If you're a bride-to-be shopping for a wedding dress in Southern California or Los Angeles, you've probably heard plenty of advice about everything you should do before your wedding. But what about the things you shouldn't do?
As a wedding fashion expert, bridal stylist and buyer at Lovella Bridal in Glendale, California, Nayri has spent more than a decade working closely with brides throughout the wedding planning process. She's seen what causes unnecessary stress, what can make wedding dress shopping more difficult and what brides sometimes wish they had approached differently.
So, if she were getting married today, what wouldn't she do?
From putting pressure on herself to change her body to waiting too long to choose a wedding dress, overspending on things that aren't priorities and second-guessing decisions that have already been made, here are five things Nayri would avoid if she were a bride planning her own wedding.
Watch the Video: 5 Things I Wouldn't Do as a Bride
Watch the full video below as Nayri, Wedding Fashion Expert, shares five things she personally wouldn't do if she were planning her own wedding.
These aren't rules every bride needs to follow. Instead, they're lessons inspired by years of working in the bridal industry and watching brides navigate wedding dress shopping, family expectations, budgets and all of the emotions that can come with planning a wedding.
#1 I Wouldn't "Shred for the Wedding"
The first thing I wouldn't do is put pressure on yourself to dramatically change your body before getting married.
There's already enough pressure surrounding weddings without adding an expectation that your body needs to look a certain way before you can walk down the aisle.
Instead, I would focus on feeling mentally and physically healthy. That might mean working out, staying active or simply making a daily walk part of the routine. The goal wouldn't be achieving a particular wedding-day body. It would be doing things that help her feel confident, healthy and good about herself.
We've seen how easily brides can become hyper-focused on weight, measurements and appearance leading up to a wedding. That pressure can take away from what should be an exciting season of your life.
And when it comes to your wedding dress, you don't need to reach a particular size before you're allowed to feel incredible in a gown.
Your wedding dress should fit you, not the other way around.
#2 I Wouldn't Try to Please Everyone
This one may be easier said than done.
Weddings bring together two people, two families, friends, traditions and sometimes cultural expectations. Everyone can have an opinion about what your wedding should look like, who should be included and how certain moments should happen.
Trying to make every single person happy can quickly make the wedding stop feeling like yours.
If I were planning your wedding, I would start by sitting down with your partner, wedding planner and the key family members involved to establish what matters most. What are the priorities? What are the non-negotiables? Where are you willing to compromise?
Having those conversations early doesn't guarantee that everyone will agree with every decision. In fact, some people may be disappointed.
But knowing your priorities before those opinions start coming in can make it much easier to distinguish between a compromise you're genuinely comfortable making and a decision you're making solely because you're afraid of upsetting someone.
There may absolutely be family or cultural traditions that you decide are worth honoring even if they wouldn't have been your first choice. The goal isn't to ignore everyone around you. It's to be intentional about which compromises you're willing to make and which parts of the wedding are most important to you.
#3 I Wouldn't Wait Too Long to Choose My Wedding Dress
Naturally, wedding dress shopping makes the list.
And interestingly, I admit that after more than a decade of trying on wedding dresses, I have absolutely no idea what I would actually wear. That's exactly why I wouldn't procrastinate.
The more wedding dresses you try on, the easier it can be to fall into analysis paralysis. Instead of getting closer to a decision, you can become overwhelmed by silhouettes, fabrics, necklines, designers and all the possibilities available to you.
Starting early gives you time to explore without putting yourself under unnecessary pressure.
But there's another reason I would prioritize the wedding dress early in the planning process: your dress can help inspire the overall aesthetic of your wedding.
Your wedding dress, bridal veil and accessories can influence details throughout the celebration, from your floral design and wedding cake to invitations, linens and other decorative elements. For a bride who loves fashion, choosing the wedding dress can help establish the tone for everything that comes afterward. So don't wait until the last minute simply because you're nervous about making the decision.
Give yourself time to shop, trust the way you feel in the gown and allow yourself to move forward once you've found the wedding dress you love.
#4 I Wouldn't Blow My Wedding Budget on Things That Aren't a Priority
Creating a wedding budget is difficult when you don't actually know what a wedding costs.
Even someone who works in the wedding industry may know exactly what wedding dresses cost but have no idea what a particular venue, floral design or food and beverage package will cost. That's why I wouldn't begin by trying to divide a budget equally across every wedding category. I would begin with priorities.
Before spending, identify the things that are truly important to you and your partner. Then research what those particular things realistically cost.
Maybe the wedding dress is one of your biggest priorities. Maybe it's the venue, food, photography, entertainment or florals.
There isn't one correct answer.
Once you understand what your non-negotiables cost, you can build the rest of your wedding budget around them rather than spending too much on lower-priority items early and discovering later that there isn't enough left for something you actually care about.
