Are you worried about buyer's remorse for your wedding dress? Are you scared that maybe you made the wrong choice with your bridal dress? Was the wedding dress that you purchased your dream dress at the time you bought it, but now you're not sure and you don't know what to do about it? If the confusion, worry, and overwhelm have set in when it comes to your wedding dress choice, the good news is that you're not alone. We see this all the time with our brides who shop with us at Lovella. And the even better news is that we're sharing our best advice for how to avoid doubts and second-guessing when it comes to your wedding dress. Take a deep breath, we got you!
If you are a newly engaged bride-to-be who has begun to plan your wedding, then you have probably noticed that your social media algorithm is shifting into more and more wedding-related content. This can be helpful while you are still looking for wedding inspiration and figuring out your wedding day and bridal styles. But once you have found your dream wedding dress, how can you handle the overstimulation of social media and avoid wedding dress buyer’s remorse?
When you still have any months until your wedding day, you might start to second guess your wedding dress purchase as you are seeing newer bridal dress designs online and on social media. We recommend to our brides that they purchase their wedding dress nine months to one year before the wedding, so this can be a long time to wait. If you're worried about how to handle the confusion and pressure that often comes win the gap of time between ordering your wedding dress and your wedding date, we have all the tips brides need to help them avoid wedding dress doubts.
VIDEO: Avoid Wedding Dress Doubts: The Impact of Social Media
If you are a bride who has already bought your wedding dress or are hoping to avoid buyer's remorse after buying your wedding dress, follow our tips to avoid wedding dress doubts.
Buying Your Wedding Dress
If you have been following our expert wedding dress shopping and bridal fashion advice here at Lovella, then you already know that we recommend brides shop for and purchase their wedding dress nine to 12 months before wedding day. This might seem like a long time before your wedding day to purchase your dress, but when you do the math and schedule it out, it makes sense that you'd want to give yourself enough time before your wedding day to order your dress. When you order a wedding dress from a bridal designer, a brand new dress is going to be made for you and this can take anywhere from sixe to eight months on average for production to arrive at your bridal store. You also have to plan ahead to have two to three months for the alterations process, so in an ideal world, brides will be buying their wedding dresses nine to 12 months before wedding day.
It is certainly understandable to start to get doubts on your wedding dress purchase. It could be at least 6 months or more from the day you buy the dress until you see it again when your order arrives in store. Those doubts and second guesses can start creeping in if all you have are a few photos from when you tried on your dress and you keep seeing new bridal dress designs online.
Wedding Dress Availability
Many wedding dress designers release new collections and bridal designs twice a year, in the fall and the spring seasons. Just like brides have to wait six to eight months to get their wedding dress order, bridal stores also have to wait to add these new designs to their inventory as samples for brides to try on during their appointments. This is important to keep in mind when you are seeing new styles on social media or fashion clips from the bridal fashion show runways. These new releases, or upcoming bridal dress designs you are seeing on social media from bridal fashion weeks or on the runway will not be available for brides to try on in bridal stores for another six months at least, so in many cases, these new bridal designs will not even be an option for your wedding.
We know that seeing these new bridal dress styles and designs can create uncertainty that you picked the right wedding dress, but just remember that these styles are not yet available for ordering for your wedding and they are not even an option for you, so try not to second guess the decision you made.
Soak in the Dress
The best piece of advice we can give to brides to help avoid wedding dress doubts is to soak in the bridal dress when you are in it at your appointment and have decided that is going to be your dress. Once you decide which dress to purchase, you will move on to other elements of your wedding planning, and you likely will have some doubts, which is very common and normal for many brides.
As we stated previously, it’s many months until you get to see and try on your bridal dress again after you place your order. So while you are in the wedding dress that you end up purchasing, really soak it all in. Pay attention to how you feel about the bridal dress and what you love about it.
What is it about this dress that made you fall in love with it? What is it about this dress that makes you feel beautiful and confident?
