The Dress

rachel10488

Our wedding is Nov. 25th....and I haven't tried on a single dress yet! Am I the only one?! I have nearly all vendors booked and am well ahead of the schedule on all the planning but I keep seeing people talking about how they already have their dress and I haven't even started shopping for mine yet and don't plan on it until May.
My reasoning behind this is the year before we got engaged we moved to a new city, I started a new job, and ended up gaining 25lbs, then we got engaged in Dec. and I was determined to lose most of the weight before I try on dresses. Well, weight loss has been MUCH slower than anticipated and I just want to feel confident and not bad about myself when I try on dresses and that's why I figured I'd be closer to those goals by May. This will still leave over 6 months before our wedding, and because of my height, and when I meet my goal weight I'm pretty much exactly a size 8 so alterations will be minimal or non existent, hopefully.

Anyone else in a similar circumstance?

lls31

Not to scare you or anything, but it could take a while for your dress to actually come in once you buy it.  Then you also need to allow time for alterations, if needed.

I was quoted 6-9 months for my dress to come in (a Blu by Mori Lee).  It ended up arriving early, but that's still something you should keep in mind.

jangbeh24.defunct635761171605148292

oh wow, you should start looking now. I ordered my dress in Nov. and I'm still waiting. My day is Nov. 9th. If you wait til May, depending on the designer, you wont be able to wear the dress. My dress is by Sottero and Midgley

ElisabethJoanne

It all depends on how you're buying your dress. I went to a salon right when theknot's timeline told me to, and hated them all. I called a couple more salons and described what I wanted, and they had 0. So I gave up on salons.

This freed me to delay the whole issue. I'll either have my grandmother's dress altered, or I'll have a dress made locally, or I'll get something from ebay or preowned... Having it made locally could take several months, but not the year theknot timeline contemplates. I think I gave myself a new, must-just-choose-now deadline of 4 or 5 months before the wedding.

ksdlkeahey

I am doing the same thing with the whole waiting a little while longer to start looking for my dress due to wanting to lose a few pounds. One thing I did find interesting was that according to a woman i workout with her daughter went to a salon (David's Bridal i think) to get her dress a while ago but recently when she went in for her fittings they realized she had lost a few dress sizes (yippee for her) and since they hadn't altered the original dress they let her exchange for one that was the new smaller size. Maybe you (and me for that matter) should ask the salons if they are willing to do the same type of thing. If you are planning on a dress shop that is. On the other hand my sister found her dress on Ebay for under $100 so maybe you could look there too. Good luck on the dress hunt

ohsoashley

I haven't yet-- but I will be in a few weeks. I have been putting it off bc I want to do the shopping with FMIL and FSIL. And I won't be in town with them til the middle of April.

amymaysa

I would look soon. Almost everyone I know has wanted to or is trying to lose a little (or a lot) of weight before the big day. They can typically take in a dress 2 sizes. It would be better to have to pay with alterations after losing than not having a dress or having to get a dress you don't love b/c you waited.

Also, while it sucks, it's actually much better for you to lose weight slower rather than fast. it usually stays off longer that way!

Hope that helps! You'll be fine!

Miss_2010

Yeah I was told to allocate 6 months to get the dress in (depending on designer and style) then ~ 1-2 months for alternations (depending on how many fittings you have, especially if you're losing weight).  To be honest even if you lose 10-20 pounds, you'll still need alterations anyhow and you can always buy bigger and get the dress altered.  You're better off getting a size larger than 'to fit".  I am normally an 8 in real life clothes, my dress is a 12 to fit on the hips (but is huge in the chest), and is corset...which is good for tightening/loosening.  I am in the process of shedding a few pounds too, but nothing that would make me feel confident in buying a size 10 and then hoping I don't put on 5 lbs before November. 

puresugaar

I haven't started trying any on either (for the same reason as ohsoashley, I really want to go with my mom who can't come see me until mid April), so even thought I'm stressing a bit too about the timeline, I think if you order within the next few weeks you should be ok.  If you don't mind paying for expedited shipping, then you can wait even longer.

rachel10488

Thanks for the advice, ladies!

My initial mentality behind waiting is because a good friend of mine bought her dress soon after she was engaged and then over the course of a several months lost 30lbs and the dress she purchased was SO big that there was no taking it in she had to go through the stress of finding a whole new dress and then ended up spending 3x more...SO upon hearing this and knowing I wanted to be 25lbs smaller by wedding day I wanted at least 15 off before trying dresses on so I don't end up in a similar circumstance.
I'm actually not even planning on purchasing a dress from a salon because I've found so many amazing etsy sellers or discount websites where you can get a replication for sometimes 7x cheaper. If I do end up doing that route once I try on and actually decide on the design I want most etsy sellers only take a few months to make it...so I guess this is one reason I've been so lax about it. But there's no guarentee that I will end up doing that anyways so I am nervous about having time for a salon to order.
Part of it is also a similar situation to some of you girls, I live 3 hours from any of my family (mom and sister) so even planning a weekend to try dresses on takes weeks to decide on because of everyone's schedules...but I obviously don't want to just go looking alone.

BrooklynBride20

My wedding is Nov 10th and I haven't bought a dress either. My mom lives 1500 miles away and couldn't visit until midApril. She REALLY wanted to go dress shopping with me so I decided it was worth waiting for. Paying expedited shipping is more than worth having my mom present for the process. I just hope I don't have any problems finding a dress my first time trying!

snowdaisy822

I would start looking, but also be aware of the salons in your area. I've purchased mine, but the place I got it from only does dresses off the rack (they'll order them, but they're more), so I already have my physical dress. So check with your salons and see how they handle their sales. 

ArcheryGirl1

I started looking at 2 years out and here is what I found:
1. Looking on the internet is great because you can see every style that is out there
2. If you find one you really like, it will most likely NOT be in your local store because they can't carry every size of every dress of every designer.
3. You'll most likely not find your second choice in the store either.
4,  You MUST try on dresses at a salon.
5.  You MUST try on every dress style you can find.  You may have an idea of what'll look good on you, but it's very possible to fall in love with a dress style that surprises you.
6.  If you plan to buy from eBay, etsy, or any other bridal website you should really try on dresses and fall in love with a dress that you think will be perfect.  I believe this might help alleviate buyer's remorse.

Some girls may get lucky and find "the" dress in the first store they go to.  Others are not so lucky.