Most brides think that shopping for their dream wedding dress will be a lot of fun. Until they actually start the process! The reality is that wedding dress shopping can be so stressful it makes you think you’re going to lose your mind!
What started as a fun and care-free process can quickly spiral into a living nightmare.
To shed some light on possible scenarios, prepare you for them, and hopefully even help you to avoid them, we’ve outlined 10 of the biggest signs that most brides-to-be face when it’s time to choose their wedding dress. As a Bonus at the end, we’ve included some of the small silly ones that only a bride who has gone through the whole preparations, can identify with. Enjoy, and digest with a calm spirit ;D
Sign #1: You Want to Please Everyone
Wedding dress shopping often brings out the worse in people, and if you’re shopping with your mum, bridesmaids, and even your mother-in-law to-be then it’s likely that your trying-on-session will be loaded with voices and opinions, none of which will be the same.
The fact is that it’s impossible to please everyone. Your mum might want you to wear a full ballgown like a princess. My mum wanted me to wear a dress with sleeves. Your chief bridesmaid might favour something a little more va-va-voom and slinky.
Sign #2: You Want to Try on Every Dress You See
Not sure what kind of wedding dress you want yet? If you’re an indecisive bride then you probably want to try on hundreds of dresses to help yourself make the right choice. That’s understandable.
But trying on too many dresses is likely to make the decision-making process harder, not easier. You’ll soon begin to suffer wedding dress overload (and ultimately, dress blindness) if you try on too many dresses.
Our Tip: Limit Yourself
Instead, we recommend that you shortlist the dresses you like best before you try on, and then limit yourself so that you don’t ever try on more than ten wedding dresses. This will give you leeway to experiment with different styles and design details, but without succumbing to choice overload.
Our Tip: Please Yourself
What do you want?
The only voice, and the only opinion, that really matters is your own. Block out the noise and listen to your own heart: What kind of dress do you want to wear? How do you feel in that dress?
Sign #3: You’re Being Dazzled by Details and Blinded By Bling
We all know how important details are to achieving the perfect wedding dress: button back or lace back. Lace trim or diamante trim. And there are so many different shades of white that you probably didn’t even realise existed until you got engaged!
It’s easy to become glitter blind when you’re trying on wedding dresses, and focus on all the wrong things.
Our Tip: Focus on the Silhouette Instead
The first time you try on wedding dresses, you shouldn’t get too bogged down by the details. Instead focus on the silhouette.
Finding the wedding dress shape that you want is the most important part of finding the right wedding dress.
The shape you choose is what will showcase your body, set the tone for your wedding, and should be chosen with your venue and your overall theme in mind.
The shape of the dress you choose will guide so many other details of your wedding.
Sign #4: You’re Spending Too Much Time Thinking About Your Bra!
Worried about what underwear you’re going to wear on your wedding day?
Some brides want to wear a strapless dress and no bra on their wedding day. Others are set on wearing a full set of bridal lingerie, complete with lace bra and matching hold ups. There is no wrong or right choice. But it’s important to think it through before you start trying on wedding dresses.
Our Tip: Bring It with You to All Your Fittings
If you want to wear something specific, then you should always bring it with you whenever you try a dress on.
Your body will look very different in underwear than it does without it. Underwear will also add extra lines and textures under your dress: a bumpy lace bra visible through a flimsy silk slip dress will never be a good look!
Sign #5: Wedding Dresses Look Too Constrictive
What do you intend to do on your wedding day?
Do you want to dance?
Sing?
Run barefoot on the lawn on the dark with your brand-new husband?
It’s important to think about what you want to do on your wedding day, so that you can ensure your wedding dress will work with you, every step of the way.
It’s important to remember that you’re the one wearing your wedding dress on the Big Day: your dress isn’t wearing you. You should feel comfortable and confident in the dress you choose, no matter what your doing.
Our Tip: Choose a Dress that You Can Move In
To make sure that your dress will be comfortable, we suggest that you move around in it as much as possible whilst you’re trying it on. Twirl, dance, sit down. If you don’t feel comfortable when you’re doing one of these simple actions, or if it leaves you feeling self-conscious about any part of your body, then it’s probably not the right dress for you.
When you choose a dress from DevotionDresses.com, it will be delivered directly to you, in the comfort of your own home. Because you choose the measurements, you can ensure it’s roomy enough to move and dance in. It’s the ideal choice for active brides.
Sign #6: You’re Obsessed with Wedding Dress Trends
Does your mum look at her wedding photos and cringe? Do you look at that same photo and see nothing but Eighties shoulder pads and too many layers of stiff tulle? That’s because wedding dress trends change regularly, and high fashion trends can quickly look dated and old-fashioned.
If you’ve fallen in love with a wedding dress that taps into any of this season’s hottest trends then it may be worth considering tempering this with some classic details. Look for elements that will stand the test of time and incorporate these into your outfit. Clean lines will never go out of fashion!
