Photo By: tienvijftien
1. Not Shopping Early
The wedding dress process should start about 10 months before the wedding. The number one mistake we see is brides waiting till the last minute to find a dress. It is important to know that it can take up to eight weeks to find the right gown and then another four months for the dress to be custom. You might get lucky and find something that you fall in love with and that fits, but that is highly unlikely, so make sure you prepare properly and start the process early. It also means you are less likely to settle.
2. Not Setting a Budget
You need to have a price point for your wedding dress. We see many brides falling in love with a dress that is too expensive or mindlessly blowing their budget. Do the prudent thing and have a concrete number that you don’t want to overreach, it will make wedding dress shopping much less stressful. Also, don’t forget to included the cost of alterations, headpiece, veil and shoes in your budget.
3. Hurrying the Process
Mistake number one is making not giving yourself enough time. Other than real time constraints and the lead times to find and make a dress, the other reason for starting early is the next mistake we see brides make. They rush the process, frantically trying to do everything in one day. Take a few days off work, have fun with appointments, enjoy trying on lots of dresses. It is a special event and you can’t enjoy yourself if you are trying to do everything immediately.
4. Shopping with a Bad Entourage
Limit your shopping partners to one or two of your closest friends to help you start your search. But more importantly, don’t make the mistake we see a lot of brides make by choosing friends that aren’t supportive. Your entourage should be people who have a clear idea about your goal and your style and budget.
5. Forgetting the Camera
These days we all have camera phones so there should be no excuse for forgetting to take lots of photos. Better yet, assign the task to one of your entourage and make sure they deliver by taking a bunch of photos of you in the dress. Be sure to take lots of pictures of every angle of the dresses you try on, even the angles you find least flattering. You can’t pick and choose what glimpses people will get of you in your dress. So make sure your dress not only flatters your front, but your back, your sides, and every area in between.