesmaid’s dresses. Most companies that you order dresses from offer bridesmaid’s dresses in a variety of style & colors. Yes, they offer them in white as well & usually for a fraction of the cost. We had one gorgeous bride fall in love with the style of a bridesmaid dress & she ordered it in white & paid 1/4 the price of a “Wedding Dress”. No one knew but she & us!

Sample dresses or off the rack options are usually offered at a discount. While you can’t get them altered at the shop, there are numerous options & places you can go to get any alterations you need done.

Take a Breath & Keep Looking

Yes, you can find your perfect dress at the first bridal appointment or website you visit, but we always recommend you take a day to think about it. If you order online & change your mind later, it’s a painstaking process to return if you’re allowed to return at all. Many online stores will also charge a restocking fee so you may loose money in picking something else. There’s nothing wrong with “sleeping on it” & verifying it the dress for you. If it truly is, you’ll still feel that way in the morning. 😍

Plan for Changes

99% of brides will need to have some sort of alteration done to their dress. Very rarely does a dress ordered online or from a bridal shop fit perfectly. So do some research & talk to friends about where they got their dress altered. Many Bridal Shops will do it for you, however you may need to find an outside dress maker to alter it if ordering online. This is the main reason we recommend doing a Bridal Session 1 month before your wedding to figure out any last minute “Issues” your dress may need fixed.

Lastly, don’t worry if it takes a few visits or you have to search for awhile to find your perfect dress. There’s no rule about how quickly you have to pick a dress. Our biggest advice is just make sure you don’t wait until 1 month before your wedding. That’s when it gets super stressful. Look at all the options, consider the top styles you love & pick the dress that truly speaks to you. 

Are you ready to “Say yes to your dress”?