Now that you have nailed down your wedding date (and in most cases secured your wedding venue), it is time to turn your thoughts and attention to finding your dream wedding dress so wedding dress shopping should be on top of your wedding planning to do list!
How to find your dream wedding dress
Before you start your hunt for the perfect wedding dress, decide on these pointers first:
Wedding Style
Is your wedding style classic or contemporary, bohemian or whimsical? Knowing your wedding style, or the kind of styles you are drawn to will help you to pick the right wedding dress.
Bespoke, couture or bridal boutique
What type of wedding dress do you want? Do you want something off the shelf that you can amend. Or you want to go bespoke and have a couture gown made by your favorite designer or do you want one from a bridal boutique by one of your favorite bridal designers? You decide!
Number
How many dresses do you want? One or two? Will you have a second wedding outfit for the evening reception? (Second outfits are so on trend these days) Do you want both from the same designer or bridal boutique or separately?
Budget
What is your wedding dress budget? Are you willing to go slightly over your budget for the right dress. It’s good to decide this upfront and keep it at the back of your mind for when you start going to fittings.
Once you decide on the above points, then you’re ready to start the hunt! Don’t give the excuse that you need to lose weight first before you start your wedding dress shopping. Still attend appointments with designers and find your dress first as dress designers and bridal boutiques need time to make and/or order your dress so the earlier you decide and make a decision, the better.
As you go to your bridal appointments;
- Make a list of must haves; do you want lace or sequin embellishments, structured or free flowing.
- Check that the bridal boutique offer tips and advice on the best dress styles and stock wedding dresses that compliment your body shape (Finding the right dress largely depends on what works for your body shape).
- Is there an in house alteration service? So that you can do fittings and have it altered when you do lose the weight.
- As you try various wedding dresses (hopefully not too many as you have a good idea of what you want) in your quest to find ‘the one’, sit, stand and walk around in the dresses when you go to fittings, so you can get a good feel for the fit. Fittings ensures that you are comfortable in the dress and can walk around in it gracefully without feeling constricted)
- When going for fittings (especially the final fitting), make sure you go with the things that you’ll wear underneath on your wedding day; underwear, Spanx etc. You want to ensure that you get a really good feel for your dress before wearing it down the aisle.
- Go with a maximum of two honest friends whose opinions you respect and who won’t be afraid to give you constructive feedback based on your selection.
Above all, go with an open mind. You may have an idea of the perfect classic fairytale gown that you just spotted on Pinterest or Instagram and absolutely have to have or that figure hugging number won by a famous celebrity that you think would look oh so good on you! Keep an open mind as these may not always match your reality once you try them on. Sometimes, it is the unexpected ones that give you the best and pleasantly surprising results!
Travelling with your wedding dress could incur additional charges for you as you have to pay for it separately. To minimise on that cost, ask your bridal boutique to package the dress for you for shipping (they will know best how to package it with minimal creases) and have your wedding planner to sign for it when it gets to the UK.
Now that you are armed with these useful tips, it’s time to go wedding dress shopping! When you find your dream dress, do let me know how you made your selection and what tipped the scales for you! I’d love to know!
Happy shopping!
Cynthia x
