You have been planning your big day since you were 5. You have the big wedding binder like Monica has in FRIENDS and you had imagined the perfect venue and the perfect dress – your dream dress! Now that day is 10 month away and you still haven’t gotten your dress. It’s so overwhelming and you don’t even know where to start. There are thousands of dresses and thousands of store, how do you know which one to pick and where to go and what to do? One thing’s for sure you wanna get started now because it takes about 6 to 8 months for the dress to arrive and then alterations take additional time.

And here are some more of my tips to get you started!

1. The first thing is location and time. Think about your venue and what time you are having your wedding. That will help narrow down what kind of a dress you need to get. For example: for a beach wedding you would get something flowy with chiffon.

2. Have a realistic budget. Figure out who is paying for it and stick to it and don’t forget to factor in the hidden costs. Say your budget is $2000 for a dress. You don’t want to get a dress that costs $2000. You also want to take into account the tax and the alterations as well as accessories such as veil, jewellery, and shoes.

3. Find out which bridal salons you want to visit and call to make appointments. Make an appointment for a weekday to ensure less crowded salons and earlier during the day so that the salon staff is in a fresh and energetic mood. Also give yourself few hours because getting in and out of the wedding dresses take a little bit of time and you don’t want to rush through the experience.Don’t bring an entourage, the more people you have the more overwhelmed and confused you will get with all the opinions. Bring 2 to 3 people whose opinions will help you decide.

4. Think about how you envision your should make you feel. Do you want it to make you feel sexy, chic, modern or traditional or do you want to have a vintagy feel? Also think about the silhouette. Do your research and see what kinds of silhouettes you like and then try those on at the salon. Don’t get caught in what’s trending and find a dress that works best with your body type. 

5. Make sure to have cute undergarments since you will spend most of your time in them getting in an out of dresses. If you have a ratty old bra, you will end up spending more time focusing on that than really enjoying the day and the experience. It’s also kind of hard to really take in a strapless dress if your bra straps are sticking out or how a fitted gown would fit once the curves are smoothed. For your appointments, wear a nude thong and strapless bra, and bring Spanx.

So there ya have it, my tips!! Have something else that our brides should know?? Add it to the comments. Also pin it to your wedding planning board so you can have it for later 🙂