Our Tip: Temper with Classic Details
It’s important to look objectively at the dress you intend to wear on your wedding day and think about how you will feel about that same dress in twenty years’ time. If there are aspects of your gown that you don’t think will age well then change them.
Sign #7: You Keep Reaching Beyond Your Budget
There is no such thing as an unlimited budget when you’re wedding dress shopping: unless you’re Kim Kardashian, everyone has a budget that they have to stick to. But your inner bridezilla might make your very normal budget seem far to small once your been blinded by too many wedding dresses.
In reality, It doesn’t matter whether that budget is modest or generous, you should always keep it in mind when you’re looking at gowns.
Our Tip: Don’t Try on Dresses You Can’t Afford
Don’t be tempted to try on wedding dresses that are over your budget.
Certain wedding dress details can be pricey. Full skirts, diamante detailing, and bodice embroidery, for example, all come with hefty price tags. Trying on one of these dresses, and then falling in love with it when you can’t afford to take it home, would be heart breaking. Don’t put yourself through it.
Sign Number 8: Wedding Dress Sizing Freaks You Out
Wedding dress sizing is a law unto itself, and likely to make even the most body confident woman freak out when she realises what dress size she’s wearing. The fact is that wedding dress sizes are generally 2-3 sizes bigger than your normal dress size. That means that if you normally wear a size 8 then it’s likely that you will be trying on size 12 or even size 14 dresses on when you hit that bridal shop.
Our Tip: Don’t Worry, It’s Totally Normal!
I actually cried when I saw the size they had to order my wedding dress in, but I soon realised that it was completely normal.
Please don’t let it freak you out!
Dress size is nothing more than just a number anyway.
Sign #9: You’re Too Scared to Make a Decision
Deciding what wedding dress to buy is one of the biggest decisions you will make: it’s normal for that choice to be scary and to leave you feeling paralyzed with indecision. The act of actually making a choice is terrifying, and no one can take the plunge and make that decision but you.
Our Tip: Be Brave!
You’ll know in your heart when you’ve found the right dress, so don’t hold back.
Don’t second-guess your decision. Don’t depend on other people to validate your decision. You don’t need your mum, your sister, or your best friend to love your dress: you’re the only person that needs to love your dress.
Sign #10: All of the Shops Are Blurring into One
There are so many different bridal salons, it can feel impossible to know where to start. This is particularly true if you want to get the highest possible quality dress, but are working on a tight budget.
Our Tip: Try DevotionDresses.com
Who not try DevotionDresses.com? Offering premium quality, tailor made wedding dresses at a budget you can afford, they’re a great choice for the modern bride-to-be. The dress you choose will be tailored exactly to the measurements you send, meaning that you will get all the benefits of a made-to-measure couture dress, but for a fraction of the price!
Bonus Signs
Still holding on to the strands of your sanity? If you notice any of these extra signs then you’re a truly devoted bride who has lost her mind when planning her wedding. (Don’t worry, we’ve been there too!)
Bonus Sign #1: You Dream About Wedding Dresses
Does shopping for wedding dresses haunt your dreams? If even sleep can’t provide an escape from silk, tulle, and more diamante details then you can count then you’re definitely entering the danger zone where wedding dress shopping has caused you to completely lose your mind!
But is that a bad thing?
Our Tip: Embrace It
You only get to be a blushing bride once. And how often do you get to wear a ball gown and have all eyes on you? If you’re enjoying every minute of planning your big day and shopping for your wedding dress then enjoy your bridal dreams and go with it.
Dreaming about wedding dresses might even be helpful: the dress that you keep thinking of when you’re sleeping could well be the perfect dress for you!
Bonus Sign #2: You Can’t Stop Talking About It
Promised you wouldn’t talk about your dress but can’t help yourself? Talking about it in the office, over dinner with your family, and in the bar with your friends? If the people around you are sick of hearing about your dress and rolling their eyes whenever you mention it, they might be experiencing some serious wedding dress fatigue.
Our Tip: Take Some Time Out
If you’re driving your friends crazy, and they’re desperate to talk about anything else, then take some time out! Go to see a movie, go paintballing, or put on your trainers and go for a run. Do something active and enjoy spending some time together without talking or thinking about your wedding dress.
If you slip up? Give your friends permission to tell you, and to ask you to stop. The break will do you some good, and may even help you to gain some perspective on what you actually want.
Bonus Sign #3: You Click On Your Dream Dress Ten Times A Day
You can’t get it out of your head, you obsess over its details, and you click to look at it at least ten times a day. You’re having a love affair with your dream dress, but you just can’t bring yourself to click on that buy button.
Our Tip: Just Order It!
We always recommend that brides-to-be sleep on it before ordering their dress. But if you’ve been thinking about it for days, have examined every detail, and you still can’t stop thinking about it then you’ve found your dress. Congratulations! Now just put yourself, and everyone around you, out of their misery and just order it!