Dress shopping advice

View quoted message Thank you. Didn't want to go to the one happening in my area if it was out of my price range.

View quoted message Max is $900. Min is 200 of 300$

View quoted message Congrats on finding your dress, what was the price ranges like at the sale?

Best of luck dress shopping today! I'm sure everything will go well. Just don't let anyone bully you into trying something on that you don't want to lol.

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Yeah it sounds like you have a good insight on what you are doing so that's good! You will have a blast trying on all sorts of dresses. I miss that part- sad it is over! Enjoy and soak up as much as you can

I personally have a cute little saying that I tell my Brides "finding a dress is a lot like finding a husband, sometimes you have to date some losers to find the winner"
Don't ever feel discouraged if you can't find the perfect dress you will stumble across it.

123's of bridal shopping:

keep an open mind, be optimistic and most importantly have fun!

As a bride AND a bridal consultant in a bridal store (dresses and more) this is my advice, don't expect anything.

Did you wear shapewear to yours?

It's completely up to you, us consultants usually come in the room to help you get into your dresses so the main thing is feeling comfortable in your own skin or undergarments we usually recommend trying dresses without a bra considering most dresses have built-in bras with them and also improve the look of them when you're trying them on. Most women do want to wear some sort of shapewear as they do have body concerns that's really a personal choice depending on your comfortability and body type I do recommend just wearing the dress and maybe some nude undergarments preferably seamless.


Did you let your family and friends all choose dresses for you to try?
your family and friends have been dying to give you their suggestions since the day you told them they were engaged I do recommend letting at least mom pick one dress and your maid of honor pick one dress if you are bringing them with you depending on how much time you have with your stylist you may be able to try on lots of dresses they suggest my recommendation is let your family and friends know what your vision is what you like and what you don't like as well as most importantly your budget. this experience is entirely for you but they do get joy from helping you make your choice so I do recommend letting your most important people in the Entourage choose a dress for you to model, keep in mind though in the end it is your choice do not let them sway you one way or another.

If you find your dress at the first store but have appointments at other stores later on, do you bother going to those ones, or do you skip those ones so you dont confuse yourself?
I personally have mixed feelings about this situation I have lots of girls who come in it's their first appointment ever trying on dresses and find the dress and no there's no point in going to try on a million dresses that are just going to make you more confused. On the other hand you don't want to sell yourself short and miss a great dress at another store I personally find if your first appointment has a great stylist and a great Vibe and you find a dress that feels like you go for it girl! Just stop looking after that you don't want to wind up buying more than one dress as most places do not do refunds or exchanges.

Did you buy all accessories the same day you picked your dress, or did you wait until later on or during a fitting?
With this situation I do find it helpful to buy your accessories and things like that especially your Veil on that appointment when you're buying your dress it allows you to match your assessories very easily as well as see the whole finished product while pulling pieces together. you don't want to have to Lug that beautiful expensive dress back and forth to make sure things match and like I said before you do need these things with you to make sure everything cohesively pulls itself together in the end.

also many stores will not let you bring a dress that is not theirs into their store as they cannot cover it Insurance wise same with yourself you don't want to be traveling with your dress unnecessarily just in case.

How many of you went in with a vague idea of what you wanted and actually left with a dress similar to that idea? How many of you went in a completely different direction than what you thought you would?
I personally put wedding dresses on ladies every single day it's something I love so much being able to show someone something they did not think about on a personal level I wanted a very slim simple dress and I ended up grabbing the most sparkliest biggest dress in the store to appease my mother and I fell in love with it it was something I told her I did not want to wear especially that silhouette but once I got it on it felt like the most magical thing in the world and I had to have it. It also happened with a big fluffy layered dress I told her there would be no way I would be wearing a layered dress as it is too poofy and freely once I put that thing on though I could not stop jumping around and dancing I had so much fun in the dress I almost bought it. Example, many women come into my store a little more curvy and say they cannot pull off a fitted dress and then I get it on them and they look drop dead gorgeous! I want to say make sure you put on every silhouette there is because you would be very surprised as to what flatters your body almost 90% of the girls that come into my store to try on dresses leave in something completely different than what they expected.
Professionally and personally I have experienced many people saying I don't think that will look good on me and halfway through the appointment we discover that our vision has completely changed.

