Wedding dress shopping is something you’ll remember for the rest of your life. We have to speak now or forever hold our peace – too often brides are so excited to be on the home stretch of wedding planning that they forget to stop and enjoy core moments like this in their engagement. Here to take some weight off your shoulders are Wedding Wingmen Monica and Tori of Platinum Bridal sharing the most common wedding dress mistakes for you to avoid!
Not Being Open-Minded
While it’s important to come to your wedding dress appointment with an idea of your bridal style, some brides will make the mistake of coming with their minds already made up. It’s important to remember, “You can look at photos and think you want a specific style of dress, but you never really know until it’s on your body and you see the way it feels.”
Platinum Bridal’s philosophy is to put first-time wedding dress shoppers in the four most common wedding dress silhouettes so you can experience each type of dress on your body. Your bridal stylist will have a tried and true process that may feel silly to you, but is important to follow their professional advice. Not following this process could actually be a waste of time.
Wedding Wingman Wisdom
“Brides will have tunnel vision on one specific style of dress and they won’t want to try anything else. They will get discouraged trying dress after dress and refuse to try other silhouettes to see if that’s the issue.”
Another mistake brides will make is researching wedding dresses for their body type. Brides will then think that they can only choose from one type of dress. However, Monica and Tori say the days of limiting brides to specific dresses that “suit their figure” are over. Instead, share with your bridal stylist any insecurities you would like to conceal and features you would like to highlight and they can help you find dresses that will do so.
“Dresses nowadays are a lot different than in the past. They actually have structure and things to help you feel good in any silhouette you put on. The determining factor is going to be about your comfort.”
Wedding dress shopping is all about trial and error. Finding what you don’t like is just as important as finding what you do! When your stylist pulls dresses for you, don’t forget that “you cannot judge a dress based on the hanger – hangers lie. So many times the dress brides really love is the one that they didn’t want to try on.”
Talking Yourself Into the Dress
The road to finding your dream dress can sometimes be a long one, and some brides will settle for a dress instead of seeing the process through. Make sure to be honest with your bridal stylist about how you’re feeling. Details are not dress specific, so if there’s something you like, most likely you can find it in another dress.
If you do like something about the dress, you are more likely to talk yourself into the dress and ignore red flags such as comfort. If you’re already noticing the dress has beading rubbing against your skin or feels itchy, consider what it will feel like after eight-plus hours.
“Do not compromise your comfort for the sake of the dress. Beauty does not always have to be pain.”
Another mistake brides will make is relying too heavily on bridal accessories when choosing a dress. “Accessories are to accessorize not necessarily to make you love the dress. Instead, it’s just the icing on the cake.” While something like a veil may complete your look, it’s something you will take off during your reception, so you should love the dress by itself.
Accessorizing is also an expense a lot of brides don’t think to consider. Remember when you’re budgeting for your wedding dress include wedding-worthy accessories like shoes, hair adornments, a veil, and/or jewelry. Additionally, many brides forget to factor in alteration costs!
Being Pressured To Buy:
There’s no denying it, the pressure to find the perfect wedding dress can be overwhelming. While your bridal stylist and your I do crew just want what’s best for you, sometimes their opinions can only make the decision process worse. Do not feel like you need to choose a dress on behalf of anyone or anything. Most commonly, brides will be lured to purchase after bridal shops offer discounts.
“Sometimes it’s not worth saving that 10% for your peace of mind knowing you’ve chosen the right dress.”
Rushing to make a decision almost always leads to buyers’ remorse. This is why it’s important to start your wedding dress shopping process early! If you don’t, you can run into late fees. Instead, give yourself more than enough time and read our blog on when to start wedding dress shopping. Then if you’re still feeling unsure during your appointment, you don’t have to make an immediate decision.
To ease your decision-making process, Platinum Bridal will have brides try on their top three (or less) dresses again. This gives you time to move around in each dress, to sit, and to think about how the dress really feels. If you have any accessories you know you will be wearing such as a hairpiece or a veil, try them on with all three dresses. This will help you get the full picture of what you will look like on your wedding day and see your options back to back.
“Revisiting a dress, you want to make sure you have that same feeling you had when you first put it on if it is a top choice. If you’re not feeling the same, it may not be a top dress at that point.”
Lastly, we’re conditioned by shows like “Say Yes to the Dress” to think the moment you find your dream dress will evoke an emotional response. Monica and Tori want you to know that this is not the story for every bride. They’ve seen brides make the mistake of going shop to shop waiting for tears to happen. Instead remember, “every bride connects with a dress differently!”
Penny Hill
I’m looking for mermade type in plus size.