Being a wedding professional for over 16 years I would like to give some advice to newly engaged brides that are starting to shop for the perfect gown.
It is a very good idea to first have some type of style in mind that you would like to try on not come into a salon without pictures or fabric types you are interested in.
This makes it much easier for your consultant to help assist you if you have some sort of idea to start with then go from there and let your consultant make suggestions, since they are the style expert and can usually look at your body type and be able to direct you into a style that will best flatter your height and body shape.
Then always bring at least one other person with you hopefully your Mother or best friend someone that will be honest with you and that you value their opinion.
Please..... and I stress DO NOT bring your whole bridal party and above all do not bring little children into a boutique to try on bridal gown selections.
This is a very important day for you and your Fiance' and you do not need the distraction of too many opinions and unruly children.
Children get tired and eritable and can make it much harder on you and the consultant assisting you, when they are having to keep children off the gowns and stage area.
This is one of the most frustrating problems for the bride to be and the consultant assisting her she can feel rushed and that she is not important and gets frustrated and leaves without seeing all the gown options that the boutique had to show her.
The best time to shop is during the week in the evening maybe when you have a day off from work or your able to sneek out of work a bit early and call the salon to let them know you wanted to stop by to look at some gowns when it is the least busy that way you have an hour or two to spend in the store.
Most brides can spend anywhere to an hour to three hours in a salon it can be a very long process for the bride and her consultant, just make sure that you treat your consultant with respect and understand she is doing all the heavy lifting and re-hanging of the gowns as you try them on and trying to make sure she takes the gowns out of the room as soon as you take them off so you can move on to the next gown selection.
And above all do not come into the salon thirty minutes before they are closing and want to start trying on gowns.
You can't seriously think you will be making a desicionin thirty minutes and quiet frankly your consultant is ready to go home for the evening. Some salons do not require appointments so take that into consideration you may not get a consultants one-on-one service if she is already assisting another bride, most salons do not have more than one or two consultants on staff in a day, so coming in on a busy Saturday or Sunday you want to make sure you have one other person that could come with you to help you inside the room if the consultant is already busy with another bride.
We are here for you but it is ultimately going to be your decision on what gown you pick, so if you come into the salon prepared that will make it run alot more smoothly.
I hope this will be somewhat helpful when you start looking for your gown just remember you may try-on five gowns or thirty gowns but when you find the "ONE" you will ultimately know.