15 Wedding Dress Shopping Tips You Need to Know

About to go wedding dress shopping for the first time? Here are 15 wedding dress shopping tips you need to know before you first appointment.

Shopping for a wedding dress is probably one of the most exciting and memorable experiences for any bride-to-be. However, like most things related to wedding planning, it can also be a bit overwhelming. These 15 tips will help reduce dress shopping stress and make it an amazing experience!

This post is all about wedding dress shopping tips.

Wedding Dress Shopping Tips – Before Your Appointment

1. Start shopping early

I recommend starting to look for your dress 10-12 months in advance, if possible, and aiming to find your dress 8-10 months before the wedding date.

When you go wedding dress shopping, you usually aren’t trying on the same dress you will take home. Typically, you try on a sample dress that the shop uses for everyone to try on. It is usually a very large size and your consultant will use clamps to give it a fitted look. After you find “the one”, the consultant will take your measurements and order the dress. Once ordered, a dress can take up to 6 months to come in. My dress took a little over 4 months.

A common misconception is that when you buy a wedding dress, you are getting a dress custom made for you. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The consultant simply selects the standard dress size that is the closest match to your measurements. This is why many people may require more advanced alterations, which take even more time. Save yourself a lot of stress and start dress shopping early on!

2. Know your budget

Tip number one is to know your wedding dress budget. You have to know what you can afford to spend before you even book your appointment!

If you haven’t already broken down your wedding budget, check out this post all about how to break down your wedding budget. In that post, I recommend spending around 8% on your attire, but that includes a suit for the groom and any other wedding day accessories.

I recommend spending around 6% of your total budget on your wedding dress. So for example, if your budget is $20,000, you could afford to spend $1,200 on your wedding dress. If your budget is 30,000, your dress budget is $1,800. Now these are just suggestions! You can adjust your wedding budget breakdown based on your priorities. Just make sure you have accounted for all wedding costs.

Don’t forget to leave some wiggle room for alterations, too. Pretty much every dress will at least need to be hemmed and bustled. I’m no expert, but I would say expect to spend a minimum of $100 dollars for a simple hem and bustle. Other alterations, like adjusting straps or taking in the waist, could cost a lot more. The style and fabric of the dress influences the cost as well. Alterations could cost anywhere from $100-$1000 dollars (and maybe even more).

I paid $290 for my alterations which included getting the dress hemmed, adding a bustle, and taking in the straps.

3. Research bridal shops

Once you know your budget, start researching bridal shops in your area. You’ll want to find a shop that offers a lot of dresses within your budget. Some shops list the price range of their dresses on their website, but others do not. If you can’t find pricing information, just give them a call and ask. Don’t waste time visiting bridal shops with dresses that are way out of your price range.

Also, many bridal shops will have seasonal sales or offer their sample dresses (the ones everyone tries on) off-the-rack at a huge discount – sometimes just a few hundred bucks! Ask the shops if they offer this and you could save a ton of money.

4. Make appointments

You pretty much HAVE to make an appointment in order to try on dresses. Some bridal shops book up very far in advance. I suggest booking appointments with a few different places to reserve a spot. You can always cancel the appointments if you find your dress sooner.

I scheduled appointments at 5 different locations and found my dress at the fourth one.

5. Be selective with invites

Trying on dresses is literally so exciting and SO much fun – but it’s also a lot of pressure! Make sure that you really consider who you want to have at the appointment with you before you start handing out invitations.

Everyone has an opinion and having too many people, or the wrong people, at your appointment could be really overwhelming. We’re trying to avoid a dramatic Say Yes to The Dress moment. If you’ve ever watched the show, I know you’ve seen at least one episode where a pushy mom or impossible-to-please traditional grandmother causes the bride to breakdown and lose all hope. Let’s not let that happen to you.

Make sure whoever you bring is not going to be judgmental or assertive with their opinions. They should let you pick the dress you love. At the end of the day, it is your wedding dress, not theirs.

Sometimes brides will bring their mom, mother-in-law, maid of honor, bridal party, or other close family members or friends. You can bring whoever you want, but make sure that they are going to encourage you, get excited for you, and let you make your own decisions.

6. Bring Inspo Pics

Wedding dress shopping tip number 5 is to have inspiration pictures of dresses you like. Typically, you will not be selecting dresses to try on yourself. Instead, you have a bridal consultant who works with you and chooses dresses for you, so she will need to know what vibe you are going for. If you’re like me, I had no idea how to explain what I liked – I just knew what I thought looked pretty in a picture. Having photos makes it really easy for your consultant to get an idea of what you like.

Pinterest is a great place to find dress inspiration. Also, if the bridal shop has photos of their dresses online, you can look through their inventory and take screenshots of dresses that catch your eye! This way you can make sure to try on those dresses when you get there, and the consultant will have a good idea of what else to grab for you.

7. Make a checklist

In addition to having inspo pics, having a checklist of your requests can be really helpful for both you and your consultant. This could be a list of features you like in a wedding dress or any preferences you have. A deep v neckline, thin straps, and open back were a few of the items on my wedding dress checklist.

Having a checklist is helpful for your consultant because they can use it, along with your inspo photos, to guide them in their dress selections. It’s helpful for you because you can use it to rule out dresses and make quicker decisions.

For example, maybe two dresses are really similar, and you can’t decide which one you like better. If one has more of your checklist items, the other one gets the boot! While this might seem a little anticlimactic, a bridal consultant told me that a lot of brides actually pick their dress this way. She said that, despite what the movies might portray, it is not very common for brides to have a big “a-ha” moment and break down in tears the minute they put on “the one”. Instead, there is usually a lot of time spent agonizing over a few options, and the bride goes with the one that ticks more boxes on her list.

