How To Find The Perfect Wedding Dress For You
It's wedding season and has been for a bit now. I know it has been a while since I posted anything but this pregnancy really has me feeling exhausted and ill lately. This month marks my husband and I's one year wedding anniversary and we have decided to celebrate it all month long. So to continue the celebration I have decided to dedicate my blog posts all month long to weddings. This month I am going to blog about my wedding, tips and tricks, budgeting, stress relief, and any little advice that I picked up or found helpful for myself.
Up first on this blog post is wedding dress shopping and how to find the perfect wedding dress for you. Every girl dreams about their wedding day and envision themselves in their perfect wedding dress. Most girls grow up dreaming about that fairy tale wedding; finding their prince or knight in shinning armor, pulling up to the venue in a beautiful horse drawn carriage, glass slippers, the perfect ballroom, and the cliche giant ballgown style wedding dress. I know this is how I had always dreamed my wedding would be when I was little.
Stay true to yourself! This is your wedding, your dream, your vision, and you need to do what makes you happy!
However, over time you grow up and your vision changes, you may realize like I did that the Cinderella Ballgown style just won't look good on your body. You also may realize that you don't want to pay that much for a dress or worry about having to carry it around and dance in it all night long at your reception. No matter your vision or dreams the number one thing you have to remember is to stay true to yourself. This is your wedding, your dream, your vision, and you need to do what makes you happy. So whatever you envision and wish your wedding to be make sure to go after it and stay true to what you want. As the bride it is your special day and do what is going to make you happy, make it the day that you have always dreamed of and make sure you will have no regrets.
You know your body better than anyone else. Choose a style that you love and you know will look good on your body type.
Before you make that wedding dress appointment make sure to do your research on the style of dress that you are wanting. For me Pinterest was the best site to look at different style of dresses in order for me to decide what I really wanted. You know yourself and your body better than anyone else so make sure to choose a style that you know you are going to love and will look good on your body type. I am very tall and skinny with broad shoulders. I also have awkward bicep muscles that you wouldn't expect to see on a person with my body type. So for me I knew I wanted my wedding dress to have sleeves. The sleeves would cover all of those imperfections and look better than any strapless styled dress. I also have bigger breasts so I wanted to avoid a wardrobe malfunction and the possibility of my boobs falling out in a strapless dress. Because of my long lanky legs, I knew I wanted a long dress to cover my chicken legs and knobby knees. I am very skinny so I also knew I wanted something slimmer and not something that was going to puff out too much and make me look disproportionate.
As for the rest of the dress I knew I wanted something vintage and lacy. I have been compared to Audrey Hepburn many times and have an old soul. I love the look of pearls and lace so I immediately knew that the rest of my dress needed to have lots of lace and a vintage style look. So I looked for months at pictures of wedding dresses online to put all of my wants together and find different examples and variations of my perfect wedding dress. After you figure out what you want you then need to figure out what local shops are going to have the kinds of dresses you are looking for. Not all bridal shops have the same selection or your dress for the price you are willing to pay.
Set a budget and stick to it! You can find your perfect dress in your price range!
Now that you know what you want you need to find a shop that has what you are looking for. Research online local wedding shops and look for the style of dress you want as well as their prices. Whether or not you are paying for your wedding dress yourself or have family covering the bill there is most likely going to be a budget. Wedding dress budgets are good because they limit your choices which in turn can help you make a decision in picking the perfect dress. Too many options, no budget, leads to indecision and regrets. I mean have you ever seen the show "Say Yes to the Dress"? Those women that go in not knowing what they want and not having any budget try on tons of dresses and come up empty handed. Either that or they make a decision and then later on come back into the store second guessing their dress and wanting to look for a new dress. Give yourself options within your budget but giving yourself too many options, not knowing what you want, and having no budget, essentially leads to disaster. It is possible to find your perfect dress within your budget if you look at the right shop.
Bring only those that are closest to you to your Bridal Appointment!
On your appointment day make sure to take only your closest friends or family. Only the most important people in your life need to be there and having too many people will cause confusion and chaos. Too many opinions can cause the whole process to become more of a chore rather than an enjoyable outing. Also please, please, please, do not bring your fiancee to the appointment. Most times the men do not want to go anyways and the dress is meant to be a surprise on the wedding day. (I guess I am old fashioned like that). For my fitting I invited my bridesmaids, mother, aunts, and future mother in law. However, it was a winter day and with the snow my family was not able to make the trip. It ended up being just me, my sister in law, and my mother in law, and it was super easy for me to pick out my dress. I took pictures of everything I tried on and sent it to my mom during the process so she could be present in spirit, but overall I was able to pick the dress that I wanted without anyone else objecting or attempting to change my mind.
Tell and show your Bridal Attendant the style of dress you are looking for and your price points.
Bring photos of wedding dresses that you want to your appointment and show them to your attendant. The workers are there to help you find your perfect dress so if you tell and show them exactly what you want they have a better chance of finding it for you. Make sure to also tell them your budget, give them your highest price point. Tell them which price point you are not willing to go over and if you get a good attendant like I had, she will not bring you anything out of your price range to tempt you. I showed my salesperson photos of the vintage style wedding dress I wanted and my price range. I also told her that I wanted sleeves but would be willing to try on one or two strapless dresses just to see what they would look like. The first dress I tried on ended up being the one that I purchased and wore on my wedding day, but the other choices were also within what I had asked for as well.
Here is my wedding dress and me in my wedding dress on my wedding day:
I hope this advice will help you find your dream wedding dress as I was able to find mine. I hope that your wedding day is everything that you ever dreamed it to be and much more!