What to expect when shopping for your Bridal Gown
While working at one of the best salons for bridal in Carmel, Indiana we came across so many brides that weren’t sure of the process of bridal shopping. The process doesn’t just begin when you walk into the doors of the salon. It begins as soon as you start envisioning what you will wear when you marry your one true love. Typically you start Pinteresting what dresses are standing out to you. It could be a fit and flare, mermaid, ballgown, sheath, trumpet, simple, laced, beaded, sleeves or no sleeves, the list goes on and on. But most, don’t know exactly what they are looking for until they try on the one that speaks to them. Here is where I will help you prepare for a great bridal experience.
First thing to do is to create a budget for what you want to spend on your dream dress. With this budget include if you want a veil, jewelry, or shoes to go with it. You may also want to include alterations which can also add onto the bill. Not too often does a dress fit exactly to the bride when it comes from the designer so plan accordingly.
Next is where to shop. Larger cities are usually easier to shop so you can get multiple locations in within a day. One thing I will recommend is that please do yourself a favor and just book 2-3 appointments. The chances of you finding your dress within those appointments is highly likely if you’ve been doing your homework on what you think you may be looking for.
Plus size bride over here! Make sure that if you are considered plus size in bridal which is a normal jean size of a 10/12 to make sure they have extended sizes and plenty of styles for you to try on. Some bridal salons carry the extended sizes, where as some do not and that is a complete buzzkill when you’re excited to try on dresses but you can’t. So many lines have them now and some stores have sister stores that just carry extended sizes.
For the Day of Shopping…
I highly recommend starting the day with a light to medium breakfast to soak up those mimosas you may be feeling to get rid of the nervousness of shopping for the big day. Also, after two appointments if starting early, schedule a lunch for you and your girls to go over everything you’ve tried on.
Which brings me to my next helpful tip. Shopping is much less stressful if you have a group of 2-4 people with you. Remember that the people you bring with also have opinions so make sure you trust all of them with what you are envisioning. When you are at a bridal salon most will ask what type of dress you are looking for and what details you were thinking of. The consultant knows the inventory of the store and usually has thought of the perfect dress with all the details described. Some will allow you to browse with them or you can stay back and trust the process of the bridal consultants thinking while you enjoy the company of the group you’ve brought sipping some champagne.
One of the most asked questions when booking an appointment was “What do I wear when trying on gowns?” Don’t overthink this too much. We recommended wearing full coverage panties and your choice of wearing a strapless bra or no bra. Reason for no bra was because most gowns come with a B cup already sewn into the dress.
After you’ve found “The One” you will have the consultant take your measurements and show you a size chart for the designer you’ve picked. If this is your first time shopping in bridal please do not sweat the bridal sizing. Your dress size is two sizes larger in bridal than your normal jean size.
Most important tip! Please have fun and do not sweat not finding your dress at the first place. It is out there and when you finally put it on, it will all make sense.