Wedding Gowns: How Did You Choose?

I had no clue what style of dress I would end up with! I assumed it would be an A line, but was open to trying on all styles (though decided ahead of time that I didn't like the mermaid style), and had no idea about designers. I let the consultants choose dresses for me to try on. They started with an A line style, and I surprisingly thought that it felt like too much dress for me to carry around all night, so we continued on with more fitted styles until we found my dress, which happened to be a mermaid style. I chose boutiques in the area that carried a good variety and had good reviews.

Honestly I've started with David's Bridal to get a feel for several different types of dresses and see what style looked good on me.

I have a very specific vision of what I'd like, but the reality of it working is unclear right now lol. But I picked out two very different styles to start and then let the consultant pick the rest. She picked out my favorite, but I don't think it will work with one of the customizations I'd like to do. So now I have an idea of the styles that work on my body and I can take that information to online/other shops.

I had a few requirements I was looking for in my dress - buttons on the backside, either sleeveless or full sleeves (no off-the-shoulders or shorten sleeves), and lace. I browsed around at different designers to check out their styles, then shops that carried the designers. I was drawn to European designers, particularly Spanish, for their simpler designs with clean lines. Then I found the one!

Its a feeling once you start to try dresses on you'll have a better idea of what you prefer. You can easily have an idea in your head and change your mind once on your body. Think about how you want to feel that day.

I bought my underwear first, at a local and privately owned lingerie store. I knew I HAD to be comfortable to have a good time. From there I let myself try on out of budget dresses at a local boutique- ultimately buying from David’s bridal. Once I was there I kept my wedding vision (casual summer) in mind- my dress is simple with a v neck and T-shirt sleeves!

I booked appointments with the closest 2 dress shops near me and tried on dresses that I felt I would like by the style and budget, not the designer. I ended up trying on a dress that I wouldn’t have picked pff the rack but the gal that was helping me pulled it.

I gave a general idea of what I wanted, but the bridal consultant also grabbed a few and I'm glad she did. I tried on a dress that I would never have expected to like and immediately fell in love.

I got mine online and initially i bought this sale gown for $10 and it was everything i thought i wanted in terms of style. it wasn't haha. i tried it on and it was nice but it wasn't what i thought i'd like. i kept the dress because i figured i can wear it to some nice fancy event some other time.

anyway, the dress i ended up buying was so diff from what i thought i'd get but i loved it because it was so different and unexpected

When I went for my wedding, I had looked at a lot of gowns and I found a salon that had the collections they belonged to. I had picked out several, but when I tried them on... I hated every single one! None of them looked like the photos. I finally just asked the salon owner to pick out things she thought would look good on me - I think she just wanted to play dress up with gowns she never got to see on people, because I ended up trying on some very unique dresses. However, that is ultimately exactly how I found my gown.

This time around, I'm just going to peruse a few different shops. I have a VERY specific style in mind that I won't budge on (no lace, minimalist, mermaid or sheath) so I'll know immediately when going in whether a shop has what I'm looking for or not.

I really had no idea what I was going to go with. I believed that I wanted a ballgown with lace or appliques but I didn't know exactly. I never looked at specific designers, just things I liked. My bridal consultants were awesome and pulled a dress I put in my Favorites bin to try on and that ended up being THE DRESS. It was fun to try on with my bridal party and even more fun when I found it.

I didn't look at designers. Who designed my dress was not important for me. What was, was how I looked and felt in the dress. I decided on going to David's bridal because I know a couple of brides in my area who got screwed over by a small boutique. So I just wasn't sure if I really want to put my trust in a small business for such a big event. Plus most boutiques in my area didn't have what I was looking for.


I wanted a plan mermaid style dress with as very little details as possible. I had to have tried on like 20 dresses and just didn't feel like a bride. Then the stylist came back to the dressing room with a big ballgown with all these details, at first I was like no that is far from what I want. But she ended up convincing me to at least try it on. I tried it on and instantly knew it was the one. I absolutely love it. So a helpful tip I learned is to at least try on other styles because you might be surprised by how much you love it.

I started by researching some bridal stores online to get a feel of the different styles and created a list of the must-haves, the things I liked and what not.

