Shopping for your wedding dress and finding the perfect gown to walk down the aisle in is one of the most exciting parts of planning a wedding. The bride and groom are centerpiece of the wedding day and that includes fabulous bridal fashion! Once you’ve said “yes to the dress”, you might be wondering how to choose the right bridal accessories to match your wedding dress.
Will you wear a wedding veil? Will you style your bridal gown with gloves or a bridal sash? What jewelry will you wear on wedding day? And what about your bridal hairstyle and headpieces? When it comes to styling and accessorizing your wedding dress, there are endless possibilities! The bridal accessories you choose can really transform your wedding dress and allow your personal style to show through.
In addition to helping our Lovella brides find their perfect wedding dress, we love to help them style and accessorize their bridal gowns so they can feel beautiful and confident when walking down the aisle. Bridal accessories add the finishing touch to your wedding dress and can help you truly feel “bridal”. Follow along for all our expert bridal styling tips for choosing the right accessories to match your wedding dress and wedding style.
Video: How To Choose The Right Bridal Accessories To Match Your Wedding Dress
If you are a bride who is ready to style their wedding dress and begin shopping for bridal accessories, you might be wondering how to match your accessories to your wedding dress. Bridal accessories offer endless possibilities to style your wedding dress and express your personal style. Before you begin styling your wedding dress, be sure to get our expert tips on how to choose the right bridal accessories to match your wedding dress.
Uniquely Your Style
The best part about selecting your bridal accessories is that you can make your wedding dress truly your own. Styling and accessorizing your bridal dress will make your wedding day look uniquely yours. Multiple brides can, and do, choose to wear the same gown on wedding day. It’s the styling and accessories they choose that allow no two brides to look exactly the same.
The jewelry you decide to wear, the way you style your hair, even the energy you bring while wearing your wedding dress is going to give the dress your own personal style. So do not worry if someone you know happens to choose the same wedding dress as you. You are going to have your own distinct style on wedding day that showcases your personality.
Complement, Don’t Distract
One important piece of advice to keep in mind when shopping for and selecting your bridal accessories is that you are not trying to distract from the dress or outshine your wedding dress. Your wedding dress should be the star (after the bride, of course!) and your accessories should be to complement the dress. Everything should work together to create a cohesive look. The bridal accessories you choose should only elevate the design and look of your wedding dress.
While you don’t want to go too over the top with bridal accessories, you do want to still make a statement. You are putting in time and effort to choose your accessories and to style your wedding dress, so make sure your efforts are noticed. You are going to want to piece pieces that are a bit larger than what you are probably used to. For example, if you choose a small hoop earring or a stud, your guests are likely not really going to see your earrings and they probably won’t show up well in your wedding photos. If you choose a smaller earring or jewelry pieces, they are not going to be very visible from a distance.
Keep in mind that when you are trying on various bridal accessories, you are going to be looking close up in a mirror and those items will appear larger in that reflection because you are up close. Be sure to take a step back and look from a distance. Make sure you get both perspectives and even have some photos taken so you can have another viewpoint.
Bridal Jewelry
The accessories you choose to wear on wedding day will all come down to personal style. If you have been following our advice, then you already know we don’t think there are any rules that have to be followed when it comes to bridal fashion. You don’t have to wear a veil or earrings. You can choose very elaborate accessories or go for a more subtle look. However, after helping countless brides style their wedding dresses, we have learned some tips that work as general guidelines and we think are helpful to consider when shopping for bridal accessories.
If you do plan on wearing earrings on wedding day, we recommend a longer, more dramatic earring than a small hoop or stud. Remember that your guests are going to see you from a distance for most of the day and your wedding photos are going to be taken from a bit of a distance, so for your earrings to really show up, a larger earring is going to be necessary. You don’t need to go so big that you feel like you are in a costume, but a nice statement earring that dangles will frame your face nicely and give a nice effect when it sparkles from moving around.
One of our favorite bridal accessory designers, Maria Elena, can actually make their bridal earrings in a clip on style, so even if you do not have pierced ears, you can still wear a gorgeous pair of earrings on wedding day. And if you are not an earring person, that is totally fine. Remember that it’s all about your personal style!
We find that earrings work better on wedding day than a necklace, but necklaces are not totally off limits. In our experience, a necklace can be just a bit too busy for some bridal looks. This can be true if you are wearing a dress with straps or sleeves and a necklace just adds another element that can be too much. Many brides will wear a veil on wedding day and carry a bouquet as well and a necklace can become another anchor point that stops the eye. We like to think of your veil and bridal headpiece as a replacement for a necklace. We always encourage brides to add some sort of headpiece that will be a nice accent once you remove the veil.
The formula we recommend to brides who are shopping for bridal accessories is a headpiece, earrings, and a bracelet on the right hand. So your headpiece could just be a bridal crown, or just a veil, or a combination of the two. A nice pair of statement earrings that frame your face. We recommend the bracelet on the right hand because it will be a nice complement to your wedding rings on your left hand and adds an extra piece of interest in your photos of cutting the cake or toasting champagne. Again, this is just what we suggest as a starting point and you can make your own choices based on the look and style you are going for on wedding day.
Shop Early And Experiment
What may be the most important tip when considering bridal accessories is to shop early. It will be the most stress-free way to shop if you choose your bridal accessories when you purchase your wedding dress. It’s always easier to pick your accessories when you are in the dress. We have many brides who want to decide on accessories outside of their dress appointment and this can cause some problems. If you choose accessories at the same time as your dress, then you can cross off another item on the to do list and know your bridal fashion is taken care of and that your look is cohesive. If you wait to select your bridal accessories, it can be more difficult to match to your dress. Your specific bridal dress may not be available for you to try on again at a later date and it’s much harder to coordinate styles and colors if you are not in the dress. You may run the risk of having to purchase accessories last minute and incur rush fees if you wait. Make life a little more stress-free and purchase your bridal accessories early.
While you are experimenting with wedding dress styles, we also encourage you to experiment with accessory styles. This is another great aspect of shopping for your accessories early. You have time to really consider your overall wedding day look. You may fall in love with a bridal dress with a lot of detail and want to keep your accessories really simple and minimal. Or maybe you want to go full glam with lots of sparkle.
Take the time to try on different accessories and in a variety of styles so you can see what really speaks to you and looks cohesive with your wedding dress. Trust your bridal stylist - they may suggest something you would never have thought of. But just like wedding dresses look different on the hanger, you won’t really know what an accessory will look like until you try it on.
More Helpful Bridal Fashion Styling Advice
We hope you have found this advice helpful when it comes to shopping for your bridal accessories and matching your wedding dress. 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 Accessorize & Style Your Wedding Dress
- Top 9 New Wedding Fashion Accessory Trends
- When To Order Bridal Accessories and Veil
- How to Choose the Right Wedding Veil
- Why You Should Wait to Try on Veils When Wedding Dress Shopping
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.
