2?s: Dress ordering timeline? Where to shop?

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My wedding will be next September, and I wasn't planning on starting to shop until Feb or so. However, now I'm concerned that's not enough time. 

Madeleine's Daughters website says to give at least 9 months between ordering and wedding. That means I should have a new dress by the new year. Is 9 months the standard time for shopping?

Also, can anyone recommend places to shop in the S'rn NH area? Madeleine's Daughter seems it might be pricey but they have their Thanksgiving sale. Is their sale worth missing xmas shopping? Any other suggestions?

Thanks - I know that was a lot of questions!

cg-pm52111

I found my dress at Modern Bride.  They also usually have a sale the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Marry & Tux is another good place.  Timeline really depends on the designer and I would go with the store estimates.  They know best.  It would be better to have it in a little early than too late.  Good luck and have fun shopping!

FireDancer04

There is also 125 Bridal in Plaistow NH. They have a fairly good selection, not really sure on the prices. 

mlhw NH

Andrea's Bridal in Rochester.  Definatly worth the trip!  The owner Terry really knows her stuff!!  www.andreasbridalboutique.com

DrPB2b13

Typically 6-9 months is recommended for ordering your dress depending on where you look.  Keep in mind though, you might not find a dress you want right away!  My understanding is most brides shop between 12 and 18 months before the wedding to make sure they a) have enough time to get a dress and b) can take their time and not have to rush shopping trips.

Ultimately, it depends on you - do you like shopping?  Do you know exactly what you like/want/look good in?  Can you make a decision quickly?  Will you feel overwhelmed making multiple shopping trips in rapid succession?  I would seriously consider the previous points to decide when you should go shopping.

mariegra

We have a September 2011 wedding also and have picked out the dress, but am not ordering it until Thanksgiving weekend, (when the store has their annual sale--will save about 10%).  Started looking at dresses in August and made three dress shopping trips.  Several dresses were tried on and here's the recap:
 
- Modern Bridal, Bedford - great customer service, no appt. required and good selection.

- Country Bridals, Jaffrey - made appt. but customer service was only "so/so".  Limited selection.

- Madeline's Daughter, Portsmouth - did a quick "drive-by", but did not try on any dresses.

- Returned to Modern Bridal (Favorite so far), and picked out "THE" Dress.

- Fyi...I attended a Bridal Show in Portsmouth a week ago and was given a 15% off coupon if I set up an appointment with 125 Bridal Boutique in Plaistow, NH, so I set up an appointment for 11/4.  I will probably go just to see if they have the same dress that I picked out and will see if I can get it any cheaper at their salon, or just to check and see if they have anything I like better.  Honestly though, I am 99.9% sure that I am going to go with the Impressions Bridal dress picked out at Modern Bridal in Bedford.  They told me to expect about 6-9 months for the dress to arrive, because most of these are coming from China and they don't make it until they get the order....and you deal with international holidays, shipping/import issues, etc. 

IMO, I think you should really start looking soon.  If you wait until January to get your dress, you might not be allowing sufficient time for it to get in....and don't forget about fittings, alteration time, etc.  Even with ordering the dress in November, I am still a little concerned about pushing the timeline.  Many of the brides on the Sept. 2011 board have already gotten (or have ordered) their dresses.  HTH.

[Deleted User]

You also need to factor time in for alterations, so if the dress comes in as scheduled in 6-7 months, you need at least 1-2 months to make the alterations to your liking (and budget time during summer "wedding season" for seamstresses to be crazy busy!).

JennLaura

I'm getting married in September 2011, I purchased my dress from Modern Bride in July it will be here next month.  It took me 3 stores and trying on many dresses before I found the perfect one.  I would start now if I was you.

litskispecialty

I was a Sept 2010 bride.  I didn't start looking until the day after thanksgiving and I sort of regret it only because I felt rushed.  I bought my dress at Natasha's Bridal in Methuen MA on 12/26 and the prices for 2010 already went up so be careful of that too.

I suggest hitting a lot of places and try to do one trip by yourself to see what YOU want.  Try to bring different people with you for different trips and wait until you can't get the dress out of your mind.

I had issues getting my dress because it was made in China.  Check with the store where it's made and how long they suggest, but to be sure you have enough time for alterations (I needed 3 appts and my dress still didn't fit quite right but I couldn't get up to get anymore fittings in before the wedding so I had to deal).

Here is where I shopped:

125 Bridal: Horrible experience, woman was rude told me I had "folds" and they were renovating so they had a small selection, not sure what they have now.

David's Bridal: Personally I didn't like the selection, I thought a lot of the material was rather cheap looking, but they get good reviews on here.  Nashua DB gets the worst customer service reviews.  I got my BM dresses there and the girl was great to me on a Saturday.

Country Bridals: LOVED them.  Good selection of Casablanca Bridal dresses (my dress was Casablanca) really good prices.  Customer service was so/so I had to have my BM help me put on my dress instead of the attendant, but once I was in a dress I really liked they let me walk around for a long time and they helped me debate custom work to the dress.

Natasha's Bridal: Really good customer service.  Prices were ok, I ended up paying MA tax, should have gone with Country Bridals because they had the same dress cheaper and could get it in faster.  Overall a good experience, but again huge issue getting the dress and they wouldn't give me a shipping date which was a nightmare.

I went with Nora's Alterations in Plaistow and she was FABULOUS!  She even came in early on a Saturday to do a fitting for me because I had my shower later in the day and couldn't make the open apt. when she was open.

Marry & Tux gets raves on here too.

GL!

dhdaydream

I'm an August 2011 bride and I got my dress at Marry and Tux in Nashua, and they were wonderful!

I ordered my dress back in April, and it just came in about 2 weeks ago.  They did some custom work to it, so if you wanted something like that you may want to allow for more time. 

Like the other posts, you also want to allow time for fittings and alterations.  Typically you have 3 of them.  I haven't booked my first seemstress meeting yet, but probably will before the holidays, as with the crazy summer season I want to make sure my dress is ready to go.  Hope this helps!

auntykarebear

Can't recommend Modern Bride enough. GREAT service, AWESOME prices and an overall WONDERFUL experience!

MrsR0511

I got my dress at 125 Bridal in Plaistow and I had a fabulous experience. I found their dresses were a little bit less expensive than Modern Bride and I thought they had a better selection. I also thought the dresses at David's Bridal had lower quality materials than the other places. As the previous posts have said- you do need to order 9 months in advance because it can take 6 months to get the dress in and they say 2 months for alterations. Good luck!