Searching a wedding dress shopping can leave even the most discerning shopper utterly stumped. Here is a tips of how to cultivate your wedding-dress vision from the beginning to your final “say yes” moment. Shopping for your wedding dress is one of the most exciting and overwhelming steps of the wedding process.
This is why so many of us rely on opinions from our many well-meaning family members and bridal party.
Opinions not just about your dress, but the colors, flowers, location, everything! People who won’t even be attending the wedding might end up asking for glimpses of your dress. It’s one of the most important days of your life, so it makes sense so many people are curious about what dress you will choose. That curiosity can be a bit overwhelming.
Trust me, all of this is first-hand advice coming from personal mistakes and your road to discovering how to get your wedding vision back on track.
1. Be Realistic
Be realistic—two words no bride wants to hear. However, even this day-dreaming bride knows that there are just a few things you need to be realistic about. When you are thinking about your wedding dress, keep these things in mind:
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The Venue
If you’re having a small, intimate gathering in a small venue, you might not be able to wear a full ballgown due to the size of both, the dress and the location. If you’re having a country chic wedding outside, you may not want to have a dress that has delicate details that can snag on natural elements.
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Your Comfort
Think about any undergarments or shapewear that might need to be worn that day. Can you dance in the dress, or comfortably sit in the dress? Your wedding day isn’t the day to find out you hate strapless dresses. While a mermaid gown might be calling your name, do you like wearing fitted dresses? Your wedding is not the day to decide to try something new and find out it’s not for you. Be sure to think about your own comfort level and what will make you happy.
- The Details
If you are wearing any family heirlooms, a special veil, or want to wear some bridal bling, make sure you aren’t picking out something that competes with that extra special touch. Don’t let these accents upstage your dress or detract from your accessories. The wedding dress isn’t the only thing that takes center stage.
While the idea of being realistic is not all that fun, it will help you find your wedding dress. Being even the tiniest bit realistic can help you avoid any dress regrets.
2. Find Out What Makes Your Wedding Dress You
Took a time looking at photos, your own clothing, and what you wanted to feel like on my wedding day. Glamour or princess? Are there details about dresses your Fiancé loves? Answering these questions not only helped you get clarity, but it also help you find a dress that has special details you know even your Fiancé will love!
Then, restarted your vision and went back to the wedding dress shopping website with a clear vision of what details you wanted, not the details you thought someone else wanted for you. After the reset, you will suddenly saw commonalities in the designs you drawn to. For you, maybe it means adding something to the dress to make it yours.
It was easier to wade through the virtual closet of tulle, sparkle, and other details after getting the clarity of what would make your wedding dress, the wedding dress. If you want to incorporate a family heirloom be sure to think about this and bring it up during your bridal appointment!
3. To Share or Not to Share Your Wedding-Dress Vision
Before you share your wedding-dress vision, Pinterest board, or any thoughts on your wedding dress, decide what your boundaries are. Do you want feedback, or do you just want to talk about it? It’s okay to say that you’re not up for discussing what your vision is. Some people felt like what you liked wasn’t me, but how could it not be you? When you send the link to the dress sometimes you will get good feedback, but other times you will feel confused and began to feel you lost ME in all of it. Before telling a whole group about your wedding dress, confide in a close friend who you truly trust. Tell them what you love or any reservations you have about the dress.
When people are looking at the wedding dress online, they aren’t looking at you in it. They are looking at the dress itself. So don’t take the feedback too personally. What you love or dislike about a gown might look completely different than what you think, once you try it on. Just remember they may not be able to visualize it the way you do and are simply commenting on the dress, not you in the dress.
4. Don’t Let What Others Like Mislead You
Everyone wants a magical moment where there are tears and everyone is overwhelmed with how perfect a dress is. Sometimes that does happen, but if you aren’t an emotional person, don’t get upset if you aren’t moved to tears. Just because you didn’t jump up and down when you found your dress, it doesn’t make it any less perfect for you.
Some people thought it was crazy ordering a dress you had never tried on or even seen. You might have to stand strong in the face of family and friends questioning you and not understanding the situation. You will stuck to your vision and gut feelings that this was the right one. And you know what? It absolutely was the perfect dress, and it looked like it was made just for her.
5. Don’t Lose Your Wedding-Dress Vision
If you’re worried that no one will think it’s you, know this. Show your wedding dress to one person who knew nothing about the wedding. No details. Nothing. You know what they said? “I had no idea what I expected and yet this is exactly perfect.”
Those involved in the wedding, will have many different opinions and ideas of what your wedding dress should be. Try to remember they want the best for you, and they also want to share in the celebration of one of the biggest days of your life.
Ultimately, no one but you is going to know what dress is right. And you’re the one that will be wearing it. It’s great to ask for advice, but no one is going to be you on your wedding day.
Everyone has their own version of what is the perfect dress. You’ve probably also had unique thoughts about someone else’s dress. Maybe it wasn’t your taste, but they loved it. It’s hard to think about how someone might not love what makes your wedding dress so special to you.
However, just because someone else doesn’t see it, doesn’t mean your dress is any less beautiful or perfect for you. Even the most negative person won’t be able to stop smiling when they see you walking down the aisle. Whether they loved your dress or not. When they see you walking down the aisle, that’s all that will matter.
6. Create Your Virtual Wedding-Dress Closet
Don’t be afraid to circle, highlight, or cut out what you love about a dress and bring it with you to your appointment. You can also pull up your Yenny Lee Designs on your cellphone.
If you loved the photos, but the dress isn’t speaking to you in real life, don’t sweat it. It just wasn’t for you. It’s better to try and know why it wasn’t right, instead of wondering and doubting your final decision. While you want to zone in on what you love, you still need to be flexible that maybe the dress you have in mind isn’t quite right for you. You’re on the right path to finding that perfect dress.
Whether you’re indecisive, or a Type A personality, doing this research will greatly help you during your bridal appointment.
7. Remember Why You Love Your Wedding Dress
If you’re questioning your wedding dress, go back to your vision. Think about what made you fall in love with your dress in the first place. You were able to clearly see what you wanted and if you’re experiencing doubt, it’s probably not the dress. It’s probably the circumstances surrounding the wedding. If you are comfortable talking about it, confide in a close friend who was there when you fell in love with your dress. One of the most difficult things after finding your dress, is wondering if you chose the right one among the numerous options of beautiful dresses out there. Chances are that you are so overwhelmed with other things, you need someone else to center you and remind you why both of you loved it!
However, having a clear vision of what you want from the beginning will help you minimize this doubt. There comes a point and time in any wedding where you just have to accept your decisions. Whether it’s the flowers, cake flavors or wedding dress. There’s always another dress, or flavor, or color you could choose. But you didn’t choose any of those items at random, you chose them for a specific reason, and at some point, you have to commit.
As Drake would say, “Know yourself.” If there’s one thing you know, your wedding dress is ultimately up to you. Only you know what you want and what feels best for you. Your wedding dress will never be topped by anyone else because your wedding dress is unique to you. No one can take away how much you loved it, connected with it, or what drew you to it.
Knowing what you like, what makes a dress yours, and why you love it will help you stay strong throughout the process. Whether you share wedding dress ideas or not, just make sure you don’t lose who you are and what you want to look like on your wedding day. While it can be exhausting to find the dress of your dreams, using this guide to help you through the process can remove a lot of the stress.