Hi! As many of you all know, I’m ENGAGED! Which also means I SAID YES not only to my best friend but to THE DRESS!!!! I learned a lot from my experience of wedding dress shopping and wanted to share with you my Top 8 Tips for you and anyone who is dress shopping!
TIP 1- BE OPEN MINDED
This is Key! I know I know “Andrea, I already know I have to be open minded!” But like really you have to prepare yourself mentally before you walk into the bridal shop and say the dream dress I have in my mind may not be the dress I fall in love with in the store. Or prepare yourself with the dress may not even be in the store you are entering. My DREAM dress was always a long sleeve lace and every long sleeve dress was super hard to see on my self and I disliked them all! Which was so weird for me as I was set on that style for years but also knew that it might not be what was for me but didn’t know until I tried them on.
TIP 2- RESEARCH BRIDAL STYLES/SHOPS
Pinterest is a girls best friend! So use it to find your style of wedding dress. Is it boho? Is it ball gown? Maybe it’s a super unique dress that only certain stores may have! Once you know what style you are looking for looking for bridal shops to visit will become 100 times easier as some shops only carry certain designers and certain styles. A bridal shop I went to only carried one designer and one style so if I didn’t like the style of dress I might of wasted my time and the consultants time. Using the knot also helps you can type in “boho Bridal’s” and it will come up bridal shops with boho style dresses!
TIP 3- TAKE YOUR TIME BUT DO NOT WAIT
I did not know that wedding dresses take a LONG time to order and be altered. It can take 6-7 months for your dress to be shipped to the store from the time you order it and then it takes 1-2 months for alterations. That is 7-9 months of just dealing with a wedding dress!!! You don’t want to rush or stress finding your perfect dress so take your time and start as early as you can so the whole process will be relaxing and fun!
TIP 4- Less is MORE!
You always see on say Yes to the Dress and Bridal shows how Brides bring every person they know to their bridal fittings and each one of those persons has an opinion. I am super empathic and everything someone says I take to heart and will hold on to it, so it was super important to me to just have my parents. I did bring my mother in-law to the last appointment and my grandmas. However, the bridal consultants said it’s the best when you bring less because it speeds up the process and helps you as the bride know that you love the dress because you love the dress and not because everyone is telling you to the love dress but because you feel beautiful and happy and can care a flip about what anyone thinks. I would even recommend waiting till you found the dress and coming in another time with your party just to show them it on but no opinions as you don’t want to change your mind.
TIP 5- DO NOT GIVE UP!
You may not find the dress at the first shop, or the second shop, or the third shop… but hey do not give up!!! Your dress is out there in the universe just stay positive and believe. I went to 6 different shops. Each had their own experience and environment and I honestly recommend researching and going to as many shops as you can and getting to experience different personalities. Do not feel bad saying you weren’t happy with what you tried on and that you will keep the store in mind. These people do it for a living and want the bride to be happy so just do that BE HAPPY!
TIP 6- DO NOT TRY TOO MANY ON AT ONCE
You kind of get sucked in when you enter a bridal shop and just want to keep trying more and more but trust me it is EXHAUSTING!!! After dress 10 you forget what dress 2 felt like and that might of been the one you loved!!! Or you forget all the dresses and end up having to just look at your photos and videos. I would recommend breaking it up into visits maybe set a limit and really know what you want to try on so you can go in focus and ready to go!
TIP 7- IT WON’T BE THE FIRST DRESS
Most of the time bridal consultants try to not give you your favorite dress to try on first because they don’t want you to forget about it. So do not be discouraged when you try on the first dress and feel like you are failing because you are not! Trust and believe it will come!
TIP 8- YOU DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE TO LISTEN
Sometimes your bridal consultant may also have their own opinions to the dress you are wearing as they are professional and you should trust them but that doesn’t mean you have to listen to everything they may say to you about how it looks. You may LOVE the dress and they may say … ehhh… it actually looks like a prom dress on you but maybe that’s the look you are looking for so go with your heart! Your opinion is the only opinion that really matters it is your day! Live it up!
BONUS TIP- BUDGETING
When you go to a bridal shop and they ask you what your budget is do not forget about alterations and the cost of that. You can always ask the bridal shops and they can give you a rough estimate of how much alterations would cost and you want to make sure you state that the price of dress isn’t over your budget after alterations. Sometimes alterations can be anywhere from $300-700 depending on how much work needs to be done.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!!!
Andrea M Jara 