Common Wedding Dress Doubts, How to Avoid Bridal Buyer's Remorse

Are you a bride who is shopping for their wedding dress and worried you will have buyer’s remorse or second guess your decision? You are not alone! We hear from so many of our brides shopping with us at Lovella that they are worried they will regret their wedding dress and bridal accessory purchases. We want to share our best tips for why brides second guess their bridal fashion decisions to help future brides avoid buyer’s remorse for their wedding day attire.

Our tips will help brides who are new to wedding dress shopping and just beginning their bridal attire search prevent buyer’s remorse and decision making stress. If you have already purchased your wedding dress and bridal accessories, our tips can help ease some of those worried thoughts and doubts causing you to second guess your wedding dress purchase.

Video: Top Reasons Why Brides Second Guess Their Wedding Dress Decision

If you are a bride who is beginning to shop for their wedding dress and want to avoid buyer's remorse or are a bride who has already purchased their wedding dress and is starting to have second thoughts, we have your back! We are sharing the top reasons why brides second guess their wedding dress decision so you can learn how to avoid or cure wedding dress buyer's remorse and be confident in your bridal fashion decisions.

First Reason: Not What They Envisioned

The first reason brides second guess their wedding dress purchase is because it’s not what they envisioned wearing on wedding day. Once you get engaged, one of the first things that many brides do is start looking at wedding dresses. Maybe you started a Pinterest board of dress inspiration or saved images from magazines. You start envisioning what your wedding dress will look like, the veil, your accessories, and you start to put together in your mind what you will look like when walking down the aisle.

This can be a great starting point for when you go to try on wedding dresses in person. Maybe you always thought you would wear a ball gown wedding dress or an all lace gown so your bridal consultant can start showing you dresses that fit your initial vision.

More often than not, brides end up buying a wedding dress that they never thought they would choose. You really won’t know what style wedding dress you will love until you put it on. As you try on dresses, you will get a better sense of the styles and embellishments you like or don’t like, and each dress you try on will lead to the next one and inform what other gowns you should try on. This is why it’s so important to have an open mind when wedding dress shopping and to try on as many different dresses as you can because you just never know what dress you will fall in love with.

So even if you begin your wedding dress shopping without a clear vision of what you want to wear on wedding day, you have probably at least thought a little about what your wedding dress will look like, even if you haven’t spent years thinking about your wedding day or day dreaming about bridal fashion. It’s easy to second guess your wedding dress decision if it doesn’t match what you initially visualized yourself wearing on wedding day.

The cure to this doubt is to remember how you felt when wearing the dress or the veil, whatever detail it may be that you are second guessing. The way the dress makes you feel is why you are buying it and there was a reason you made that decision, even if that feeling fades when you take off the dress and go home.

Second Reason: Not Shopping Enough

The next common doubt brides have when wedding dress shopping is thinking they have stopped shopping too soon. It’s common for brides to second guess their wedding dress decision if they think they didn’t have the opportunity to try on every style. You might think that you just settled on a gown and may be thinking that a different silhouette would have been better.

We would encourage brides, especially at their first wedding dress shopping appointment, to try on a variety of silhouettes. Try on a fitted dress, a ball gown, a mermaid dress and see what you are most drawn to. From there, you can narrow down on the exact details like lace or sparkle, but you want to know you have the shape you love first.

There is a fine line to walk between trying on all the styles and reaching decision fatigue. You don’t have to buy your wedding dress at your first appointment. Once you start trying on dresses, it can be overwhelming. By the time you get to your seventh or eighth dress, you might not remember what you tried on first and second or what details you liked. You don’t want to buy your wedding dress when you are wishing you had tried on that other style. Know that you can shop again and make a well-informed decision.

Third Reason: Forget The Feeling

The third reason brides start second guessing their wedding is dress is one of the most common reasons and that is forgetting how they felt in the dress. We touched on this reason earlier, but remember that you chose your dress for a reason. Wedding dress shopping is such a unique scenario because you most often do not get to take the dress home with you that day. Brides are most often placing an order for a new gown that has to be manufactured and they won’t see their dress for 6 to 8 months or more after they have placed their order. You won’t get to try on your dress at home in the months leading up to your wedding to remind yourself that you do love your dress.

All you will have is photos that you took when trying on the dress and that can lead to overanalyzing every tiny detail. The dress that you chose to buy made you feel beautiful and confident and that can be hard to remember many months after making the decision, but know that you picked your dress for a reason.

Fourth Reason: Not Trusting Your Gut

The fourth reason brides second guess their wedding dress decision is not trusting their gut. We have heard from so many of our brides that they had a gut feeling, they knew what they should have picked but they went with another option. It can be for numerous different reasons that other factors weighed in and they didn’t go with their gut instinct.

If you are a bride who has a gut feeling when trying on wedding dresses, and you normally make decisions that way and trust your gut, do so now. That feeling is there for a reason so don’t ignore it as it could lead to buyer’s remorse.

Fifth Reason: Trusting Other Opinions

The fifth reason that brides doubt their wedding dress and bridal fashion choices is outside opinions. This is unfortunately so common for brides. They listen to someone else’s opinion, whether that be their mom or sister or a close friend, rather than trust their own feelings and opinions.

You can certainly accept feedback from those people you choose to bring wedding dress shopping, but it is ultimately your decision to make. So many brides end up being influenced by what a family member or friend think they should wear rather than trusting their own voice and feelings.

Sixth Reason: Budget Choices

The last common reason we see brides have wedding dress doubts is when the decision is made based on price. We see this last scenario play out so many times. A bride is between two choices and they make the decision based on the cost and what fits the budget. Now we certainly appreciate following the budget you have set for your bridal fashion, but you don’t want to have regrets on what you wear down the aisle just because of costs.

If you love the dress that is less expensive, that’s great. But if you pick that dress just because it saves some money when you love and feel great in a dress that’s a bit more, it can lead to buyer’s remorse. You can’t put a price tag on the feeling a dress gives you. That happiness and love and confidence is going to exude off you all day long on wedding day versus just a dress you feel so-so wearing.

Those feelings and that excitement when you zip up your dress, put on your veil, hold your bouquet, your entire look on wedding day sets a tone and an energy for the day. So we encourage you to be really intentional and mindful and have as much clarity as you can when you are making decisions for your wedding. Everyone has inner voices and outer voices that can cloud our judgment at times so considering all the options and being mindful will help you avoid feeling doubt and buyer’s remorse.

More Helpful Wedding Dress Shopping Advice

We hope you have found this advice helpful when it comes to understanding common reasons for brides to doubt their wedding dress decision and how to avoid buyer's remorse. 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:

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.

Top Reasons Why Brides Second Guess Their Wedding Dress Decision