8. Get Ready to get naked

Okay, not totally naked, but at most wedding dress appointments, the consultants help you get in and out of dresses in the fitting room. This means that you will probably be undressing in front of a stranger. You can obviously still wear underwear, but you will probably want to go bra-less. A bra would stick out and show under most dresses making it difficult to see the whole picture, plus, most of them have built in padding anyway. If you really want to keep your bra on, make sure you bring a strapless one!

If getting undressed in front of a stranger makes you uncomfortable (who wouldn’t feel uncomfortable?), try to remember that they do this all day long and its totally normal for them. If you reaaaaaaally don’t like the idea, you can ask if you can get changed by yourself.

Not all bridal shops do this. For example, my first appointment was at David’s Bridal, and I went into the fitting room alone. The consultant waited outside in case I needed help. However, at the other local and more boutique shops, the consultant came into the room with me. I was surprised and wished I had known that was a possibility! I definitely would have prepared a bit more (lol).

Wedding Dress Shopping Tips – During Your Appointment

9. Stick to your budget

Wedding dress shopping tip number 8 is to stick to your budget! When you make your appointment, you might be asked to provide your budget. If not, they will definitely as you when you get to the bridal shop. Your consultant needs to know your budget so she knows what dresses to bring you.

A good consultant should only bring you dresses to try on that are within your budget, unless they warn you before you try it on. For example, maybe there is a dress that fits all of your requests perfectly but it’s a few hundred over budget. They might still show it you but should warn you that its over budget first.

Do not, I repeat, do not try on dresses that are way out of your price range. More expensive dresses typically have more unique fabric and more detail, and 9 times out of 10, you’ll probably like the dress more because of it! If this happens, you’ll either blow your budget or feel disappointed with the dress you end up buying because you’ll always be thinking about that dream dress you couldn’t afford. Don’t do that to yourself. If you’re serious about sticking to your budget, and don’t want to crush your dreams, focus on dresses that are in your price range.

10. Try on lots of dresses

Some bridal shops may try to limit the number of dresses you try on. This is probably to avoid overwhelming you with options and to encourage you to make a purchase. This happened to me at one of my appointments and while I understand the thought process behind it, I hated it! I felt restricted by my options and couldn’t shake the idea that there was a better dress out there somewhere.

Find a shop that has a lot of dresses within your price range and lets you try ’em all! I found my dress at a shop called Wonderland Bridal. I probably tried on more dresses at Wonderland Bridal than I did at all the other dress shops combined! Trying on more made me feel like I had seen enough options to know what I liked and didn’t like. When I found my dress, I felt confident it was for me. Wonderland Bridal said that almost all of their brides find their dress at their first appointment with them, and I bet it is because they bring them so many options to try on!

11. Try on different styles

Wedding dress shopping tip number 11 is to try on all types of styles. Although you might feel pretty confident about what you want, try on all different styles of dresses, especially at your first appointment. In fact, you should specifically tell your consultant that it is your first-time dress shopping and that you would like to try different styles.

It is hard to know what you are going to like until you see it on yourself. Soooo many people go into dress shopping with one style in mind and leave with something totally different! This happened to me too. I was convinced I wanted a whimsical, flowy A-frame dress with lace on the train and I left with a fitted dress that had the intricate details, tassels, and sort of a vintage meets boho vibe (see pic below).

12. Take lots of pictures

This tip is SOO important! Take tons of pictures and videos of the dresses you try on, especially the ones you really like. Takes some selfies but also make sure someone else is on camera duty too. It is very helpful to see how the dress photographs and moves in a video. I tried on a few dresses that I thought looked really pretty, but when I saw the photos, I hated the way it looked on me! Also, it’s so nice to be able to look back through the pictures and videos later.

13. Don’t feel pressured to buy

Wedding dress shopping tip number 12 is not to feel pressures or rushed to buy a dress that day. Even if you are pretty sure it’s the one, if there is any doubt in your mind, go home and sleep on it. Dress shopping can be exciting and emotional, but also nerve-wracking! It’s a big decision and probably the most important article of clothing you will ever purchase. There is absolutely NO rush to buy a dress at your first appointment, despite how it may feel.

Make sure you aren’t letting the opinions of others influence your decision. Look back over your pictures and videos and make sure you still like it the next day! You can always go back to buy the dress later or book another appointment to try the dress on again.

Wedding Dress Shopping Tips – After Your Appointment

14. Buy accessories before alterations

Once you have your dress, start shopping for your accessories! You will want to make sure you have your shoes before your first alterations appointment. You will need to wear them so your seamstress knows where to hem the dress. Also, if you plan on purchasing any shapewear, bring that to the appointment too.

15. Start Alterations early

Once you have your dress and accessories, you can get your alterations done! Unless you are planning on some major physical changes before the wedding (such as losing weight), I’d go ahead and get your alterations out of the way early. The last thing you want is the stress of not knowing if your dress still be ready in time for the wedding.

Most alterations can be completed in around 3 weeks, but some could take up to 3 months. It depends on what you need done and how busy your seamstress is. Research a few businesses and ask when they recommend you book your appointment.

At your first appointment you should get a quote for how much it will cost. You can always shop around a bit to find a good price before you drop your dress off. Last tip – make sure that the place you choose has good reviews! Saving a bit of money is not worth the risk of having your dress destroyed!

Summary

Congratulations on starting this super exciting part of your wedding panning process! I hope these wedding dress shopping tips make you feel more confident, help you find your dream dress, and reduce stress!

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Happy Planning!