After selecting your wedding date, venue, and key vendors, I think it’s natural for most brides to begin focusing on their wedding dress! It is, after all, a huge part of your wedding day as it’s the focal point of your look! With so many options to choose from, shopping for a dress can be a bit overwhelming so I am sharing 5 tips to help with your search for the perfect gown!

1. Limit the size of your entourage.
Trust me, I know how much pressure a bride can feel to invite her entire wedding party to each and every event. After all, you just want everyone to feel included as part of your day which isn’t a bad thing! But it can also welcome a lot of different opinions. Of course, each bride is going to be different, but I would recommend only bringing one to two people whose opinion you truly value so you can focus on finding the right dress for your wedding day! 

2. Be open minded.
Your heart may be set on a strapless, lace gown (mine was!), but that may not ending being what looks best on you! Go in with an open mind to finding the best dress for you, whatever style or cut that may be. 

3. Don’t feel rushed.
You may feel limited by your appointment time, but let’s be honest, you’re spending quite a bit of cash on a gown and no one is going to kick you out! If you feel like you’ve had some top contenders, take time to actually be in the dress. Trying it on and standing on a pedestal is one thing. But what is it like to move in the dress? Sit in the dress? Be in the dress for more than 5 minutes? Take your time making sure it truly is the one! 

4. Wait on accessories. 
One of the biggest mistakes I made was purchasing a dress, veil, and jewelry all on the same day. That’s a lot of big decisions to make all at once and picking the dress alone can be exhausting! By the time you get to accessories, you might just be picking to pick so you can wrap up the event. I’d recommend waiting until YOUR dress comes in and selecting the final touches at that time.

5. Know your budget… and tell the boutique upfront.
With so many fabrics, styles, cuts, and embellishments to choose from, there truly is a dress for every bride! What I would absolutely not recommend doing is trying on dresses that are out of your price range because imagine how heartbreaking it would be to fall in love and know that you couldn’t make it work. You don’t want to face disappointment, so stick to your budget and I promise you will find something you love!