I hope you found that helpful if you have any other questions I'm more than happy to help as another bride and also as someone who helps women find their perfect down every single day.
I'm sure you will look beautiful in anything you choose. The dresses that you showed as an example or stunning just keep an open mind throughout the process, good luck!

Lovely choices! I went to opportunity bridal pop up sale. Went with 2 bridesmaids and my MIL. They went and found me dresses to try on. We found the right dress within a few hours. Also ended up with something very different than I originally intended

I would definitely recommend booking an appointment, having a stylist helping makes a huge difference! I was very open minded and wanted to try on a few styles before making a decision. When I tried on my first dress my sister said "well looks like we are done" I ended up getting the first dress but needed to try on 3 other dresses to be sure.

I had a great stylist so I didn't even know what size I got, which was good I didn't want to stress over having a bigger size then I normally wear.

I did not buy any accessories as I want to look at my options and I didn't wear any shape wear even though they offered it to me there as well.

I also only booked one appointment, it may have ended very badly as my family was only here 2 days but we found the perfect dress in under an hour!

View quoted message Oh yeah! $18,000 was VERY out of my range but being able to say my boobs were in 18k worth of crystals was pretty awesome haha!! Beautiful dresses!!! Maybe I'll win it big one day and can wear a Pnina on our 25th anniversary hahah!!

View quoted message Omg ha ha I never even thought of that. Such a great tip.

View quoted message I know, sometimes we can feel that way! It’s better to know that the dress looks good on your body though because people will be posting pictures that they take from all angles you you won’t be able to hide

View quoted message Brilliant! Thank you! I hate having my picture taken without hiding behind something but I guess I have to get over that Haha

View quoted message My goal is to just not blind the poor girls with my white ass! The rest of me has a nice golden glow.. my boobs are pretty pasty though too 😅

View quoted message Pnina tornai 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼 beautiful dresses ! Definitely out of my proce range too but hey, giggles are the best 😂 I think I like stella york so much from watching say yes to the dress for so many years and seeing her dresses, and many of theirs remind me of pninas!

View quoted message I'm in love with stella. I found my stores based on where they were! I'm happy to hear about the sizing thing. Its so stupid how a number can affect us so drastically eh? I remember being mortified when my grad dress was a size 10! (Those were the days 😅😅😂) I will most definitely be in the plus sizes so I'm hoping I have lots of good options to choose from still

Wow, what a nice surprise for you from your aunt. Amazing!!

View quoted message I'd rather have shapewear with me and feel the need to take it off than not to have it and regret that decision! I just wanna bring in my hips a little bit Haha!!I will definitely make the final call, but I want to make sure I dont pick something hideous 😅😅

View quoted message 😂😂😂 definitely no because my butt is so white still that I'd probably blind the poor girl! Thanks for the heads up!!

View quoted message I think I will definitely wait on accessories. I'm hoping to find a dress with enough detail that I dont need much for accessories anyway i already know to be open minded and am more than willing to try any and everything on! My grad dress was seriously SO far off of what I thought that I wanted I dont even trust myself to think I know what I want 😂

View quoted message I'm going to bring shapewear but may not wear it! I have a strapless bra but I do anticipate not needing it.. I'd hate to want it though and not have it! My appointment at Lisa's is first and I feel like I will feel better about everything there and feel pretty comfortable. I may or may not end up needing to go to bridal gallery and if I dont need to, I will just skip that appointment. I'm not much of a crier but my family definitely is so I'm hoping they cry and I dont 😂

Also you're right, I settled for him instead of continuously dating around 😂😂😂😂

View quoted message Thank you! I'm hoping to really love the ones that I have set aside once I see them on. I'm 100% in love with them online!

View quoted message My consultant didn’t even turn her head. She was like “trust me, I’ve seen it all” Hahaha. So funny!!!

