EVERYTHING You Need To Know About Wedding Dress Shopping

Welcome to part two in our three-part series, Everything You Need to Know. This is a series discussing the entire ins and outs of the wedding dress shopping process, straight from a former bridal stylist. If you aren’t caught up already, be sure to read my first post on the topic. That one covers everything you need to know before scheduling your appointment, including how to find the right shop for you, how many guests are too many, and more. This week, we’re tackling the fun stuff: the actual appointment! We’re going to talk about buying your wedding dress, and all that this entails. Ever wondered how bridal stylists pull dresses for you or what you can expect from the payment process? Be ready to bookmark this post for later, because I’m going to share it all.

Before Your Appointment

First thing’s first: you need to know how to best come prepared. There are do’s and don’ts of how you should come dressed when wedding dress shopping. The good thing is, a lot of this stuff is completely subjective. For example, if I were to say “come with your hair done”, that means that you should show up to your appointment with your hair however you like to do it. You see? Speaking of which, that brings me to my first tip.

1) Go to your appointment dressed how you want to look on your wedding day (sort of)

Now, I’m not saying to hire a glam squad and show up in your old prom dress or something. What this means is that you should *reasonably* look similar to how you would ideally like to on your big day. Let’s say you are not a makeup wearer on the regular but would like to wear natural makeup on your wedding day. Consider wearing a light coverage skin tint and a hint of mascara. While this obviously won’t fully mimic the work of a professional makeup artist, it gives you a nice glimpse into how your makeup look will pair with your wedding dress. Because yes, that does in fact make a difference.

While we’re on this same topic, this does not only apply to brides who tend to not wear makeup. Let’s circle back to my hair example from earlier. Personally, I am a naturally curly-haired woman. On my wedding day, I suspect I will prefer to have my hair straightened/blown out (regardless of the hairstyle I choose). If you suspect you may be similar in this regard, consider wearing your hair in the state (natural vs. straightened) that you will have it for your wedding day. No need to worry about up do’s or anything of that nature.

To summarize the beauty aspect, my philosophy is as follows: when you’re shopping for your wedding dress, try and look like yourself, but better. Ultimately, you should feel comfortable in your skin and not like you’re trying too hard. Next up: undergarments.

What type of underwear should I use?

What underwear you choose to wear for your bridal appointment is incredibly important. 10 times out of 10 stylists are going to recommend that you wear nude underwear to prevent any color from peeking out when you’re trying on dresses. I like to take it a step further and recommend a thong. This way you also won’t see any panty lines, which we all know can sometimes be distracting.

As for bras, be aware that your stylist is more than likely going to ask you to remove yours. Straps can be highly inconvenient when it comes to wedding dress shopping and will often detract from the beauty of certain features, such as low back designs. If you’re worried about maintaining your modesty, your shop should have robes available or loose cups to use. This can also be super helpful when trying on dresses that are unlined up top and may appear a little more see-through than the final result will.

Lastly, if you think you may consider wearing a form of shapewear on your wedding day, it wouldn’t hurt to wear it when trying on dresses as well. At the very least, it would be an awesome idea for your final fitting!

Great! But what should I wear to go wedding dress shopping?

More often than not, shopping for your wedding dress happens during the weekend, and with gal pals in tow. What does that mean then? Brunch, obviously. So go ahead and dress for the occasion! But remember, you want to feel comfortable. I can all but guarantee that you will have to put y0ur entire outfit back on and then off again at LEAST once. My final suggestion would be to wear a comfortable, flowy dress. Ya know, if you’re into that sort of thing.

During Your Appointment

Now, this is the exciting part. You’re finally at your appointment, ready for the fun to begin. You’re probably nervous, a little excited, and curious as to what tricks your stylist is going to pull to help you find the dress of your dreams. Here are some questions that you can expect to be thrown your way.

1) Introductions

Hi there, congratulations on your engagement! Tell me a little bit about your wedding.

This is the introductory part where your stylist wants to learn more about you and your fiancé. Believe it or not, stylists can deduce a lot of information about your personality and what dress may be best for you based on details like your venue or what color flowers you’re having. Heck, I even made a whole quiz about it! What you choose to divulge to your stylist is going to be instrumental in helping them gauge how to best serve your needs.

What is your budget/What price point are you comfortable with?

This question is extremely important to answer and to do so honestly. The last thing your stylist wants to do is present you with a dress that you fall in love with and can’t afford. No one wins in that situation! If you read my previous post in this series, you will remember the suggestion I made about calling your bridal shop ahead of time to ask what price range their dresses are in. If you completed this step, you should be comfortable sharing your budget knowing that you can, in fact, afford the pieces they have to offer.

Saying “I don’t really have a budget” is not a helpful response for your stylist. More often than not, it’s not exactly accurate either. A bridal stylist knows the inventory of their store like the back of their hand. Therefore, a response like this may result in them pulling a $4,000 dress that they thought you would really love. And upon trying it on, it turns out they were right! Unfortunately, the bride then may feel a bit of sticker shock after hearing the price. And suddenly, she learns the hard way that she does, in fact, have a budget.

This is not to say that you will not find your dream dress without paying a pretty penny. Quite the opposite, in fact! You absolutely do not have to spend an exorbitant amount of money when wedding dress shopping. Your stylist is trained to work with your budget and offer you options that will leave you feeling completely satisfied with your decision. Remember: be honest, and your dress will come!

2) The Wedding Dress Shopping Process

After learning about your goals for your wedding and maybe looking over your Pinterest board, it’s time for your stylist to start pulling dresses. Each stylist has their own “formula” and rationale as to how or why they pulled certain dresses. And now, I’m going to tell you my own!

At the store that I worked at, stylists would take the bride and her party for a lap around the store to get a feel for the dresses they felt most interested in. We would let the bride try all options she requested, and if these options did not accomplish the goal, that is when we would pull in our expertise.

Believe it or not, there’s often a strategy behind what order your stylist presents the dresses to try on in. It is very common for stylists to put the dress they believe the bride would like the most either first or second in the queue. We want brides to have a positive experience right off the bat. It would be perfectly natural to have a soured experience if the first few dresses she tried on weren’t flattering! Personally, I liked presenting my top choice for the bride second in the queue. For a lot of brides, it makes the experience feel a little more trustworthy. She won’t have to wonder if she “only” loved it so much because it was the first time she’s seen herself in a wedding dress!

We’ll go more in-depth on the intricacies of trying on dresses in a future post. Family drama tends to come up, and I have some helpful tips that are especially important for bridesmaids and their role in this part of the wedding.

The Payment Process of Wedding Dress Shopping

Yay!! After months of researching, waiting, and doing you’ve FINALLY found your dream dress. Andddddd now you have to actually pay for it. Ew. It sucks, but its all just a part of the wedding planning process. On the bright side, more often than not, you don’t have to pay all at once.

Bridal shops understand that it’s hard for people to drop $2,500 on a dress at one time. Especially because you won’t even have it in your possession for at least another 6 months! For that reason, you will probably be asked to put down a 50% deposit. The remaining 50% may be due after your dress has come in and you have verified there are no issues with the quality. While you’ll still end up paying the full amount, it’s helpful to know that you have a little time before all is due.

And there you have it! This concludes part two of Everything You Need to Know about buying your wedding dress. In part 3, we’ll be discussing what happens after your appointment. The waiting period, alterations, and accessorizing! As always, if you have any questions, feel free to DM me on Instagram or leave a comment below!

Featured image courtesy of Katie Harmsworth. You can also find Katie on her website.

Miguel Soria can also be found here on instagram.