Something Blue Blog » Design + Planning Inspiration for Ohio Weddings

In the last few weeks, we’ve spoken about how many people to take wedding shopping, as well as who to take and who not to take. This week, I’d like to share a couple of tips on selecting your wedding dress once you get to the salon.

Claire Pettibone Collection. Photo via Munaluchi Bride.

1. You are allowed to change your mind!

You’ve probably scoured every blog and magazine, bookmarked and ripped out pages of dresses that you fell in love with instantly. You call around to bridal salons in your area to see who carries your favorite bridal lines. You make your appointments, try them all on and, HORRORS, you’re not that crazy about any of them! Now what??

What brides often find is that there is a big gap between what dresses look stunning in a magazine and what dresses look stunning on THEM. Give yourself permission to fall in love with a dress that is different from the styles you are drawn to on paper. You will save yourself a lot of stress by doing so! Be open to the salon stylist bringing you different dresses that he/she has a feeling will work beautifully with your shape and personality without veering too far away from what you’ve already shown them tends to catch your eye.

2. Be ready to choose between two or more dresses you love equally!

For some, they know the dress as soon as they set eyes on it. It may or may not happen that way with you. In the event you find yourself torn between more than one dress, here is a go-to move to help you break the tie. Be mindful of the camera angles from which most wedding photos are taken. The majority of them tend to be the front of the dress from the waist up. So when push comes to shove, don’t make your final selection based on the beading at the bottom of the dress that most of your guests won’t pay attention to and will probably only be visible in a handful of photos, if at all!

Photo from "Bridesmaids"

It’s possible that deciding who to invite wedding dress shopping with you may be one of the first tough calls for you to make during the planning process. This is especially true if you have a large, tightknit family and/or group of friends who are local to the city in which you will be doing your shopping. I have a few suggestions for making the decision of whom to have with you a bit easier:

*I already mentioned this in a previous post but it bears repeating here. When possible, take your mom! Take her even if you know she will say you are drop-dead gorgeous no matter what. She can’t help it! To your mom, you are one of the most beautiful women on earth. She thinks any dress would be lucky to have YOU wearing IT on your wedding day–not the other way around!

*With that said, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone who is a bit more objective. Invite at least one person who you would trust to be completely honest with you. This person will tell you whether a dress should go in the thumbs-up pile or in the “Umm…that would be a NO” pile.

*There is most likely a limit on how much you are willing to or are able to spend on your wedding dress. Take people with you who are going to RESPECT that. Don’t take the friend who will constantly try to draw you to dresses that, although beautiful, have price tags that will make you ill. Your wedding planner would be more than happy to serve in the roles of Ghosts of Budget Past, Present, and Future during your salon visits if you think you are vulnerable to having a weak moment. We know what money you’ve already spent, and the money you will be spending soon thereafter.

*Let’s be honest. For some of you, not all of your friends will share the same level of enthusiasm about your impending nuptials for any number of reasons. If there is a friend (or two) who you feel will not be able to put aside their misgivings for the time being, let them sit this one out. It wouldn’t be a pleasant experience for either one of you. If that includes pretty much the majority of the people you know, well then that’s a different post for another day.

Join us next Monday as we talk about selecting your wedding dress!

About the Author: I recently watched “Bridesmaids” for the first time with my husband. He thought it was just going to be another chick flick. The movie was so hilarious that even HE loved it! If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for?!