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I totally wore the thong. and looked at the consultant and said sorry. you will see my bum! hahahhahaha all the consultants I had were awesome and would politely turn their head. even though I said I have no shame...hahahah

1st off. I LOVE LOVE LOVE stella York!!! so nice!

the first time I went shopping I was with friends. and I went into with my head being "this is homework" (because I didn't want to pick out a dress without my aunt with me). so it was beyond fun. I tried on EVERY style possible. consultant picked some, I picked some, friends picked some.

when it comes to the open mind...also remember do NOT look at the dress size. bridal dress sizes are so jacked. i'm normally a 14. I was put into a 20 and it wouldn't zip. like wtf?!?!

I did not wear any shapewear (because your shapewear may change depending on the style of dress). I wore a nude thong and bra. didn't end up wearing the bra while trying on any of the dresses. haha

and with every dress you like. sit down in it first. because if you can't sit in it/breath it needs to go to the no pile.

the only accessory I purchased at the trip when I picked my dress was my belt. I loved the belt wasn't gonna purchase. but when I went up to purchase my dress. my aunt had already purchased my dress and belt as a present to me. so guess what! I have a belt! haha

Being open is definitely the best advice I could give, but another thing that my mom told me that I really took to heart was - "If you love absolutely love something, and the others don't - tell the others to stuff it". I still listened to advice when I asked for it, but ultimately you know what looks best on you and what you'll be the happiest in. Also pictures! Lots of pictures.

Good luck!

Both those dresses are BEAUTIFUL and pretty on par to what I went with!

I went to a few places for shopping but when I knew I found the one I stopped and didn't go to the other stores! Once you know you know!

I did let my mom pick out a dress or 2 for me to try... but she kept going towards styles I wasn't too fond of, but to make her happy of course I let her!
Also I put on an $18,000 Pnina Tornai just for fun!

I went to Kleinfeld (where i ended up finding the one I bought) with a binder of dresses from the website I wanted to try. My consultant reviewed everything with me and she actually pulled another dress she had in mind for me to try and IT WAS THE ONE!

So i would suggest! Go in with an open mind but having an idea of what you want to try is best! And of course HAVE FUN!

I got all my accessories (jewellery/shoes/veil) a while after I got my dress!

Yes bring shape wear!

I went in wanting no mermaid dresses at all and that's what i ended up getting!

Got accessories and everything else after the dress came in.

Friends and family did provide opinions but ultimately i chose the one i wanted!

I also didn’t wear shape wear and I wish I did! i also wish I took a few different bras to try them on with to get a better idea of how it will really look like on the day

I only brought my mom and sister to avoid an overload of opinions and it was such a nice time

Take a picture in each one so you can look back and see what ones you like because you may forgot all of the ones you tried, also to see that it looks flattering in pictures!

I decided to do the dress shopping solo and I'm really glad I did! My bridesmaids all wanted to come, but I wanted to fall in love with what I wanted and not have any outside voices swaying me to or away from any dress. I didn't wear shapewear for my initial try on, but did once I found my dress! I wore a strapless and they ended up cutting it and sewing it into my dress for support (I'm really big busted).

I always thought I would wear a fit and flare all lace dress and I ended up with a ballgown. I went to 3 different boutiques and found my dress at the last one. As soon as I put it on, I knew it was the one. I felt amazing in it!

Good luck, I hope you find your dream dress!!

I’m going to be completely honest with you and my experience... don’t wear a thong lol. Seriously, wear underwear that cover your bum lol. Some dresses start really low (mine) and take awhile to do up (tie goes from top to bottom) that poor consultant seem more of my bum in that hour and a half then my own mother has lol. I was embarrassed! I went wedding dress shopping right after work that day and didn’t think to go home and change. You don’t wear a bra for most dresses, so you don’t need to worry about a specific one to wear

Keep an open mind.

Let people choose some stuff for you as it is fun and my not be what you would have picked yourself.

Bring a strapless bra in case but most likely you won't wear after like the second dress lol

I only made one appointment and luckily found my dress at that store but had I had other appointments I probably would have cancelled them so as not to confuse or doubt myself.

I didn't buy any of my accessories the same day as my dress. I bought most of them during my fitting.

I knew what I wanted when I went in and tried on a few different things but ended up with one of the dresses that I had loved online.