Dress Rejects: Saying No To The Dress!

I love the idea of this thread. I ended up buying the first gown I tried on, but I did try on a bunch more before making that final decision.


This one was just stiff and uncomfortable:
This one looked good, but it was a bit too modern/weird for me with the shoulder drape thing 😆This one looked great on the website, but not in real life. The sample size was also super big so I just couldn't imagine it fitting right:
The runner-up. It came down between this and the one I ultimately picked. I thought the ball gown just wasn't quite my personality. But I did still love it!

My runner-up, the Estrella by Pronovias. Particularly loved the long train!

This was the first dress I tried on and while I loved the sparkle tulle I felt like a child playing dress up and like the bodice made me look much wider than I am. I ended up a totally different direction than I initially had thought I wanted!

View Quoted Comment I really like the second one, with the exception of the shoulder drape! Otherwise, everything else about it is super pretty. The ball gown is beautiful, but I think the dress you picked is the best option!

View Quoted Comment I love long trains! I never thought I'd buy a dress with a long train (I originally thought it'd be way too much fabric for me), but ended up falling in love with a dress that had an extra long train with lots of gorgeous lace. This dress is beautiful! What made this one your runner-up and not your first choice? What dress did you end up choosing?

View Quoted Comment I love the sparkle in that tulle! Makes sense why you chose to skip it though. It's crazy how you think you know what you want, but then end up with something totally different! I originally thought I wanted an A-line dress (or at least nothing that was super form fitting), and ended up buying a mermaid style dress. What dress did you end up buying?

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This is the dress that I ended up choosing: http://emilyhartcollection.com/ehc2021valdez

View Quoted Comment That is beautiful!! I love the lace on it.

I like this thread! All of you look lovely even if the dresses were rejects! Mine are below:

My cousin really loved this first one, and it was beautiful, but the design looked too much like peacock feathers to me 😅 I couldn’t unsee it and it felt a little too modern for me. Plus I don’t like birds, at all. This one was nice but the skirt overlay didn’t feel that nice on.

I edited my face here because I had a really weird expression lol mid talking. This last one is closest to my dress being satin with embroidered details and off the shoulder straps, but this one just didn’t feel the same, despite being more significantly more expensive and supposedly more luxurious.They are all lovely, but truthfully they weren’t even runners up. I didn’t know immediately when I put my dress on but once they put a veil and headband on I did. My dress is the Chantelle by Amare Couture. It should be coming in in a few weeks and I can’t wait to see it again, and start alterations!

View Quoted Comment I especially love that second dress! It has such a nice shape to it. Bummer that the skirt overlay wasn't great. I just looked up photos of the dress you bought, and wow!! I love the details on the bottom of the dress, along with the sleeves. Great choice!

View Quoted Comment The other one was just a little bit more me- it was the first I tried on after getting engaged (I'd worn a bunch of wedding gowns before I got engaged since I worked in bridal- my fiancé has even seen me in wedding gowns before multiple times). I tried on over 100 gowns at 4 different stores in three different states (all before covid) and ultimately went back to the first one. It's very unique and I also like that the dress I went with isn't white or ivory. I could do rejected dresses for days I have so many pictures 😂

View Quoted Comment Thank you!

Love this thread.
I’ve been married now, but these were 2 close runners up. Sometimes I still wonder if I chose the wrong dress, lol.

Ooo this is fun! No one usually asks haha!


This one was from the 3rd or 4th shop I went to. I had told myself I did not want anything tighter than an A-line but this was so stretchy and comfortable! Also I loved the dramatic train! Unfortunately it was above budget and did not feel like THE one to convince me to go over budget.



The next was from the second to last dress shop I went to and is actually how I met my Day Of Coordinator! It was a beautiful dress that checked a lot of the boxes (a-line, floral detailing on back and on skirt, not strapless) but ultimately I wanted so much more floral appliqués like previous dresses I had tried on.


The last was my runner up! It looked similar to my actual dress with there being a lot of floral appliqués, but I loved the one I picked better because the floral design was unique (it had more vines and branches than this one).

I actually purchased this dress! But about 2 months ago (after 2 years and 2 postponements, and only 3 months til our wedding) decided I didn’t want to wear it anymore, and sold it on a whim.

View Quoted Comment That makes sense. Sounds like you bought the right dress, I bet it's beautiful! And wow, you tried on a lot of dresses! I tried on a lot as well (I visited 11 dress shops, some of them twice, and anywhere from 3-6 dresses at each place), but I don't know how many dresses I tried on total. I love unique colors for wedding gowns! What color did you end up choosing?

View Quoted Comment The designer calls the color "sand", but it's a very pale blush which is my favorite color and my fiancé's tux jacket is dark blue which is his favorite color!

These were my “No”s that are captured. I almost picked the first one on the top left, but the train wasn’t big enough, and I am a huge fan of train 😅

View Quoted Comment This looks good actually.

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Thanks! Seeing pictures, it definitely looks better than it did in my head that day. It was fun to try on princess dresses, even though they ultimately weren't the winners