The goal isn't necessarily to spend less everywhere. It's to intentionally spend your wedding budget on the things that matter most to you.
#5 I Wouldn't Overanalyze Every Wedding Decision
Wedding planning involves an incredible number of decisions.
Wedding dress. Venue. Flowers. Invitations. Food. Music. Linens. Bridal accessories. Seating charts.
It's understandable that you'll want to make the right choices.
But once you've thoughtfully made a decision, constantly reopening it can quickly take the joy out of wedding planning.
I have watched brides cross something off their wedding planning list only to return to it again and again, questioning whether they made the right choice. Instead of enjoying the relief of having made a decision, they create another decision to make.
This happens with wedding dresses too.
A bride can absolutely love her wedding dress when she says yes, then go home and start scrolling through hundreds of other gowns on social media. Suddenly she's wondering whether another neckline would have been better, whether she should have tried another designer or whether she made the decision too quickly.
At some point, you have to trust yourself.
Make an informed decision, give yourself permission to be excited about it and move on to the next thing.
Worried You'll Regret Your Wedding Dress? Make Yourself a Video
One of our favorite tips from this video is especially helpful for brides who know they tend to second-guess themselves.
When you say yes to your wedding dress, make a video for your future self.
While you're still wearing the gown and feeling all the emotions that made you choose it, record yourself explaining why you love it.
What made you feel beautiful? What detail made the dress different from everything else you tried? How did you feel when you looked in the mirror? Why did you know this was your wedding dress?
I have seen brides do exactly this, saving the video somewhere private so they can watch it whenever wedding dress doubt starts creeping in.
It's a simple way to hear from the version of yourself who actually experienced the dress rather than allowing months of scrolling and overthinking to rewrite that memory.
Decide What Kind of Wedding Planning Experience You Want
There's one theme connecting all five of these things: intentionality.
Before wedding planning becomes a calendar full of appointments and an endless list of decisions, think about how you want this period of your life to feel.
You can establish priorities for the wedding itself, but you can also establish priorities for yourself.
Maybe you want to protect time with your fiancé that has nothing to do with wedding planning. Maybe you want to make decisions and stop revisiting them. Maybe you want to prioritize movement and mental well-being rather than focusing on changing your body. Maybe you want to establish boundaries around other people's opinions early.
Wedding planning can be incredibly fun, but it can also bring up family dynamics, grief, expectations and emotions you didn't anticipate. Going into the process with a clear idea of what matters to you can help you preserve your energy for the things that actually bring you joy.
Final Thoughts: What I Wouldn't Do If I Were a Bride
If I were planning my wedding today, these are the five things she would try not to do:
1. Put pressure on herself to "shred for the wedding."
2. Try to please absolutely everyone.
3. Wait too long to choose her wedding dress.
4. Spend too much of the wedding budget on things that aren't priorities.
5. Overanalyze decisions after they've already been made.
The biggest takeaway isn't that there's one right way to plan a wedding. It's that your engagement is a season of your life you'll only experience for a limited amount of time.
You deserve to actually be present for it.
Set your priorities, make thoughtful decisions, surround yourself with people you trust and give yourself permission to enjoy the process rather than trying to make every detail perfect.
Wedding Dress Shopping Tips from Lovella Bridal Los Angeles
We hope this guide to the top wedding dress trends helps you feel inspired as you begin your bridal gown shopping journey. At Lovella Bridal, we share expert bridal styling advice to help brides feel confident and prepared every step of the way.
For more wedding dress inspiration and helpful tips, explore these related posts:
- How To Choose The Perfect Wedding Dress Silhouette
- What Brides Should Know Before Wedding Dress Alterations
- Unexpected Truths About Special Ordering A Wedding Dress
- What To Expect When Wedding Dress Shopping For The First Time
About Lovella
If you're shopping for your perfect wedding dress, come visit us at Lovella Bridal in Glendale, CA. We carry wedding dresses in all sizes and styles, including plus-size bridal gowns and a full selection of veils and accessories. Lovella Bridal is the premier, luxury bridal wedding dress shopping boutique located in Los Angeles, California. Lovella features couture, feminine, modern and chic bridal gowns in all sizes from the best wedding dress designers. Schedule an appointment to find the wedding dress of your dreams at Lovella Bridal. We can't wait to help you!
Meet Lovella’s Wedding Fashion Expert in Los Angeles
Our wedding dress shopping tips and advice are from Nayri, Lovella's own, in-house wedding fashion expert. Nayri is truly the expert when it comes to bridal fashion and wedding style. As the Wedding Fashion Expert, Nayri is the top bridal fashion stylist and the best-selling author of the book "I'm Getting Married And I Have Nothing To Wear," the ultimate guide to helping brides find their wedding day style and their perfect wedding dress. You can subscribe to her YouTube channel or listen to her podcast for more helpful and practical advice on wedding dress shopping.
