When you are wedding dress shopping, how do you know when you have found “the one”? If you are a bride who has begun shopping for your wedding dress, you might be wondering how you are going to know when you’ve found your wedding dress. Perhaps you have already tried on some wedding dresses and have found one, or maybe two or three, dresses that you love. Wedding gowns are beautiful and it can be hard to narrow down all the designs to just one to wear on your wedding day. Wedding dress shopping is such a fun experience, getting to try on many different gorgeous bridal dresses and imagining your wedding day.
Once you have tried on numerous dresses, it might be hard to make up your mind as to which wedding dress you want to purchase and wear on wedding day. At Lovella, we have helped countless brides find their dream wedding dress and we often have brides who might be between two or even three wedding dresses that they love. As expert stylists, we have the experience to help guide them to finding the one bridal gown that is truly the best match for them. We’re going to share with brides all the advice and tips they need to consider to know when they’ve found their wedding dress.
Buyer’s Remorse
Wedding dress shopping is such a unique experience and is a large purchase and investment. The overall experience is much different than shopping at the mall or a department store. Unless you are purchasing a sample wedding dress, you will likely not see your bridal gown until six to eight or more months after purchasing the dress. Wedding dresses are made to order and since you will have to wait months for your order to arrive in store, it’s easy to think you might experience buyer’s remorse.
Wedding dresses are not refundable or returnable, so you want to be sure before purchasing your dress. You don’t want to go home and have second thoughts or be thinking about other dresses that you liked when you decided to buy a certain dress. Each bride will have their own process on how they come to a final decision on their wedding dress.
You Might Not Cry
One common misconception when it comes to wedding dress shopping is that you will cry when you find your wedding dress. We have heard from so many brides that if they cry in the dress, they will know that’s the dress they will wear on wedding day. In the thousands of brides we have helped find their dream bridal dress at Lovella, the majority of them do not cry. Don’t hinge your wedding dress decision on whether you cry or not. If you are not an especially emotional person to begin with, then you likely won’t have an overly emotional response to finding your dream wedding dress. If you are someone who is a bit more emotional in every day life, then you might experience tears when you find your wedding dress, and that is a beautiful thing, but it might not be the only indicator that you found your dress.
Top Two
If you find that you are between two dresses, it can be hard to make that final decision. Remember that you are only wearing one dress down the aisle, so you want to narrow down to two choices. If you love three dresses, the first step is to narrow that down to your top two choices. Even if you decide to change dresses for your wedding reception, that is still only two dresses, so remove that third option.
From there, you have to go back and forth between the two dresses. Try them both on again and identify which one makes you feel the most beautiful and confident. Which of the two dresses makes you feel the most excited to walk down the aisle and marry your person?
Overall Look
Your wedding dress really sets the tone of your wedding day. Your bridal hair and makeup combined with your wedding dress will set the tone for the rest of your wedding day. It’s how you look and that feeds into how you feel. Imagine yourself ready for a night out when you felt really confident and beautiful in what you were wearing. You hold yourself in a certain way, you walk a certain way, and you exude confidence. That is what you are looking for on wedding day. If you are genuinely happy and confident, that is beautiful and that is just going to make you shine even more on wedding day.
The moment you zip up your wedding dress, if you truly love your gown and feel beautiful in it, that energy is just going to carry through for the rest of your wedding day.
VIDEO: How Do You Know When You've Found the Right Wedding Dress?
For more helpful tips when wedding dress shopping, be sure to check out our advice video all about how to know when you've found the right wedding dress.
Just Breathe
If you are a bride who is going back and forth between two wedding dresses, take a moment to clear your head. Know that you can try on those two dresses as many times as you need to. We encourage you to try on these dresses without veils or other accessories. Just focus on the dress itself. If you start to feel overwhelmed, take a moment to breathe. Close your eyes and take a deep breath to reset your mind and your eyes.
It is so easy to look closely at all the little details and get fixated on certain things. Take that moment to reset and look at the overall picture. You have to consider the overall bridal look and how the overall vision makes you feel. Take a step back and take a short break if you feel like you are getting overwhelmed, but we don’t recommend sleeping on making a decision. That can lead to overthinking and overanalyzing. You want to make the decision when you are in the dress and can consider how you feel in the dress, not just how you look in a photo.
Budget Factors
One of the top regrets we hear from brides after their wedding that were between two dresses is picking the cheaper dress. If you choose your wedding dress based on budget alone and not how the dress makes you feel, it’s not going to be a cost savings in the end. Whether it’s a $200 difference or a $2,000 difference, we really think brides need to choose their wedding dress based on how they feel and is the dress that they truly love.
You can’t put a price tag on feeling beautiful and confident. If you have to pay more to love the way you look and feel, that is worth it. Every dollar is a waste of money if you're walking down the aisle in a dress you don't love and that you don't feel beautiful in. Don’t buy a dress to save money or because your mom picked it out - truly think about your decision and choose the gown that makes you feel the most confident.
Alterations
Another factor to consider when deciding on your wedding dress is alterations. If you are trying on wedding dresses and find that you want to make a lot of changes to a certain design, that’s probably not the dress for you. If you are thinking of something simple like adding straps to a strapless gown, that is one thing. It’s completely different to be changing an entire neckline or adding sleeves to a dress. If you want to completely alter the look or silhouette of a dress, then it might be time to look at styles that already fit your vision.
Keep trying on dresses until you find a dress that you only need minimal changes to. Alterations should be for small changes like hemming and adding a bustle. If you find you want to make more changes, then you are looking at a more custom design dress. You want to be buying a finished product and a design that is ready to go.
More Helpful Wedding Dress Shopping Advice
We hope you have found this advice helpful when it comes to knowing when you have found the right wedding dress for you. For even more helpful advice when it comes to shopping for your dream wedding dress, be sure to check out our past posts:
- How To Maximize Your Wedding Dress Shopping Experience
- Why You Should Wait to Try on Veils When Wedding Dress Shopping
- What Is The Return Policy For Wedding Dresses?
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!
About Wedding Fashion Expert
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.
