Every girl deserves to feel like a princess at least once in their lifetime!
Arguably, one of the best parts of planning a wedding has to be the wedding dress purchase. Most of us have at least imagined the kind of dress we’d like. Some of us even have a Pinterest board dedicated to it. But when the big day comes – by which I mean, the first try on – not many of us know what to actually expect. And I found it a little nerve wracking. Actually, I found it a lot nerve wrecking, and despite all the useful information the store had sent me in advance, I still overthought my experience.
So, today, I thought it would be useful to write down a few of the things I wish someone had told me. This is my truthful guide to your first wedding dress try on. For my experience I went to Grace Loves Lace, which I’d been admiring for a while on Instagram. It’s a brand originally from Australia, but they now have boutiques in the biggest cities around the world. And their designs are beautiful.
0.1 Be prepared to be seen – with not much clothes on
Even though they tell you to wear a nude, backless and strapless bra, it’s likely they’ll just ask you to take it off. I bought one for the day, but panicked because it wasn’t backless and still had nude straps. In reality it didn’t matter anyway because I just did the fitting braless. But, if like me, nudity in front of strangers is a big thing to you, be prepared beforehand. Standing in front of a mirror and a stranger with nothing but a pair of pants and heels is always going to be a bizarre experience.
But, brace yourself beforehand, and the ease will settle in a lot quicker. Just remember, these people do this everyday, and their job is to make you feel good about the way you look.
0.2 Try every style possible on, even the ones you don’t like on the hanger.
For my wedding dress fitting, and for most you book, they’ll ask you to put down your favourite styles on their website. I had to put four down, and I went for the ones I liked the most. The only problem with that is that the ones you like will likely be the same style. Same shape and theme. Try to add in ones that you wouldn’t usually go for, be adventurous. Out of the four I picked, the wedding dress I left considering buying was the one I’d added on at the end to make it up to the suggested number. I also tried it on first to ‘get it out the way’, but ended up going back to it at the end.
I also made the mistake of not trying on other styles, meaning that I’ve had to book a second appointment at another store. Just to make sure.
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0.3 Make it an experience
For my appointment I went on a day out to London. We’re countryside folk, so it’s always a big day out. But this time we upgraded our train to first class, and treated ourselves to lunch out. This will be a day you’ll always want to remember, so push the boat out, and treat yourself. Even if you’re just going to a local shop in your home town, upgrade it in some way. Maybe a nice meal afterwards, maybe you get another experience afterwards, like a spa day.
0.4 Book one that offers you a full experience
Different shops offer different experiences, but you have to book one with a full experience at least once. When else in your life are you going to get to do it? (Hopefully, never) A lot of them offer a private experience, with a glass of bubbly, and that’s what you want. If you keep an eye out, some stores even offer a seperate VIP experience that you can book (usually with a charge to it). Although it might just seem like pointless add ons to the same wedding dress experience, I would say make sure you book at least one of these, just to make sure it’s something you’ve had.
The one I went to gave us little glasses of sparkling wine with a flower floating in it. It’s a small thing, but it adds to the whole wedding dress experience. It also means you can test a photo to see what you’ll look like with a glass of bubbly in your hand – important, right? When you’re looking for places to book a try on, keep an eye out for what they offer as well as the dresses, and make sure you get the full experience of being a bride at least once.
0.5 Have an open mind
If the team member helping you appears with a wedding dress you think is hideous, go for it anyway. You might still think it looks like a duvet when you’re wearing it, but you never know. On one of my experiences I completely overlooked a dress. I thought it was shapeless, and I didn’t like the pattern on it. But it ended up being my favourite of the day. (It wasn’t the one, but it was eye-opening that ‘the one’ might not be what I’m expecting it to be).
Try on anything and everything that’s offered to you. Make sure you’ve tried every style available. That way, when you have ‘the one’ you’ll never be able to even think ‘what if I’d tried on XX style?’. You’ll be confident that you tried every style on, and you made the right choice.
0.6 Don’t turn up with your wedding dress already in your mind
You can have a certain style in mind, or a shape, or something. But just, whatever you do, don’t have the whole dress in your head. It like anything, if you have exactly how you want it to the smallest detail, you won’t find it. And chances are you never will. There will never be the perfect dress for you, and if you find one that you think could be it, you’ll probably be thinking ‘but it isn’t that one’. You’ll corner yourself, and that’s not a good idea.
When I went to my appointments I started by choosing a few I liked, then expanded from those, on what I liked and what I didn’t. But I never went knowing what I was looking for. And it felt much less stressful, and so much more freedom of choice.
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0.7 Share it with your family and friends – but brief them first
Take someone to the appointment with you, and share this exciting time. It’ll be really bonding, and even if they see it now, on the day they’ll see the dress in a whole new light with the rest of your look. Being an only child, and my partner too, it was really important to me to share this moment with both our mums. And it was such a nice moment too, it felt like we all really came together a lot more on the day, and also built a lot of excitement between us for the big day (even though it was over a year away).
A lot of places will limit you to how many people you can bring – partly because of COVID, partly because of advice, partly because of space in the showroom. However, even if they let you take 100 people, I would recommend sticking to 2 or 3. Otherwise it’ll begin to get overwhelming. And you can’t please everyone.
On that, I think a really important piece of advice is to prep them beforehand. You want them there, sure. But what you don’t want to hear is their criticism. If you fall in love with a dress in the changing room, but then they openly hate it, it’ll ruin everything. Even if you pick that one, on the day you’re bound to remember what they said. I prepped my family beforehand, and said their opinions were important to me, but to go with what I say as much as possible. And let me give my opinion first. And that’s probably one of the most important pieces of advice I can give.
0.8 At the end of the day, it’s your wedding dress – and it is only a dress!
Don’t panic. And don’t take on board too much of what everyone else thinks. I’m going to say it – there’s probably going to be one person on the day that thinks they don’t like your dress. It’s true, but if you had to please 120 people you’d never find one. The only person that has to be happy with the dress, at the end of the day, is you. It’s your dress, and if you look back and think you love it, then you’ve got ‘the one’.
The one I judge it is imagining myself opening it up from a keepsake box in years and years. And thinking how I feel about it. If you can imagine that, and know you’ll still feel butterflies when you see it, you’ve done well.
But, it is just a dress – what I mean by that is, don’t panic if you’re struggling to find the one. There’s thousands of wedding dresses out there, and there will be one for you. Just enjoy the experience now, and try on as many as you want to!
