When to Start Shopping for Your Bridal Gown
Selecting a bridal gown involves a method of shopping much different from today’s hectic, mass-merchandise, convenience-oriented rush. Instead, it’s like going back to a more genteel era when being waited on was a unique, personalized experience. Most bridal salons are small and carry selected merchandise and designs.

If you decide to wear a traditional wedding gown, start to shop at least six months in advance of your wedding date, if possible. You should allow a minimum of four months from the time you place your order if the gown is to be special-ordered from the designer. In the past, most brides special-ordered their wedding gown. Today, more brides buy the gown from stock so that they do not have to wait for it to be sewn and shipped. If the gown is not the right size or color, it will have to be ordered.

We are experts in the field---bridal consultants who are not only versed in the world of fashion, but are specialists in the fabrics, patterns, and laces of which wedding gowns are made. Choosing the right bridal gown is a very emotional purchase that we can help make easier.

Choosing A Style
Being assisted by a competent sales consultant at a full service salon is the best way to choose a gown that fits your figure and personal style. An experienced consultant sees many brides of all shapes and sizes. She knows her inventory and can pull those styles that will look the best on you.

A formal wedding gown is traditionally a full-length white or ivory dress with a train. Today, many gowns are accented with either pastel colors, silver or gold. Informal wedding dresses may be white, ivory, or pastel with no train. Sleeve length, bodice design and train length vary. These choices are yours to make.

When you start shopping, take with you shoes that have the heel height you will want to wear. (Take into consideration that you will be wearing these shoes for a number of hours on your wedding day.) Remember that gloves, veils and headpieces are all optional, but they may be the final touch that completes the perfect look you want for your wedding.
You shouldn’t try on more than seven dresses in the one-hour appointment. If you try on too many gowns at once, they all begin to look the same.

Sizes
Yes, designers appear to be on planet Neptune when it comes to bridal gown sizes. How could you be a size 4 in the department store but a size 10 at the bridal salon? We live in a world of knits and easy-fitting garments. Our everyday clothes are cut with "ease." And the sportswear manufacturers have sized their products down to make us feel good. For example, in the 1970’s a pair of jeans might’ve read size 10, but today it might be an 8, or worse, a 6.
Unfortunately, the bridal industry never caught up with the change. Another problem today is women have more athletic figures, and it’s not necessarily because of high physical exercise. It’s due to our use of automatic transportation, food consumption, and lack of foundations. We are a generation of thick waists. Look back at the 40s and 50s when movie stars had tiny little waists. I’ll bet your grandmothers and mothers looked like that, too! How? They wore uncomfortable corsets and foundations with stays and boning. Can you imagine wearing those today? To fit a gown properly, our figures need under-garment foundations for support which the gown is not intended to provide.

Sleeves
Today’s wedding gowns are made to be tight in the torso, with fitted sleeves. So when wearing this style of gown, think of drinking hot tea where you don’t lift your arms above your head, not even your elbow goes much above your waist!

There is stretch illusion fabric available today for sleeves. It looks like a white nylon on your arm. Some brides don’t like the look, but without the arm movement it allows, we’re back to the restricted fit of long sleeves. This explains why sleeveless gowns became so fashionable five years ago and have held their ground, since we can have total movement if there are no sleeves.

Alterations
All gowns will need alterations, from a nip and tuck here and there to a hem and bustle. Gowns are not received already customized to your figure, or with a finished bustle. That is the job of the alterationist. Most stores charge for this service. When a man buys a fine suit, it needs alterations and there is a charge. There really is no difference. Most salons will have to order your gown in the size of your largest measurement unless you are able to wear the gown that is in stock. Whichever the case, expect to have alterations, and expect to pay for them.
Once you purchase your wedding gown, do not schedule your final fitting too far in advance of your actual wedding date. You may gain or lose weight as you cope with what may become an endless stream of activities during the month before your wedding.

Always allow three weeks time to have the alterations completed. A wedding gown may be the only dress you will ever own that will be custom-fitted to you. Many people consider it a luxury that this garment will be fitted to you and only you, but for such an important dress, it is a necessity.

Buying Your Veil or Headpiece
The final touch to your wedding gown is the wedding veil, which can be a headpiece/veil or simply a headpiece or a veil by itself. The bridal veil should complement the color and style of your gown. This is easily done by purchasing both at the same time and place. Veils come in many lengths and the longest are the most formal. We have a huge selection of veils in white and ivory.

The different veil lengths are:
Cathedral – up to 4 yards long
Chapel --- up to 3 yards long
Fingertip – reaches your fingertips
Elbow --- reaches your elbows