Shopping for your wedding dress should be one of the most exciting and eagerly anticipated times of your life. It’s going to be one of the most special and memorable outfits you ever wear and, depending on the bride, is likely to be one of the most expensive purchases you make towards your wedding day. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that every bride wants to get it absolutely right! But with so many options, so many designers and so many different types of bridal looks, it is no wonder that some brides can get really overwhelmed and bewildered by the process. In our humble opinion, one of the worst things you can do as a bride is over shop for your gown. Eventually you end up eating, breathing, dreaming wedding dresses and ultimately making the whole journey much more challenging and far less enjoyable.

Dress by Alena Leena, Protea
Veil and sleeves by Alena Leena, Veronica

At The Aisle, we are absolutely committed to helping you choose the right dress for you, your venue and your special day. Sometimes it may not seem like it, but even down to the structure of our appointments, there is always a method in the madness! There is a reason for doing things the way we do them and that, ultimately, is always to try and help you narrow down your decision.

If you’re just starting to think about shopping for your wedding dress but you have absolutely no idea where to start, then this blog is essential reading for you. Even if it means you choose not to visit our studio and short list some others instead, this carefully curated check list will help even the most indecisive bride make some quick easy choices that help her find the right dress for the big day.

So grab a cuppa, stop scrolling pinterest (for now), get your wedding folder out and let's run through the check list that might just make a huge difference to your stress-free bridal shopping experience.

Have your venue booked first!

This is essential! As is the same with most other studios, we don’t actually offer you an appointment until you’ve got your wedding venue booked, it’s impossible to pick a dress until you can visualise where you’re getting married. The venue can, not always but more often than not, hugely dictate the kind of theme your dress will want to follow. Naturally someone getting married at Rudding Park is unlikely to pick the same dress as someone getting married at a small outdoor ceremony on a beach in Portugal. Having your venue completely sorted will just help you stick on the right path when it comes to choosing the style and possibly even the cut of your gown. With grandeur and chandeliers you might want classic A- Line from Trish Peng, but with boho beach vibes you might be swayed towards the lightweight textures and patterns of Grace Loves Lace. This is why it's hugely important that you know exactly when and where you are getting married before you start shopping.

Think about styles that already suit you.

Of course you’re going to want to try some different styles, necklines and shapes. This dress shouldn’t necessarily reflect anything you have worn before to proms, parties, balls or other weddings. However, you will likely have an idea of what kind of dresses suit you. Just as an example, for me personally, I’m curvy on the hips and bum with a smaller waist, so A line actually just made me look bigger- big no no! What was more unexpectedly flattering was something more ruched and figure hugging.

Now is the time to scroll back through your insta grid and remember those dresses, those outfits, those nights that you felt incredible. Maybe it was just a really good date night! Whatever it was that made you feel great, think about those individual one off pieces and keep them in mind when looking at wedding dresses.

Don’t waste your own time.

Depending on who you bring to your appointment, we sometimes hear guests suggesting that they pick out a “wildcard” dress for the bride. Respectfully to them and in our experience, this literally never works and just wastes time. If the bride herself picks a bit of a wildcard then go for it! Sometimes they can surprise you. In general though, if you know something is not up your street - don’t choose it. Trust your own sense of style and please put your trust in us, your stylists. We have seen every single dress in the shop on an array of different body shapes and sizes so we can envision how something, you might not have initially chosen, will look on you. Once we start getting you in and out of dresses and finding what fabrics, necklines and shapes you like, it is so much easier for us to then help you pick something else from our fabulous collection of designers. One by one we’ll help you narrow it down to find the perfect dress.

For a lot of brides budgets can be fairly flexible, but if this isn’t you then that’s completely fine too, everyone has to draw the line somewhere. If you do have a specific budget in mind, but the studio and designers you’re looking at are not quite within that budget, then don’t torment yourself! There’s nothing worse than falling in love with a dress and knowing that actually it’s not ever going to be possible to purchase. There are lots of great designers and collections out there to suit every budget and an array of beautiful bridal boutiques to suit all brides. Be ready, willing and committed to finding the right one and saying yes to the dress on the day!

Dress by Divine Atelier, Lola Corset, Caro Skirt
Jewellery by Daniella Draper

Create a Pinterest board or a secret folder of photos.