Hold on to those important and very personal details because that feeling you have in the dress is what makes you choose that dress in the first place. It’s not just how the dress looks in the mirror or in the photos you take, it’s about how you feel in the dress.
Accessory Appointment
We know that it can be easy to lose that feeling of how your wedding dress made you feel when you first tried it on when it’s been months and all you have are a few photos from your bridal shopping appointment. If you really find yourself doubting your decision and needing some reassurance, see if you can schedule another appointment at your bridal store to try on your wedding dress sample again to remind yourself why you chose it in the first place.
Another option is if you haven't selected your bridal accessories, like your veil or jewelry, you could ask if your bridal store offers a special accessories appointment. You can schedule a bridal accessories appointment where you can try on your wedding dress again and style it to complete your full bridal look.
Scheduling another appointment is a much better option than just sitting at home stressing and overanalyzing your bridal dress photos. Purchasing a wedding dress is such a unique situation because, in most cases, you don’t get to take your dress home with you when you place your order. You have to wait months and months to see it again and you can’t just try it on at any time at home when you are having doubts to remind yourself why you love your dress.
Second Bridal Looks
If you find that you are not having total buyer’s remorse but maybe wish you had gone with a different style or silhouette dress, there are a few options brides can work with. If the budget allows it, you could always purchase a second bridal dress for the rehearsal dinner, welcome party, wedding reception, or the after party.
Another option is to work with your dress during the alterations process to change up the look. Maybe you bought a ball gown wedding dress and now are wishing you went with a more fitted style. Perhaps some of the tulle layers could be removed from your dress during the alterations process. If you are in the opposite camp and purchased a more fitted gown and wish you had more volume, you can always add a wedding dress overskirt to give you a fuller skirt. You can also add removable sleeves to change up your bridal dress.
The best thing to do is be open and honest with your bridal consultant and your wedding dress alterations seamstress because there are often tweaks or solutions that can happy to ensure you are a happy bride before walking down the aisle. You deserve to walk down the aisle confidently and completely happy in your dress, don’t settle on something that only makes you feel so-so.
In the end, don’t let social media and an onslaught of new bridal designer wedding dresses get your thoughts snowballing. Know that you made the right decision on your wedding dress at the moment when you were in the dress and feeling amazing.
More Helpful Wedding Dress Shopping Advice
We hope you have found this advice helpful for any brides who may be experiencing doubt about their wedding dress and how to overcome this feeling. For even more helpful advice when it comes to shopping for your dream wedding dress and finding your bridal style, be sure to check out our past posts:
- How to Avoid Wedding Dress Buyer's Remorse
- Keeping Up With Wedding Dress Trends After Saying Yes to The Dress
- How To Decide When You Are Stuck Between Two Wedding Dresses
- How Do You Know When You've Found the Right Wedding Dress?
About Lovella
If you're shopping for your perfect wedding dress, come visit us at Lovella Bridal in Glendale, CA. We carry wedding dresses in all sizes and styles, including plus-size bridal gowns and a full selection of veils and accessories. Lovella Bridal is the premier, luxury bridal wedding dress shopping boutique located in Los Angeles, California. Lovella features couture, feminine, modern and chic bridal gowns in all sizes from the best wedding dress designers. Schedule an appointment to find the wedding dress of your dreams at Lovella Bridal. We can't wait to help you!
About Wedding Fashion Expert
Our wedding dress shopping tips and advice are from Nayri, Lovella's own, in-house wedding fashion expert. Nayri is truly the expert when it comes to bridal fashion and wedding style. As the Wedding Fashion Expert, Nayri is the top bridal fashion stylist and the best-selling author of the book "I'm Getting Married And I Have Nothing To Wear," the ultimate guide to helping brides find their wedding day style and their perfect wedding dress. You can subscribe to her YouTube channel or listen to her podcast for more helpful and practical advice on wedding dress shopping.
