31 Days of Wedding Planning: Day 5--Wedding Dress

Wedding Dress! Sigh....such a great thing to do in the planning process. But it can also be overwhelming! There are SO many styles, price ranges, silhouettes, materials, and even colors. Picking a wedding dress and then wearing it is something a lot of girls dream about, but it's not always an easy decisions. There are even TV shows about it! It's a big deal. So where do you start?

Some things to consider--

season--some materials/silhouettes fit better in different seasons
style of wedding--if you are having a casual wedding, then a blinged out dress might be too much
body--there are many resources online that can help you determine which silhouette is most flattering for your body type
budget--dresses can be so expensive! Set a price before you go shopping. Once you try on the super spendy one and love it, that makes it SO much harder to not buy it.
are you able to sit/dance/fit into a car in the dress

As a little girl, I hated lace. Well, that wasn't the only thing I hated. I was very particular about how certain fabrics felt on my skin and lace was one that really bothered me. UGH, no way jose! But then, before I got engaged, I all of a sudden just started pinning every lace wedding dress I saw. My mom was wondering what had happened to me! I honestly think part of the inspiration was Kate Middleton's dress. At any rate, I learned that it's okay to change your mind about what you once wanted and just give your new ideas a try. I still pinned the flowy, empire-waist, Grecian style dresses that I liked but they more and more becoming outnumbered by lace.

When planning for your wedding dress, I would recommend lots of pictures! Cutting from magazines and pinning online. As you collect more and more, you will hopefully start to see a trend in material and silhouette especially. Then when you go to try on, you have a good starting point and can show your pictures to the consultant and they will help pull dresses to fit your desires.

Here are some dresses that I pinned:

As you can see, lots of lace. I loved the open back idea but when I tried a dress on like that, I found that I could hardly lift my arms up. Hmmm...okay that wouldn't work.

Once you are ready to go try on dresses, make appointments. If they have an online store, look at dresses you like and call ahead of time to make sure they have them in the store.

I would recommend taking someone with you. Someone you trust, who can give their honest opinion without being rude, and who has similar taste as you or knows exactly what you like and what works for you. I took my mom. She came from out of town and so we had 3 days to find a dress. I called about 6 places in the area that I knew had dresses I had found online that I really liked. I made 4 appointments and we set out with pictures and a smile.

Take a camera with you. Some places may not allow you to take pictures, but those that do...take them! You will want to look back later to compare or just remind yourself how much you really like one.

Going in, you may know which dress you want. I think it's a good idea to try on a few though. Those other dresses will either totally confirm your decision or open up great new possibilities you hadn't considered. And besides, what's the harm in trying on a lot of wedding dresses???

My mom and I ended up only going to 2 appointments because we found my dress at the second place. Even though the appointment I had looked forward to the most was the next day, I knew their dresses were 3x as much and I had already fallen so in love with a dress, I didn't think I could like another one 3x as much. So I made the decision, rang the bell, and bought my dress!