Not everyone is as organised (I definitely wasn’t!) so please don’t panic if you’re one of those brides who just doesn’t quite know until she sees it. That said, it can be incredibly helpful for both you and us if you’ve done some research first. Really, you should be picking the bridal studio based on the designers they house. There is absolutely no point in shopping at a studio that just doesn’t suit your style, so if you’ve been scouring the internet and the dresses you’re drawn to keep throwing the same names at you, then find out which studios stock these designers and start there. It doesn’t mean you will leave with that one specific dress that keeps cropping up over and over again, or even that designer, but it does give us a really good steer as to what styles and designers we can work with.

If you haven’t got quite as far as picking specific designers or even dresses, it seems like a really obvious one, but please make sure to have a look at the website and the socials of the studio you’re going to visit. This will give you real insight to the aesthetic of that business. You will get a feeling just from looking at that shop as to whether it matches the right vibes for your wedding. If it doesn’t look like somewhere you’d love to shop - don’t add it to your short list.

The number of shops you choose to visit is important!

It’s not a sales tactic! We promise, it can really become overwhelming, exhausting and suddenly before you know it, you’re more confused than when you started. Then it literally is a case of going back to the drawing board (or pinterest board in this case.)

Limit yourself to three shops maximum that you have thoroughly researched. The last thing you or your stylist want is for you to go dress blind! The more dresses you try on, the more disorientated you become. Stick to what you know and what you envisioned. It doesn’t mean we don’t want you to find your perfect dress - we absolutely do! And it doesn’t mean your vision can’t change as you go through, but please put some trust in us as we are always aiming to help make your decision easier.

More than three’s a crowd!

When you’re shopping for your wedding dress it’s no wonder that you want your favourite people in the world with you - it’s a pinnacle moment in your life and something you want to remember forever. BUT (you knew that was coming didn’t you) we want you to remember it for all the right reasons! Guests actually have a super important job at your wedding dress appointment and a lot of the time they don’t even know it.

Yes you want their opinions, you want them to be wowed, blown away even! Don’t get us wrong, most guests will do this and live up to expectation. They’ll big you up, they’ll be your biggest cheer leaders and hype girls and most importantly they’ll just want whatever is best FOR YOU! It’s so important to remember that whoever you bring with you, the ultimate decision is down to you and you alone. So if you are planning to bring Granny Suzie, who imagines you in a poof ball meringue wedding gown, but actually you pictured yourself in a slinky two piece, then you need to be ok with her opinion being kept on the side lines. As long as you're still going to be happy picking the dress that YOU love and not taking offence to anything your guests may say, then that’s the main thing. If you think a particular bridesmaid, friend, or cousin is going to be unhelpful, unpredictable and try to deter you from something you love for the wrong reasons, then please stay clear of inviting them to your appointment. It’s rare that this happens but family dynamics and friendships can sometimes make appointments chaotic - trust us, we’ve seen it all. The green eyed monster can occasionally rear its head during these times so bear it in mind and choose wisely when selecting your guests.

That old saying “too many cooks spoil the broth” also becomes really relevant at your bridal appointment. Sometimes getting too many conflicting voices all at once can become quite heavy and ultimately just makes it more challenging for you. This is why we have a three guest maximum policy. In our experience, the perfect number of guests is one or two but we appreciate this is your appointment and the choice is yours. Keeping your dress a surprise for your wedding day is such a lovely idea and more and more brides are following this trend. If however there are more family members or friends that you really want to see your chosen dress then remember that you still have a forty five minute pick up appointment. Once your made to order dress arrives in store, you’ll come back to try on your actual dress and maybe pair it with veils, accessories or even your wedding shoes - so this is the perfect opportunity for anyone else important to you to come along and see you in your beautiful dress before the big day.

Dress by Trish Peng, Scarlett
Shoes by Versace

If you can retain these cheeky snippets of information then this will make your whole bridal shopping experience far easier and far more enjoyable. Just remember that a lot of the time it really is about how a dress makes you feel. Once you’ve found that - you’ve found your dress!

Something else important to remember is that we’ve created these tips, not just based on the fact that we’re bridal stylists, but we’ve based it on our own individual experiences when we were shopping for our dresses. These are all things we wish we’d known, done or had access to in order to make our experiences, as customers, so much better. Now we pass our fountain of knowledge down to you beauties, you’re welcome!

We can’t wait to help you choose the right dress and kick start your wedding journey.

See you at The Aisle,

Georg x

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