Finding The Perfect Dress

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First, I need to let you all know that you won’t be seeing any pictures of my dress in this post. I need to keep some form of a secret!!
Your wedding dress is one of the most important aspects of your wedding day! I was excited to start dress shopping; I just didn’t know where to start! I knew nothing about the different silhouettes, or even what would look flattering on my body type. I know what I’ve envisioned myself to look like walking down the aisle, but I still had no idea where to start. This will be the story of my month-long journey to find “the one”.
I thought I could just walk into any store and try dresses on. I was proven wrong the first time I went to look with my mother. We walked in a Macy’s, and they were less than helpful, but had beautiful gowns. I tried one dress on the first day I went out looking, and I was less than thrilled with it. We tried our luck at David’s Bridal, but since it was a Saturday morning, and they were busy, we were turned down and told to make an appointment. We were also told we could only look in a small portion of the store, and not take any dresses off the rack, so we decided to get the heck out of there and count our losses.
I made an appointment for a different David’s Bridal near my house so that I could at least try different dresses on, since I had no idea what I wanted, or what would look good on me. The appointment was great, and I got to try on tons of different silhouettes. I finally had an idea of what I wanted, and what I liked.
I then made several appointments at various boutiques close to me, and the search begun!
Everyone kept telling me that I would know when I tried it on. I had at least 5 people say “Oh, you’ll know”. I thought they were all crazy, until it happened.
It was the first dress I tried on at The Dresser in Fullerton (check them out….they are AMAZING!!!!!). I was done looking after I tried it on…it felt absolutely perfect. I tried on a handful more just to be sure, but I kept my eye on that first one the entire appointment. I didn’t make my decision right then, even though I should have, because I had a few more appointments that next weekend.
The next weekend rolled around and I found a good runner-up, but ended up going back to that first dress.
It’s true when people say you just know. You feel perfect. You feel beautiful. You feel attached. I never thought I would feel these things about a darn dress, but I did, and that’s how I knew!

My Advice

• Set a budget, but be flexible.
• Don’t ask the price of the gowns you’re trying on. You don’t want the price to could your judgement and end up having major dress regret! (Yes…that is a thing!!)
• ASK QUESTIONS!!! No question is stupid! Make sure you ask about alterations, if they do them on site, or have them shipped, how easy your particular dress is to hem and bustle, ect…
• Be open-minded and try on different silhouettes. You  might surprise yourself.
• Make sure you give yourself enough time to get your dress ordered and altered.
• Budget accordingly because alterations cost more…make sure you keep that in mind!
• STOP LOOKING!!!! Once you find your dress, STOP LOOKING!!!! I’ve read soooo many posts on wedding forums about brides buying two wedding dresses because they couldn’t decide between them. Just stop! That’s so silly! I guess if you have the money to waste, then go for it, but if you’re like me, you can use that dough for something else!!

 
Good luck, and have FUN!!!
 
xoxo, Nikol