Things to know before you go wedding dress shopping!

 

*Premium content alert* Since I am engaged and getting married in the next twenty years I now qualify as a very professional wedding blogger. Thats right, ya girl is coming in hot with that wedding planning content. I recently went wedding dress shopping and found the perfect dress… I now feel obliged to share some tips and tricks to help make your wedding dress shopping experience special and magical.

I consider myself to be lucky to be the last person out of my friend group to get married. Many might disagree as recently married friends *opinions* can be tough to handle however, I am open to all suggestions and tips. Why be stressed when I can learn from all of my friends mistakes? (love you…).

The first tip, which I think is obvious is budget. Know your budget before you go shopping. When I booked my shopping appointment, I sat down with my mom to review my dress budget. We compared prices of dress shopping places and found a place that would have a lot of dresses in my budgeted area. At the start of the appointment I informed the  shop owner of my budget so that she wouldn’t pull dresses for me to try on that were over.

This brings me to my next tip, finding a place to shop for wedding dresses. There is no wrong answer when choosing a place to buy a wedding dress. Most of them carry similar dresses and have a wide price range, however I was going for an overall experience. I chose The Wedding Embassy in Connecticut for its selection of dresses, price range, and environment. As I said earlier, I am the last of my friends to get married, so this wasn’t my first dress shopping rodeo. The Wedding Embassy offers a private shopping experience, Champagne Sunday. For a small fee you book a 3 hour time frame where you and your “party” get a 1:1 shopping experience with either the owner or another wedding “embassador”, brunch, and champagne. I knew wedding dress shopping was going to be an overwhelming experience, so this was honestly the best option for me.

The next important thing to consider is what you are going to be wearing underneath your dress. We are going to get a little personal here. So boys close your eyes. During your wedding dress shopping experience you get the chance to get up close and personal with your wedding dress embassador. She is your one and only friend for the day. She will be there for you in the dressing room taking your side on all the dresses you hate. She will be there to calm you down when you are feeling overwhelmed, she will remind you continuously that at the end of the day it is your dress and only your opinions matter, and she will be there you help you shimmy in and out of multiple wedding dress half naked. Honestly, a life long friendship is formed behind those pastel curtains. Sticking to my true ways I wore full coverage (granny) hot pink underwear, and my all time fave gel breast petals. 100% recommend these to a friend. They are reusable, comfortable, and my wedding embassador thanked me for wearing them. When she sincerely thanked me for wearing glorified nipple pasties… I wondered what awful things she has seen in her days as a wedding embassador.

The fourth thing to do, and honestly was a tip / gift from a friend was to bring a robe. Oh this was an amazing gift. During your time trying on dressed there will be a time where you become overwhelmed, hangry, hot, tired, etc. There is no better feeling then slipping into a comfy robe, sitting with your crew and sipping champagne for a couple minutes as you reflect on all the different shades of white.

The fifth thing I highly recommend is to get glam before your fitting. I curled my hair, put a little extra effort into my makeup, and got my nails done. It really helped me visual each dress I put on as to what I might look like that day. It also made me feel good. Self care is so important, and yes I consider getting glam self care.

The sixth tip, is to bring all the right accessories. Shoes, hair pieces, vail, etc. I know I am most likely going to be in flats so shoes were not important to me, however if you are planning on wearing heels, bringing a pair that matches the ideal height you would like to achieve is beneficial. Additionally, I know I want to wear a flower crown. I also knew the wedding embassy had one there as a prop to use for when trying on dress. The addition of the flower crown also helped me better visualize the dresses I was trying on… Are you see the theme here? VISUALIZE. “Visualizing my dreams to obtain my optimal level success.” – Some self help book I’m sure…

Finally chose a good team. I brought my mom, aunt, best friend from childhood (MOH), best friend from high school (Bridesmaid), future sister in law (Bridesmaid), and future mother in law. I felt strong with my team. Everyone has great opinions and really let me explore all dress styles… this boho girl went a little wild, but we brought it back in.

And my final, final tip… be open minded. We all go in there thinking we know what we want, what style looks best on us, but it is alright to not know… or to be wrong. Try on styles you are not comfortable with and styles you have never thought to try. I PROMISE. You will not regret it…

Have any other tips? Let me know in the comments! Happy shopping 🙂

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