Avoid these 5 mistakes when choosing your wedding dress

Choosing your wedding dress should be the most exciting part of planning a wedding. Most women fantasize their entire lives about finding that perfect gown that they’re going to wear on their special day.

But as it often happens, what we imagine and what we experience are two different things. Finding the wedding dress of your dreams might not be as simple as you think, so you better arm yourself with lots of patience and keep an open mind, if you don’t want to go from bride to bridezilla in the blink of an eye.

If you want to make the process of finding the perfect gown less stressful, it’ s important to avoid these 5 common mistakes.

Letting others choose the dress for you

So, you’ve started the quest for finding the perfect wedding dress, but you don’t know exactly what you are searching for. Don’t worry, most brides don’t know which dress is the one until they stumble upon it. That doesn’t mean that you should let others choose it for you.

Asking for others’ opinion might be helpful as long as it doesn’t influence you too much. It’s ok to accept suggestions from the people you trust, but don’t let them make it about themselves. It’s your day and you know better how you feel about a certain style or look.

When there are too many people sharing their two cents on what gown you should wear, things can get even more confusing and you lose sight of what truly matters to you. Trust your intuition and always remember that you have the final say.

Waiting until the last minute to buy a dress

Most wedding planners agree that the best time to start the search for a gown is 10 months in advance. The process of creating a wedding dress is long and complicated. If you leave it at the last minute there might not be enough time to finish it and you don’t want to walk down the aisle in a half-finished gown.

If you’re one of those picky brides that can’t decide on anything, you should begin the search even sooner. That way you can try on countless dresses, change your mind and make as many alterations as you like before deciding on the one.

There are so many things that you have to get done before you wedding day that you won’t even realize when time flies by. Plan everything ahead, especially buying the dress, because the only things to occupy your mind at the last minute should be the small details.

Buying a cheap dress online

Let’s put it this way: what you see is not what you get! Maybe you’ve got your heart set on a designer gown, but the price tag won’t let you go anywhere near it. So, you’ve decided to buy a knock-off that you’ve found on a shady site in the hopes that it will save you from emptying your wallet.

If you enjoy searching for a good bargain, now it’s not the time for it. Wedding dresses are not cheap and you usually get what you paid for. You don’t have to pay a fortune for your gown, but if the price is too low, then the quality will be just as low.

Don’t forget that the images you see online can be very deceiving. A good photo can make you think that you’re looking at a designer dress, but in reality, it’s nothing more than a photoshopped piece of cheap fabric.

Not knowing what flatters your body type

Talking about reality checks, you’ll have to be honest with yourself when trying on wedding dresses. We are all different and what you think will be the most wonderful gown might not flatter your silhouette.

It’s important to know your body type and what works for you. Since you don’t go shopping for a wedding dress every day, it’s normal not to have any point of reference for what will look good on you. But you must use your common sense and try not to get stuck on a certain dress model just because you thought it will suit you.

Fixating on a dress design because it looks great online

Social media has done it again! We’re talking about altering the way we look at things. The online world is flooded by images with people living perfect lives, in their perfect houses, dressed in these perfect outfits.

The same goes for wedding fashion. Just because a dress design looks good online and every fashionable bride you’ve seen on social media seems to adopt a certain gown style, it doesn’t mean you have to follow the crowd.

Trends come and go and before you even know it, the wedding dress that you’ve been admiring is already out of fashion. You should search for your own unique style, something that represents you, not something that will make you look just like everybody else.

Being unrealistic about your budget

The harsh reality is that all weddings should fit into a budget. If you want to spend a little more on your dress, it’s completely understandable. After all, the highlight of the event is the bride walking down the aisle in her dreamy wedding gown.

But when you have to double your budget so you can afford that perfect dress, then you might want to reconsider if it’s the perfect dress indeed. It’s good to have a rough idea of how much you can spend on the dress before making any shopping appointments.

You should also do some research on the price range of the gowns at the boutiques you plan on visiting, so you don’t spend a whole day trying on dresses that you can’t actually afford.

Finally, when shopping for you wedding dress, don’t forget to have some fun. A wedding it’s supposed to be about love and happiness and less about the small mundane details.