There’s a boulevard in my city known for having a bunch of bridal stores, so I went ahead and booked appointments in a couple of boutiques and hit the road with my list and some pictures for reference.

I knew I wanted it to be comfortable, long sleeve, open back with an illusion back button closure, tulle, not so puffy but I wasn’t sure on the line or tone.

In the first store, I had a list of the dresses that I liked from the website so I took some of those and the stylist took some others that were cute too. We tried different lines to see how they would fit my body (it’s one thing seeing some model wearing the dress on a website and another one is actually seeing it on) I tried around 7 different dresses and unfortunately, I couldn’t find the one in that store (I was not hoping to find it either since it was only the first store) but by this time I had a pretty good idea of what I was exactly looking for.

At the second store, I was still deciding between princess and A-line.

(Not the one, but cute)

I tried 3 dresses in this store while I was giving the stylists the feedback of each. When all of the sudden one of them left the room and came back with an amazing trumpet line dress with embroidered illusion lace that made me fell in love immediately.

My face when I saw it on the first time is the proof hahaha

I can’t wait to wear it!

My wedding is not until May ‘22 and I didn’t think I would be looking at dresses so early on, but my grandma came to visit and she really wanted to have the experience of going with me to try wedding dresses, she’s not coming back until the wedding so we decided to go. I never expected to find my dreamed dress like that.

I think doing the initial research and writing down the must-have details helps to narrow down your search and gives your stylist a better direction of what to focus on to find your ideal dress.

I would say try on many different kinds of gowns. The type I really liked when I was looking at Pinterest or other sites didn’t look right on my body. I ended up with a strapless and if you had said to me you are going to pick a strapless I would have laughed. Good luck!

I was pretty open when I went to try on dresses, and I was a lot more interested in the look of the dress, than the designer. Most of the stuff I'd found on pinterest was from overseas and I'm used to not being able to find it here in Australia, so I didn't even bother to look what most brands were.

I was prepared to try any silhouette, and I was also open to a really romantic, dreamy 3D flower type dress, maybe even in blush because I might have totally fallen in love with something like that, but my first preference was a super classic, completely plain, unembellished mikado silk in a dramatic shape, and that's what I bought!

It was exactly what I said I'd wanted from the get-go, and the only thing it didn't have was sleeves, and they were almost impossible to find in Australia (except some really ugly separate ones you could try on which turned me off altogether, haha!)

I narrowed down by deciding the fit/style that I wanted and found a few designers that I liked. Then made sure the salon I went to carried the designers.


But ultimately, my dress chose me. It was the last dress I tried on (as a joke/to appease my entourage...because “I would never ever in a million years wear this thing”) & I had already found a dress that I thought I was going to buy.
Definitely keep an open mind!

I didn't start by designers, but rather by the look I was the most drawn to! I searched local bridal salons and if they had dresses of brides that shopped with them, I looked through them all! I also looked to see what their price ranges were so that I knew I was going into a store that had a dress I could afford. I narrowed it down to 3 stores, and ended up finding TWO dresses at the third and still stayed within my budget!!

I got two dresses that I thought I'd never pick, but I compared how I felt in them to the ones I tried on at the other 2 stores. I was so ready to change back into another dress, or my clothes at the other stores, but at the third I didn't want to take my dress off! Then my consultant pulled a second one for me that's just like my first dress, but a different style and I had to get both lol. I'll be wearing one to the ceremony, and the other to the reception AND having a second first look in that one because FH doesn't know I got two!

I fell in love with a dress online on one of my wedding apps. I compared every dress I looked at to this dress. When the time came to shop I tracked it down to Kleinfields

Earlier post continued... After tracking my dress to klein fields I contacted them about the designer and they pointed me to the label that carries her. I then found a local dress shop that carried my dress. It was the first one I tried on and ended up being the one I chose.

I searched a ton on different designers and their budgets. Then, I found which places had those designers. I had a specific idea of what I wanted in a dress then I narrowed it down based on my budget and went from there. At my appointment, my consultant gave her input based on her expertise and we combined my wishes with her input. Thus resulting in the dress of my dreams within my budget.

Same here!