Selecting a wedding gown is possibly one of the most exciting things for a bride to do. It’s one of the most fun aspects of preparing your wedding. Even if your wedding planner doesn’t know what dress you want to get, they’ll be able to help you out so that the wedding gown you choose will be memorable for the rest of your life. So with this in mind, it’s one part of your wedding you do not want to wait until the last minute to plan. Here are some tips to help get your gown search started!

You should expect to wait 4-6 months to receive your wedding dress after you order it. So start looking for the perfect gown EARLY! Keep in mind that you’ll want to have plenty of time for fitting your dress and then also altering it. Don’t under-estimate how long it might take to find the gown for you. Each fitting and alteration will take ample amounts of time.

When it comes to your gown budget, make sure that you take into consideration things such as the headpiece/veil, shoes, gloves, jewelry, undergarments, and other accessories.

Gowns don’t look the same on the hangar as they do on you! Have your wedding planner remind you of this. Pretty gowns hanging up may not look as good on you as you would have first imagined. It’s very, very important that you try it on before buying it!

Ask your wedding planner or store staff to help you out with any questions you may have. They are there to help, and more than likely, they’ve sold hundreds of wedding dresses to women like you. When speaking with your planner, it will give them a good idea what style you’re searching for.

Remember to order a gown that is roughly the same size as you because ordering one that is 1 size smaller can be disasterous. By ordering the right size, your usual size, you can always alter it if you lose weight before the big day.

When your gown arrives in the store, take your wedding planner with you to check it out at the store. Do a quick fitting with the dress on before buying it.

While trying the dress on, view all angles. Finding something you don’t like at the store is much easier to fix than finding it once you get home, so make sure you tell your wedding planner or store staff any imperfections that you find. While at the store, they’ll be able to fix any problems that you may find.

With all of this in mind, I wish you the best of luck in your search for the perfect wedding gown…YOUR perfect gown!