If you are a bride who is ready to begin shopping for your wedding dress, then this advice post is for you. Brides who are preparing for their first wedding dress shopping appointment will love our advice to help you know what to expect before your appointment. Our tips will help brides maximize their wedding dress shopping experience and take full advantage of their appointment time.
We want all brides to be better prepared leading up to their wedding dress shopping appointments. Follow along for everything brides should know to prepare for your experience in store. We’ll share some insight for things that you can do at home to prepare for your appointment prior to being in store so that you can be more productive and make the most of your shopping time.
Bridal Store Culture
Whether you are a bride that has already begun shopping for your wedding dress or are a bride that is getting ready for their first shopping appointment, we will help prepare you to know what to expect at your appointments. Keep in mind that each bridal store will run their appointments a little bit differently. Once you have narrowed down which bridal stores you want to visit, you may want to call and ask how their wedding dress shopping appointments work so that you are ready when you walk in the door.
Some bridal stores will allow you to browse all of their sample dresses and select the dresses you want to try on. Other stores will have a stylist that goes alongside you and pulls dresses to help you understand what a certain style dress looks like when it’s on a body. And some stores may ask what styles you are drawn to and will pull from their inventory based on their expert knowledge.
Just remember that each bridal store’s culture and personality is different and unique, so you’ll want to find a good fit for your own style and personality. You want to be comfortable when shopping for your wedding dress and trust your bridal stylist.
Bridal Store Size
When researching what bridal stores you want to visit when shopping for your wedding dress, keep in mind that the size of the store is going to impact the type of appointment you have and how the store runs their dress appointments.
For instance, Lovella is a very large bridal store as we house over 20 collections from top wedding dress designers. We have over a thousand bridal dresses in our inventory and we tend to purchase a lot of sample dresses from the various collections offered by our designers. We pride ourselves on the diversity we offer our brides in style, price point, designers, and sizes. It would be overwhelming to just let brides loose in the store on their own to pull their own dresses to try on, and that is why we rely on our expert stylists to guide our brides through their wedding dress shopping appointments.
Expert Bridal Stylists
Bridal stylists or bridal consultants will be an invaluable resource to brides when shopping for their wedding dress. At Lovella, our bridal stylists have worked with the store for long periods of time and they are very highly trained and knowledgeable of what designers are capable of doing, what can and cannot be done in the alterations process.
All the various different questions that you are going to have as you try on different wedding dresses, the bridal consultants will be there with an answer. They are experts and are not there just to be a salesperson. They are there to educate you and guide you through the entire process of finding your dream wedding dress.
Your bridal consultant is going to be very familiar with the store’s inventory, so they will know which designers might have dresses that fit the design vision you are looking for for your wedding day. They will know what dresses are in your budget. They will save you a lot of time by being able to pull dresses for you that fit your parameters and will look beautiful on your body. Their experience and expertise is invaluable to maximizing your time during your shopping appointment.
Browse Online
One of the best things that brides can do to prepare for their wedding dress shopping appointment is to browse the inventory listed on the bridal store’s website. Become familiar with the designers that the store carries so you know what styles or designs you are drawn to and want to sample. Many bridal stores will list a price range for each designer so you can know right away what styles fit your budget.
Screenshot or save photos of the particular dresses that you want to try on so the bridal stylist knows right away which dresses to pull. If you come to your appointment with a few dresses you know you absolutely want to try on, it will be a great starting point and you won’t have to waste any time browsing racks for a first dress to try on.
VIDEO: How To Maximize Your Shopping Experience
For any bride preparing to shop for their wedding dress, you won't want to miss our advice video and tips to help you prepare for your appointments and to maximize your wedding dress shopping experience.
Honest Feedback
Once in store, the best tip we can give to brides to maximize their time when wedding dress shopping is to give your bridal stylist honest feedback on each bridal dress you try on. Every single dress that you try is going to help lead you to finding “the one”. Try not to get discouraged throughout the process, even though it may be overwhelming. Trying on wedding dresses can be very emotional for some brides, but it will be worth it to keep going.
Be specific with your stylist as to what you like and don’t like about each dress you try on. This will help your stylist narrow down on specifics like silhouette or shape and details like lace or beading that will best fit your style. Your honest feedback is going to help your stylists be able to pull the next dress for you until you ultimately find the perfect wedding dress.
Skip The Veil
It may seem like a small thing, but one easy way to maximize your time when trying on wedding dresses is to not try on a wedding veil with each dress. You will be taking away time during your appointment to accessorize a dress that you may not be purchasing. You want to try on as many dresses as possible during your appointment and the wedding dress should be priority number one.
If you think you might have found “the one”, then you can go ahead and try on a veil and other bridal accessories to see how the overall look is, but it’s not necessary to do for each dress.
Timeline Logistics
Despite how fun it may be to shop for your wedding dress, there are some basic logistical things to keep in mind when it comes to shopping for and ordering your wedding dress. On average, it takes about six to eight months for a bridal gown to come in from the designer once ordered. Wedding dresses are custom ordered items so ample time needs to be allowed for production and shipping. You also need to leave additional time for alterations, ideally two months before the wedding, but you should check with your seamstress to ensure you have enough time to complete the alterations. In our expert opinion, brides should be buying their wedding dress about a year before the wedding.
If you are shopping less than a year before your wedding, be up front with your bridal stylist. They will know which designers can work with your timeline or perhaps will know which sample dresses might be available to you. It doesn’t make sense to be trying on wedding dresses that could never be ready in time for your wedding day, so maximize your appointment time by telling your bridal stylist your wedding timeline at the start of your appointment.
More Helpful Wedding Dress Shopping Advice
We hope you have found this advice helpful when it comes to preparing for your wedding dress shopping appointments and knowing what to expect at your bridal appointments. For even more helpful advice when it comes to shopping for your dream wedding dress, be sure to check out our past posts:
- What Should I Expect When Wedding Dress Shopping For The First Time
- Wedding Dress Shopping Tips For The Newly Engaged Bride
- Price Shopping Bridal Stores: Why it's not recommended!
- What Does It Mean To Be Ready To Buy Your 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.
