You are engaged and so excited about starting your wedding dress shopping but slow down a minute and listen to our words of wisdom based on 20 years experience of serving brides.
The first step is to book your venue so you have a confirmed date. Once you know the style of your wedding location it will be easier to build a vision of your wedding and your dress will be a central part of that. Next step is to hit Pinterest and start a fresh board that you can pin all your ideas to.
1) The most important thing to bare in mind about ordering a made to order wedding dress is the length of time they take to arrive. Dresses below £2000 are almost without exception imported. The pandemic, war and global supply chain issues have all impacted on this time frame. All Bridal shops will tell you to allow 1 year from the time you place your order to the wedding date. This builds in contingency time and allows time for your dress to be fitted to you by a seam stress.
2) The next bit of advice is keep an open mind and try on a variety of silhouettes. Dresses look so different on the hanger and often it’s the dress you really wouldn’t have even considered that is the one that ends up blowing you away.
3) Do not be tempted to bring a large group of people with you to your Dress shop appointments. Two or a maximum of three guests is plenty. There are numerous reasons for this but mainly it is so that you enjoy your appointment, you relax and make your own mind up about the dresses and are not swayed by others opinions. This is your big day and whilst it’s nice to know that your mum or bestie loves your dress the most important thing is that YOU love it. 5 people equals 5 different conflicting opinions and yours can get confused and lost whilst you try to politely listen to theirs.
4) Arrange your appointment for a day when you have childcare. This is a special day that is all about you! I am a mum of two and that has taught me first hand that children are demanding and get bored very easily when the activity is not about them. When your child is bored or upset you can not relax and focus on choosing your dress and the experience will be spoilt.