When to go Dress Shopping

Depending on your engagement, you can go 6 months in advance to buy your dress getting the alterations done if needed. You feel you need more time than that, base your shopping time accordingly to your schedule.

As an alternative, has rental come to mind if you don't wish to make your budget as high and not keeping after the day you get married? The price is less expensive and returned the next day or after its dry cleaned depending on the company policy.

I started looking for my wedding dress almost a year and a half before my wedding date. I bought my dress in January 2019 and it took 7 months (July 2019) for it to come in.

Your bridesmaids can wait until mid-late 2021. If I were you, I would make an appointment with any bridal store while places are still open, just so you can try on different dresses to give yourself an idea of what styles work. Maybe do one high end/boutique one and one chain store like David's. That way, by the time you're ready to make the purchase, you can shop more diligently, targeting stores with your style and price point as opposed to running around from shop to shop, which based on friends' experiences, can last months depending on how picky they are.