Are you shopping for your wedding dress and thinking that you might have found "the one," but worried that you've only been dress shopping once? Can it be that easy? Its it a mistake to buy your wedding dress on your dress shopping trip? If think you found your dream wedding dress on your first time bridal dress shopping, you're in luck! We sharing our best tips and reasons for why it is perfectly OK to say "yes to the dress" on your first time shopping! Spoiler alert - if you've found the one, why waste any more time?
We're also sharing some of our best tips for wedding dress shopping in general, including answers to some of our most common questions from brides who come into our boutique, such as how many stores should I visit and when should I start shopping for a bridal dress?
Photo | Melanie Zacek Photography
It's OK To Say Yes
It's no secret that bridal dress shopping has become an experience and a special event that brides and their families and friends look forward to. With TV shows and social media, wedding dress shopping is a joyful experience that brides can share with those they are the closest with.
Shopping for your dream wedding dress has become such a memorable experience that we offer private wedding dress shopping appointments for brides to come into our shop in Connecticut and have the whole store to themselves. Learn more about our White Carpet private wedding dress shopping experiences.
The number one sign that you've found your dream wedding dress is when you don't want to take it off. It's certainly not the only sign that you've found "the one," but it's a great sign! Brides often think that it's a mistake to decide on or buy their wedding dress on their first shopping visit, but if you've done your research and tried on several different styles, fabrics, necklines, and types of wedding dresses, then it's perfectly OK to say YES!
As long as you've done your homework online to look at all of the available bridal gown styles on the market, and done the work to select a reputable bridal store that carries the styles that you want to try, then you've done a bulk of the work to pre-vet your choices already. Even if it is your first time trying on dresses in-store, it's OK to buy your dream wedding dress!
Our owner and expert bridal stylist, Beth Champman, says it the best when she compares finding your dream wedding dress to finding your fiance. Finding your wedding dress is like committing to your fiancé. There might be other similarly appealing and interesting people out in the world, but when you have found the perfect one for you, there's no need to keep looking!
How many times you've been wedding dress shopping or how many dresses you've tried on doesn't matter when you've found the one!
Photo | Melanie Zaeck Photography
Avoid Over Shopping
Many brides book dozens of appointments at a variety of boutiques and spend their weekends and nights visiting wedding dress shop after shop after shop. This process can be exhausting and overwhelming. After a certain point, all of the dresses start to look the same and you can't remember which dress you liked from which store and you're no farther along finding your dream wedding gown than when you started.
Visting too many stores and having too many appointments is what bridal stylists call "overshopping." Do you research online before you go into the store to determine the types and styles of dresses that you want to try on. Also, do your research before you make an appointment to try on dresses to determine if the bridal store has the wedding dress styles and designers that you want to consider, and is within your budget.
Limit Your Options
Speaking of decision fatigue and overwhelm, brides often ask us the right number of bridal dress shops to visit. If they want to avoid overwhelm, how many appointments should they make?
We always recommend that brides limit their wedding dress shopping experiences to one to three shops. That's it. After you've done your research ahead of time, up to three bridal appointments should be more than sufficient for you to experience all of the different styles, designers, and silhouettes available. After three appointments, everything starts to look the same and brides can get lost in a sea of white!
Visiting too many stores and trying on too many dresses can make your decision process even more difficult!
Photography | Tiffany Joyce Photography
Set Your Date
In addition to doing your research ahead of time online to find wedding dress styles that you love and are interested in trying on, there is one other very important thing to do before going to a bridal appointment. We always recommend that brides have their wedding venue and wedding date selected prior to shopping for a dress.
Not only is ordering timing important to buying a wedding gown but seasonality and location matter a great deal in the type and style of dress that brides may want to choose. Brides don't want to run into any unexpected changes in plans, so be sure to have your venue and date locked down before shopping for a wedding dress.
Trust Is Best
Our best tip for wedding dress shopping is to trust your bridal stylist or consultant in the store. They may bring you dress styles that you weren't expecting to like, or that you weren't considering before you walked in the door, but they know the wedding dresses inside and out.
We always recommend that brides do their research online ahead of their appointment to find styles that they think they might like and that they want to try on, as this is a great starting point. But, it's just the start. Once you see the wedding dresses in person, and, more importantly, feel and experience them on your body, you may have a completely different opinion than you went into the bridal store with. So, when you go into the bridal store for your shoppoing appointment, be prepared when an open mind.
Have an open mind when you go to your dress shopping appointment, and trust your bridal stylist to guide you!
Photo | Carla Ten Eyck
For more wedding dress shopping tips and advice, our very own The White Dress by the shore owner, Beth Chapman was recently interviewed on the wedding blog, Style Me Pretty for an article on why it is OK to say YES on your first wedding dress shopping trip! She shares more tips including her thoughts of when to know that you've found the one!
If you're searching for your perfect wedding dress, visit us in our bridal store in Clinton, CT by booking a wedding dress shopping appointment. We can't wait to work with you!
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