8 Tips For Picking The Perfect Wedding Dress
When little girls invest their math classes daydreaming of weddings (instead of winning the World Series -- not to say you can't do both), what do they dream of initial? The perfect wedding dress, of course: a gown in white satin with a bustle and sweeping train, the perfect embellishments, and also the perfect shoes.
You will find few occasions in our modern world where a woman finds herself in a position to wear a no-holds-barred ball gown, a lot less a crystal tiara, and all too numerous where she's called on to wear to a neutral suit or uninspiring "biz-caz" combo. No wonder that with so numerous brides, their wedding plans start with the dress.
Many of these brides are lucky. They might search high and low, braving chilly department stores and pushy bridal shops, but eventually they come face-to-face with The One. They know this is The One simply because they start crying, or their mother or friends all start crying at once. Suddenly the rest of the planning ... the theme, the tone, the right kind of venues ... it all springs to life.
Other brides are not as fortunate. They've searched just as tough, working their way through shops across three or four states, but they haven't discovered The One. Instead, they've discovered three or four Contenders, all of which are serviceable and nice, but not earth-shattering enough to tell them that now is definitely time to stop the searching and get on with the planning. These brides have it harder.
Even if you are the initial kind of bride, buying the dress is such a momentous decision that you run a risk of falling into that wallet-skinning category known as the Two-Dress Bride. Here are some tips for picking the perfect dress and avoiding that awful fate.
1. Bring the entourage, but don't buy. It is fun and useful to bring your mother, friends or sisters on the dress-shopping expedition. It gives you a buffer against an overbearing sales staff, and it's fun to see if your impressions of perfection are shared by your loved ones, not to mention how they'll love being component of such an important decision. But no matter how enthusiastic everybody gets over a particular dress, don't buy within the heat of the moment. Give your self time to reconsider and buy with a cool head later, alone. The vast majority of dresses are non-returnable, so when you have bought it, you have bought it.
2. Don't buy too early unless you must. Bridal gowns can take four to ten months to come from the manufacturer, but there's no reason to buy over a year ahead of time, unless your chosen style is going to be discontinued. Give your self some time to sit on your decision. Once you pick a gown, you will see a hundred others nearly like it. You will become a walking encyclopedia on that style of gown. All of the much better if you still have room to select.
3. If you have bought "The One," stop shopping. Any more window-shopping at this point will only lead you down the road toward the dreary land of Two-Dress Brides. What you need to do instead is remember that blissful feeling of having tried on The One. Go get The One out of the closet, put it on and stand in front of the mirror. You will remember precisely why it's The One.
4. If you have bought "The One" and can't stop shopping, get a second opinion. Show your initial and second choices to other brides. Be honest -- tell them you have already remortgaged your condo for the initial dress, but you believe this second dress might be It. They'll be truthful, too -- the initial one was much better. You will feel reassured.
5. Don't tell your self "I'll sell the old dress and select a new one." This old saw of the Two-Dress Bride just won't work. You will never get more than a fraction of what you paid for your initial dress if you bought it new.
6. Don't be afraid to aim high -- no matter what your spending budget. Some brides knew from the start they wanted a designer label, but life just didn't cooperate by making them heiresses. Yet all isn't lost if you are willing to shop courageously. At any given moment, a better-heeled bride is selling her once-used St. Pucchi or Ulla-Maija on eBay. She paid thousands upon thousands, but you, smart shopper, will pay half that or less. To take this road, you must shop earlier than other brides so you will have a choice of gowns. Usually pay with a credit card so you will have recourse if the dress does not arrive in acceptable condition, and once more, shop early so you can buy an additional if necessary. Shop courageously, but not recklessly.
7. Shop online, but never send a check. Bridal gown companies sometimes have a way of disappearing overnight. No matter what the proprietor tells you, never make a buy as large as a wedding gown with out the chargeback protection of a credit card. If they say they can't take plastic, move on.
8. Don't hold out forever for The One. Some brides never discover The One. What they do discover is really a few dresses they look stunning in. If you are this bride, try beginning your planning from the theme instead of the dress. You will probably eventually get sick to death of dress shopping. When that happens, "good enough" truly will probably be good enough. Concentrate on other aspects of the wedding that mean a lot to you, like the venue, the food, or the inevitable adoration of your soon-to-be husband.
