dresses

ammarkey

My wedding is not until July of '15. However, I found the dress of my dreams by pure accident in a magazine. Is it too early to go ahead and try on the dress and buy it or should I just wait until closer to the date? Thanks. Ally

manateehugger

ammarkey said:

My wedding is not until July of '15. However, I found the dress of my dreams by pure accident in a magazine. Is it too early to go ahead and try on the dress and buy it or should I just wait until closer to the date? Thanks. Ally

First off, slow down. Yes, this dress looks perfect and "the one" in the magazine. But you haven't tried this thing on yet, so you have no idea. I bet a lot of us on TK (myself included) saw a dress in a magazine/online and was sure it was it, only to actually try the thing on and go "Meh."

That said, I don't think a year out is too early to begin shopping. Go ahead and make an appointment at a local salon that carries the designer of this gown. Try on anything and everything, including this dress. 

If you think it's the dress, go ahead and grab it. But then you have to STOP LOOKING. There are always gorgeous dresses coming out, and you'll be in love with more than one of them. But you'll make yourself nuts if you purchase a gown you love and then keep shopping. So if you think you can stop looking once you purchase a dress, go for it. 

tammym1001

If you love this dress then you should definitely go try it on. I don't think it's too early for you to buy a dress. I found the perfect dress online 15 months before my wedding. I went and tried it on and it was perfect. I tried on other dresses, but nothing compared to the first one so I ended up buying it at 15 months out. I know my body and what looks good on me so it was easier for me to see something online and know if it would work for me or not.

atlastmrsg

Buy it if you have your venue, and it all works together. If it's your dream dress, but it has a cathedral train and lots of beading...but in six months you decide to get married at the beach, you might have a problem. If you do buy it, stop looking at dresses. No magazines. No dress store visits. You'll end up torn between the dress you bought and the other ones you find along the way.

emmaaa

Always try on a dress before you decide you love. As PPs mentioned, it will have a different look on you than it does on a model and in a magazine. 

I think one year out is a good time to start looking though. I bought my dress in January for my December wedding. This gives you plenty of time to order it (mine took 6 months), alter it, and alter it again. I also liked that when I bought mine, the weather and everything was similar to how it will be on your wedding day. 

AddieCake

Try it on but be open minded. My dress looks NOTHING like my magazine dream dress, which I looked like a birthday cake in.

CMGragain

My daughter was sure that a certain Maggie Sottero she saw on line was "the one".  Eh.  She fell in love with a Demetrios dress that I pulled and asked her to try.  It wasn't anything like the dresses on her list.
Keep an open mind.  Once you decide on a dress, stop looking.  Be sure that the dress fits your budget and the formality of your wedding.  If you are in love with a huge ball gown, but your wedding is a picnic in the park with the guys wearing jeans, it will look out of place.
Have fun shopping.  It can take 7 months for your gown to come in, so one year out isn't too soon.

landa10315

It's definitely not too early to shop! I ordered my dress at the end of this June for my 10/15 wedding. It will take 6-8 months to come in. I tried on a couple of dresses that I fell in love with in magazines and they looked ridiculous on me! Don't bank on absolutely loving this dress, and be open to trying on different styles. The dress I ended up falling in love with was completely opposite of what I thought I wanted and had been trying on.

bridet0be15

I accidentally found my dress this past week and my wedding isn't until sept 2015!! My aunt told me about a retirement sale at a nice bridal boutique.  Everything 50% off.  I didn't think I would find my dress but had to look and the last dress I tried on was it!  I think 1 year is alright because you might not find it right away.  But like the previous posters said, once you find it stop looking!

Good luck 

MandyMost

I love fashion and feel like I know what I like and what works on me better than your average person. And still, I had a few "dream dresses" in pictures that looked TERRIBLE when I tried them on! Seriously, shockingly bad. And I didn't at all feel like "me". I didn't go in an entirely different direction, but I made some serious "tweaks" to my original ideas to find the perfect dress. Seriously, after on dress shopping trip I decimated my original album of 20 "perfect" dresses into only a couple, and added a bunch more that I never would have originally considered.

To add some detail, I thought I wanted a lace dress, particularly where there was thick (lace) straps up on the shoulders. I looked so dowdy in EVERY lace dress I tried on. I ended up going with a beaded dress (no lace), that still had straps but they are much thinner than I was originally looking for.