Tips For Brides Traveling To Buy A Wedding Dress

If you are a newly engaged bride to be, wedding dress shopping might be at the top of your wedding planning to do list. After setting a wedding date and booking the venue, purchasing your wedding dress is often the next step many brides take. It can be hard to know where to start when shopping for your wedding dress as it’s not the same as popping over to your local mall for a day of shopping. If you are in a small town, you might not have many options for bridal shopping so you might be thinking of traveling to another destination to shop for your wedding dress.

At Lovella, we often have brides fly in from all around the US to shop our wide selection of designer wedding dresses. If you have shopped local and just haven’t found something you love, then traveling to another city might be a good option for you. There are certainly some important things to keep in mind if you are traveling to buy your wedding dress. Should you ship your dress to your home or fly with the dress? Where do you plan to get alterations done? How many stores should you book appointments at in the city you are traveling to? There are so many travel logistics to think about and we can’t wait to share all our expert bridal advice to help brides when traveling to buy their wedding dress.

Video: Essential Tips & Logistics When Traveling To Buy A Wedding Dress

If you are bride who is considering purchasing their wedding dress from a different location than where they live, don't miss our advice video with all the essential tips for when traveling to buy a wedding dress. 

Tips For Out Of Town Appointments

At Lovella, we are lucky to be able to carry such a wide variety of wedding dresses under one roof from some phenomenal bridal designers. We often have brides who fly to LA to shop with us because of the number of dresses we have in store. Many brides love the style of a certain designer and decide to shop with us because of our selection. You might live in an area that does not have any bridal shops close by or just don’t carry the styles or designers that you like. Branching out to a larger city to shop for your wedding dress is not a bad idea, you just have to take some logistics into consideration.

If you do decide to travel to a larger city for wedding dress shopping, whether that be the location your wedding is taking place in or a city that has the shops you want to visit, you will want to plan ahead for your appointments. The majority of bridal stores will require an appointment to shop in person so that the shop can plan ahead and have a bridal stylist ready to give you their full attention.

When it comes to deciding how many appointments to make when traveling to try on wedding dresses, our best tip is to pick a maximum of three bridal stores that have the styles and designers you are interested in seeing. Visiting a big city means there will likely be an over-saturation of bridal stores so do your research on what stores will best fit your aesthetic, your price point, and the overall customer experience you are looking for.

Take the extra step to call these stores and speak directly to the staff so you know what to expect. Let them know you are coming in from out of town. Be sure to ask if there are any specific considerations to have in mind or any tips they can share to help you prepare for your visit. Doing this pre-shopping research is going to save you so much time and energy.

Bridal dress shopping is all about quality, not quantity. If you visit too many stores in the same area, you are going to start to see the same dresses. And you may get analysis paralysis as you try on dress after dress. You won’t be able to remember every single dress you try on and that just becomes a waste of your time.

Our last tip to keep in mind when booking bridal appointments out of town is to not over-schedule yourself. Remember, this should be a fun trip! Don’t book yourself back-to-back bridal appointments. Leave time to have breakfast and lunch. as starving yourself as you're running from one appointment to the next is not going to help your brain think clearly when trying to make an important decision about a wedding dress.

It is much more important to be able to think clearly than it is to avoid a little bloating while trying on dresses because you ate lunch. Give yourself time between appointments to get from shop to shop and have some breathing room to reflect on the gowns you just saw.

Choose Your Dresses

When traveling to shop for your wedding dress, your first step is to select your bridal dress stores. The next step we recommend brides take is to pick out specific dresses and designers that you’re interested in seeing. Ask the stores if they have those dresses in stock so that when you show up, you already know some of the dresses you want to try on and you have a starting point. From there, the bridal stylists can work their magic to find other dresses that may suit your taste.

Visit each bridal store’s website or social media page and screenshot any of the wedding dresses you like. Show these dresses to your stylist at the start of your appointment so they can pull them from their bridal dress inventory to try on. Showing your stylist what you are drawn to will help them narrow down options that might be a good fit for your style. Based on your feedback for each dress you try on will lead to the next dress and ultimately the dream wedding dress you will say yes to.

In addition to the design and style of the wedding dress, you also need to consider your wedding dress budget. How much are you willing to invest in a bridal dress or outfit for your wedding day? Your budget will also help structure what dresses your stylist selects for you to try on. Your bridal consultant is an invaluable resource so use their expertise! They will be able to guide you in finding the perfect dress that fits the style, look, and budget you are going for.

Wedding Dress Alterations

Now that you’ve found your dream wedding dress, the next thing to consider is where to do your bridal dress alterations. If you are traveling to buy your wedding dress, this might be a complicated question to consider.

If you have a trusted seamstress who has experience with altering wedding dresses in the city that you live in, you could bring your wedding dress back to your hometown for alterations. If the bridal store that you purchased your wedding dress at offers in-store alterations, that could be a great option for you. It all depends on your personal logistics and if you can travel a few times before the wedding day for your alterations appointments and dress fittings.

One very important note we have if you are going to bring your dress to another city for alterations. We always recommend physically picking up your wedding dress. Never, ever ship your wedding gown.

Packages get lost all the time. Don’t risk losing your wedding dress or causing delays and unneeded stress which is hard enough during planning a wedding. If you are bringing your dress back to the town you live in which is different from the town where you purchased your wedding dress, always travel to the store you purchased the dress at and carry it home with you in person.

Don’t check your wedding dress with the airline. Always carry your wedding dress on the plane with you. You can fold the garment bag in half or thirds and put your bridal dress in the overhead bin. If the plane you are traveling on has a first-class section, they often have a compartment to hang items and you may be able to ask to have your bridal dress hung up in that area. These same tips apply if you are planning a destination wedding. Do not ship your dress to the venue, always carry it with you.

Back to alterations, choose wherever you feel most comfortable with the seamstress. Ask the bridal store where you are purchasing your dress for alterations and seamstress recommendations and explore all the options available to you.

Don’t pick your wedding dress alterations seamstress on cost alone. This is not the area you want to save the wedding budget. You want quality alterations done to your bridal dress and it’s worth the investment to have your dress fit you perfectly on your wedding day.