How to Choose The Wedding Dress Of Your Dreams

While choosing your wedding dress is the most fun part of wedding planning, it can be one task that the bride (YOU!) doesn’t prepare properly for to maximize your wedding dress dreams potential!! Here are my 6 tips on how to choose your wedding dress!

1. Gather inspiration and create a vision board or a Pinterest board. See my wedding Pinterest board here. Sidenote: do this before consulting anyone else, after all – you are the one walking down the aisle and you want your inspiration to be untouched from your inner circle’s influence, at least to start.
2. Get clarity on what style wedding dress you want and how you want to feel in that dress on your wedding day. (and everyday ) For me, I wanted to feel like a rockstar fairytale queen. Hence the sequin Jenny Packham gown, cathedral veil, and black nail polish. See my wedding details and blogpost here.
3. Do your research before buying. Check out which wedding gowns are available online – my go-tos for this were Net-a-Porter, Shopbop, Revolve, ASOS, and YOOX. This will give you great information in terms of what is currently out there (sizing, styles) and how far your wedding dress budget can get you. I know, I know – wedding budgets suck but the more information you have – the farther your budget can take you. I had a wedding budget and these steps got me my dream dress!
4. Decide if you want to go into brick and mortar stores to try dresses on or if you want to do it in the comfort of your own home. I had plans to go wedding dress shopping but ended up falling in love with the first sequin wedding gown I ordered online.
5. If you decide to try on wedding dresses in stores, keep your bride entourage for this endeavor on the smaller side. There is nothing worse than a huge peanut gallery full of opinions muffling out the brides opinion – AKA yours !!! Another tip for buying in store: don’t confuse what the sales person wants you to buy and your vision for your wedding dress. Nobody wants the bride to have buyers remorse!
6. When in doubt, wait to purchase your dress until you find the one. You will know when you find it. Just keep in mind the length of time that alterations may take if you are going that route. The process can take anywhere between 6 and 10 months!

Happy wedding dress shopping, beautiful! I wish you your dream dress and your dream wedding. XO, Cath