Laurie's Bridal: Tips to Choose Your Perfect Gown

Choosing your wedding gown can be one of the most exciting components of planning your wedding! It can also be the most overwhelming. Before you go overboard and visit 15 different bridal salons, consider these tips to make sure you say “YES” to the perfect dress for you and your personality!

To help you make sure you’re making the best possible gown decision, I connected with my favorite bridal gown expert Laurie Dickman, owner of Laurie’s Bridal. Laurie is incredible! You can’t help but immediately like her. She is an expert at reading brides and helping you find the right dress for your style and (most importantly) your personality. Laurie has been assisting brides with their wedding gown selection for 20+ years. She has seen it all – and has some extremely valuable advice for you to consider when purchasing your wedding gown.

Laurie’s Bridal Gown Shopping Tips

YOU CAN NEVER START TOO EARLY

Wedding gowns almost always need to be crafted and altered to fit your body. This process takes time. It usually takes 5-7 months for the manufacturer to to create the dress (but may be longer), then an additional 2-3 months for dress alterations, depending on the time of year and the type of alternations needed. This is a long timeline. Therefore, you can never start shopping for your wedding dress too early.

DRESSES USUALLY RUN SMALL

Remember when you’re trying on your gowns, these gowns are not made to fit you perfectly. Your bridal salon will take your measurements, and order the dress according to the size that manufacturer recommends. Then once the dress arrives, additional alterations are almost always needed. Therefore, don’t worry if the dress doesn’t fit you perfectly when you first try it on. Use a little bit of your imagination and visualize how it will look when it is altered to fit your body. Also, most gown dress sizes run SMALL. Don’t let the dress size make you start to skip dinner and spend an extra hour at the gym! 😉 Remember that every manufacturer runs differently, you can be a size 4 in one company and a size 8 in another. Don’t get caught up in size, it’s just a number.

NO NEED TO INVITE YOUR ENTOURAGE

Choosing your wedding gown is a very personal decision. Don’t feel you need to bring your entire bridal party to your bridal gown appointment. Usually 1-3 people you trust, and truly want the opinions of, is best. You want to make sure you’re choosing the dress you love and you feel best in – not the dress your mother and your sister want. Remember that all gowns you’ve spent hours pinning from Pinterest may not be the PERFECT GOWN ON YOU.

COME PREPARED TO MAKE A DECISON

Wedding gown styles are constantly evolving. There are so many different wedding gown styles it is easy to become overwhelmed. It’s also easy to believe there might be one more dress out there, you haven’t yet seen that is – the one. I encourage you not get lost in that mindset. When you arrive at your bridal appointment, be ready to find – The One. Have an open mind. Laurie is known for putting on a gown that a bride never thought of and winds up buying.

BE TRUE TO YOUR STYLE

It’s easy when you’re looking at all the bridal magazines to get caught up in a trendy wedding dress style. However, it’s important to ask yourself – will that dress be one you are proud of in 20 years when you look back on your wedding photos? Be sure to stay true to your classic personal style. Don’t feel you have to chase the current bridal trends.

Laurie’s Bridal

If you’re starting your quest to find your perfect bridal gown, I strongly encourage you to visit Laurie. Her bridal boutique carries all the major bridal gown brands that are either exclusive to her or offered with limited distribution. (Meaning, they aren’t in every other bridal boutique!) – and most importantly – Laurie is there! Laurie will use her expertise to guide you. She will help you define your style and find the perfect wedding gown to compliment your taste and personality. I would be willing to bet, Laurie will be your first and final stop for your bridal gown. Phoenix Bride and Groom recently referred to Laurie as the “Bridal Gown Whisperer!”

Here’s Laurie’s Bridal information for your reference:

Laurie’s Bridal

14891 N Northsight Blvd #130, Scottsdale, AZ 85260

(480) 699-3973

www.LauriesBridal.com

lauriesbridal@gmail.com

Did you like this post? If so, please subscribe! Every week we provide wedding planning resources and vendor reviews to help you create the wedding and marriage of your dreams!

Happy Shopping!

Casey