When to start wedding dress shopping
Our most frequently asked question - when is the perfect time for me to come dress shopping?
Whilst there is no set time frame for everyone, in this post we go through the different considerations you may want to think about before booking your appointment! Drop us a message here if you have any questions about anything related to your dress shopping experience with us and we will do our best to help.
Our most important advice
The best advice we can give any bride is to shop when you feel ready to find your dress. Whether that is financially, emotionally or physically if you are on a weight loss journey! This is because if you feel ready to buy your dress you won’t be disappointed if you can’t buy your dress if you find ‘the one’ on the day you go shopping. Your mindset is also a huge factor, because in our experience of meeting thousands of brides: if you feel as positive about finding your dress as possible then you will have the best experience.
The average timeframe
On average brides tend to start dress shopping around 9 months before their wedding date. This is a great starting point as it allows plenty of time for alterations and finding your other accessories/wedding planning that may require you to have found your dress first. This is just an average though, and we have brides shopping 2 years before their wedding date and others 2 months before their wedding date! We can accommodate every time scale at our shop as we sell our dresses off-the-peg.
Want to shop earlier?
There is no time too early if you want to get organised and get your dress ticked off your list. If you feel ready to find your dress and have your wedding vision in your head then there is nothing wrong with wanting to buy your gown in advance. It helps to have your venue booked or at least to know which style venue you would like as this can influence your dress, but it isn’t essential.
Want to leave it closer to your wedding date?
You may want to start shopping closer to your wedding date for example if you are on a weight loss journey. Lots of our brides are hesitant to shop as they feel like they want to wait until they have lost some weight to get a better idea of how they will look in their wedding dress. This isn’t a problem as you can leave it as close to your wedding as you feel comfortable doing. You may want to shop at least 6 months before your wedding date as this can help to relieve any stress and pressure - once you start trying dresses and find your gown our brides feel a sense of relief knowing they have found their gown.
If you are leaving it later because you are worried about trying dresses/the dress shopping process please reach out to us! We want to assure you that dress shopping doesn’t have to be a daunting process and our brides often comment that it gets easier once you start trying dresses on. We understand it can be a nerve-wracking experience, which is why we offer an incredibly relaxed, fun and chilled appointment with non-pushy stylists that love to help brides feel their best.