Who to invite with you to your wedding dress shopping appointments

One of the first things that a bride starts to plan after she gets engaged is her wedding dress shopping experience! After all, it’s become a tradition to set up appointments and make full days/weekends of shopping for your gown! As salon owners, we totally understand the excitement of this part of wedding planning and look forward to sharing this with you and your group! But a few words of advice when planning these trips and who to invite with you. If you can learn from our past experiences, it would avoid and save you lots of time, heartache and even tears! 

Photo: Damaris Mia Photography

Don’t feel obligated to invite EVERYONE in your wedding party/family:

There is a LOT of pressure on brides to please everyone, as soon as she gets a ring on her finger. It's hard but remember…your wedding is only about you and your fiancé. Therefore, it is your choice how to conduct your wedding planning and all the activities surrounding it. Everyone will want to come with you to your dress appointments, but that doesn’t mean they all should. In our experience, the more people you have, the more confused and overwhelmed you will feel. Everyone has an opinion, and they will ALL express them during your appointments. Chances are, they won’t like the same gown/s as you. And they will let you know.

Our rule of thumb: bring whoever is paying for the gown (mom, sister) and immediate family only (sisters and mom and/or grandma). For everyone else, we suggest doing a fun dinner or brunch afterwards and you can show them pictures, etc.

And blame the salons for not being allowed to bring more than 3-4 people (“the salons won’t allow groups of more than 4 people”) – we are totally ok with that!

Have a conversation with your group before your appointments:

For most families, your wedding dress shopping experience will be a first-time thing and they don’t know what to expect or how to act in that situation. The only point of reference most families have is “Say Yes to the Dress”, and we all know how realistic that show is! It will save you all so much heartache if you just have a conversation with them all beforehand (even if it’s via group text or email) and just set a few gentle reminders/ground rules.

Tell them a bit about your style of gown preferred (if you have one), so they won’t keep asking you to try on ballgowns if that’s not your style. Tell them the stores you are going to, and why you chose those particular stores (for styles, price point, etc).

Most relatives are so excited to be there for you, and are antsy to help out in any way! But during a bridal appointment, the best way they can help you (and your stylist) is to sit down, enjoy and just be a positive presence!!

DO NOT invite your most opinionated friends/relatives:

If you have a super opinionated, or even negative, friend/relative, it would be best to not invite her. We have seen big arguments break out amongst the bride and such types of people, and the appointment never goes well in situations like that. We have had brides walk out of the salon crying, we have had bridesmaids be “fired” because of their opinions. People like that love to make their voice heard and will overpower you and take over the appointment. Therefore, do yourself a favor and just don’t invite her.

If you absolutely must invite her, set it in your mind to tune her out and don’t let yourself be swayed by her opinion or statements. In the end, it’s YOUR wedding and “you do you”!

Hope these little tidbits helped a bit! Good luck to all of you brides starting your bridal shopping- remember to have fun and stay true to YOU!

Ramona
Love and Lace Bridal

Love and Lace Bridal caters to the fun, quirky, slightly non-traditional bride that is looking for something different than the same wedding dress found at every other local salon! We bring new and fresh designers to the area and encourage our brides to be themselves and stay true to their unique selves! We offer a blend of indie and boho designers as well as more mainstream designers that offer a fun twist on the wedding dress. Our dresses are soft, flowy, lace-y, sexy and perfectly romantic! // Follow Love and Lace on Instagram.