Deciding on a dress

I'm a terrible example but before we decided to postpone, I bought my dress. So I technically had it picked a year and a half before our wedding! But I still love it and look at photos of it all the time.


It's on the island, but Blush Bridal was phenomenal. Plus, if you keep an eye out, they do sample sales every now and again (I think it was 500 for every dress on a rack or two)!
If you really want your fiancé's opinion and want to share this with them, it's up to you! You can make your own rules.

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Hahah, I'm so indecisive and the one person's opinion I value the most is my fiance's, so I keep wanting to show him the dresses I try on! I loved EBTG, there's a dress there I really really loved. Fingers crossed that you'll finally get to wear it this summer!

I’m getting married August.29th,2021 but should have been married August.29th,2020 my fiancé and I just happened to drive past the bridal salon that I kept hearing about so I made him stop.We went in and started looking around and the first dress he touched turned out to be the one..He hasn’t seen the actual dress on me and I tried about 7 others on without him to be sure but I’ve owned it since 2019 and it’s just sitting at everything but the groom in Langley waiting for me.

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May 2022!! I've tried on at two stores so far, I was thinking of online but changed my mind.

I have another appointment the end of the month.

My mom and I went to a trunk show, mostly for fun, about a year out and then I booked at 2 salons 10.5 & 11 months out. I found my dress at the first salon so I cancelled the second one. Altogether I think I tried on about 20-25 dresses and I had it narrowed down to 2 pretty quickly. One was in budget ($700 off the rack, needed some alterations) and the other was wayy over budget.

I started looking at what kind of dresses I wanted (style fabric etc) right after I got engaged in 2017. My mom and my MOH went to a few bridal shows in early 2018 for my 2020 wedding to see what was out there with regards to dresses (they usually have a few bridal stores there). I had seen a dress I loved in a window of a bridal store in the mall that I used to work at. Forward a year later (January 2019) to when I was really ready to try on dresses, we went to that same bridal store since they had the designer that I loved in stock. I knew I didn't want to spend over $3500 for my dress, so I didn't try on any that was over that. That same dress I had seen a year ago on the mannequin was still at the store. I tried on probably 10 dresses before I tried on "that" dress. As soon as I tired it on, I knew it was "the one"!! It did take 7 months for it to come in in my size and the color that I chose and probably another 2-3 months of alterations

View quoted message My first appt went well! But I was surprised with the dress I liked the most and it wasn't quite perfect! So 🤞 the 2nd store has the perfect dress!

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That's where I went, EBTG! They were great! I was looking at Lisa's Bridal so I'll check them out...

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How did you feel about it!

My wedding is next may as well! I had my first dress appt last week and I have another one next week!

I haven't gone yet - but was thinking I would probably start looking late summer like August, about 10 months prior. I worry if I go too early I might second guess any choice, or change my mind on the style

I got my dress 8 months before our anticipated wedding date, from Lisa's Bridal in New West.

They had lots of options within my budget (under $2000) so was able to find one quite easily. Columbia St in NW is known for their bridal shops, so I would definitely check out a few of those. As well, Everything But the Groom in Langley has a great selection for a little less expensive.

Good luck!

I went about 10 months before our wedding date, did some pre-research about what I thought I wanted, then started at David's Bridal. My budget was $500-1000 and I found they had lots of options in my budget. When I went I tried on multiple dresses, even ones that I wasn't sure about to see what the silhouette was like on me. I think one of the 1st dresses I tried on was the one I eventually bought... but still went to like 4 other bridal stores to browse/try on dresses haha. I just had the one dress stuck in my mind so I ended up going back for it. I didn't have the whole crying/butterflies experience, but I think I'll have that once I'm all done up on the wedding day (I'm super visual, so it was hard to visualize the dress altered, hair done, etc haha).

David's Bridal gets a bad rep sometimes but I was really happy with the experience (got my bridesmaids dresses there too). One good thing about David's is that because it's a chain there are often sales - my dress was $900 and I got a 10% off coupon which was helpful. Now that my wedding has been pushed by a year, the dress dropped to like $200 LOL so that was a big bummer hahah but oh well!

Also keep in mind alterations costs as they can be a few 100 depending on what needs to be done! My hope was to get something off the rack with no alterations needed but nope that wasn't going to happen hahah

I went shopping about 10 months before my wedding. I looked quite a bit on pinterest to figure out the general styles and designers I liked and showed it to my consultant so she had an idea of what I liked. And then when I was in store I tried on as many dresses as I could until I narrowed down the style I liked best. I don't think this approach is for everyone, but I had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted and I wasn't worried about confusing myself. I went to two different stores, but for a total of three shopping trips.

I only brought one person with me who I knew would give me her honest but constructive opinion and didn't show many people my top choices. I also went to one of my appointments alone. I think this helped a lot because I didn't need to focus on other people's opinions.

I bought my dress from The Bridal Gallery in New West. I ideally wanted to spend no more than $**** but I just could not find any stores in the Vancouver area with dresses I liked for that budget and I ended up basically doubling my budget. Unfortunately I found most dresses in Vancouver started around $1200 before tax and got very expensive very fast. Some stores will even tell you not to bother coming if your budget is below $2000 - kind of shocking but at least they warn you. If you're able to find a trunk sale you can usually get about 10% off so that can help a bit. Or I know there are also some stores that sell discontinued styles or do second hand dresses. Sample sales are another option if you're around the size samples tend to come in - in my experience most samples I tried on were around a street size 6 and for plus options they came in about a 16-18. The other store I went to was Champagne & Lace in Abbotsford. They were a bit more affordable, but still sort of at the lower end of Vancouver prices.

I know we're in covid times but if you're able to get out of the city to shop I think you'll have way more options - maybe to the island or the interior when travel isn't restricted. Or if somehow travel to the US becomes possible within your time frame BHLDN has some really beautiful and affordable options so a day trip to Seattle could work too - but that might be too optimistic with covid lol.