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You said “yes” to your wedding dress! Congrats! After you wipe those tears and get in together emotionally from picking out the dress of your dreams, here are the 5 things that every bride must do.
Between all of the Pinterest boards and finding the right wedding dress can be tough. It’s a lot of work going to different appointments and trying on dress after dress. If you need more, be sure to check out this post I wrote about when to order your wedding dress.)
Photo credit: Amanda Adams Photography
Whether it is a dress that a mother of the bride sent me to use in a garter for her daughter, or a vintage wedding dress that I cut apart for a garter heirloom in my collection, I’ve been around a lot of wedding dresses in my day.
These are just a few little tips and pieces of advice that I’ve picked up along the way. I’m so excited to share these tips for what to do once you find your wedding dress. Finding your dream wedding dress is such an amazing experience and I want to give you the advice that I wish someone would have told me back when I was a bride.
By doing these 5 very little (and mostly free) things after you find your wedding dress, you can make the experience of finding your dress is the most amazing it can possibly be.
Here are my 5 tips for what every bride needs to do once they find their wedding dress….
1 - Book Your Fitting Appointments
Now that you have your dress secured, the next step is making sure that it fits you like the queen that you are. Your bridal dress shop should walk you through the next steps for what to do when your dress arrives and give you information for how long it will take. If you can, you’ll want to book your fitting appointments now or at least know the general timeframe in which they will happen.
For a “fitting,” you’ll come into the shop or got to an alterations person, and have your wedding dress altered to fit you, just as you are. For most wedding dresses, your dress shop will order a general size, the dress company will make the dress or send a general size that should fit you, and then from there you'll need to have it altered to fit you.
Book your appointments now, so you aren’t stressed as the wedding date gets closer.
2 - Help Everyone Else Find Their Outfits
Now that you found our dress, it’s time to help everyone else who needs a dress and/or outfit for your wedding. Start to do your research on your bridesmaid and bridal party dresses, MOTB outfits, looks for your partner and more. Do you want your guests in black tie or cocktail attire?
Now that you’ve set the tone for your wedding with your dress, it’s good to start to help everyone else with their dresses and outfits for your wedding.
3 - Decide Your Post-Wedding Dress Plan
Because I work with so many wedding dresses from mothers of the bride to make a garter out of their dress, I know a lot about how dresses are cared for after the wedding. At least once a week a mother of the bride apologizes for how she stored their dress all these years later. Most times, they just shoved it in the back of their closet, never bothered to clean the stains and dirt, moving it from house to house over the years and never really thought much about it until now. Until their daughter is getting married and they want to use their wedding dress to make something special for her. And, now the dress is torn, dirty, yellow and otherwise worn out from not being cared for properly all these years later.
Photo credit: Amanda Adams Photography
Now that you’ve found your wedding dress, your next step is to make a plan for how you are going to take care of your dress after your wedding. Will you have it preserved? Will you have it cleaned? If so, where? Start to do your research on local wedding dress preservation businesses in your area. Your bridal dress shop where you bought your dress is a great place to start. You can also look for local dry cleaners who specializes in evening gowns and special occasion dresses.
Your future self will thank you for taking a few minutes now to make a plan for your wedding dress after your wedding is over. The last thing you want is to shove your dress in the back of your closet for the next 20 years!
4 - Begin Research On All The Other Outfits
I know everyone says it’s all about the wedding dress, but I have news for you: there are so many other events that the bride needs to be ready for. Do you know what you wearing to your bridal shower? Bachelorette party? How about the morning of your wedding? The wedding dress is just the beginning, my friend.
Speaking of, make sure you get your free copy of The Ultimate Bridal Fashion Timeline, so you know exactly what to order when so you don't miss out for your wedding day. This guide covers everything from your wedding dress to your honeymoon and all of those special events in between.
You are the bride. You deserve to feel amazing at every event, not just on your wedding day in your dress. Now that you found your wedding dress, start to do your research and make a plan for all of the other wedding related outfits you’ll need.
To get you started, be sure to check out this post I wrote on what to wear the morning of your wedding.
5 - Share It...Or Not
Are you going to share your wedding dress with your partner? How about your friends who couldn’t be there with you at the shop when you made your choice? Will you do one of those super cute posts on Instagram telling the world that you found your wedding dress (Use the hashtag #isaidyestothedress if you do!!), maybe thanking your friends and whoever else helped you make your choice?
Whatever you do, decide who you are going to share the news with and what you are going to share with them. Make sure any friends or family of yours (especially ones who have pictures of you in your actual dress) know your plan. The last thing you want is someone posting a picture on Instagram that you don’t want out there.
6 - Enjoy!
Finding your wedding dress is a big deal! It’s huge! Enjoy this moment. Don’t let is pass you by with all the craziness of planning a wedding and all of the other things on your to do list. Your to-do’s will still be there when you get back. For now, make sure that you take a moment or two to actually enjoy your purchase. It’s too big and expensive of a purchase to not get the most out of it!
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So, what do think? Not too hard to do these 5 things now that you found your wedding dress, right!? As I said, most of these things are free and not that hard, it is just a matter of someone telling you to do it.
Happy wedding planning!
Remember, you can shop for blue, vintage, classic and modern garter heirlooms anytime in my garter shop or get in touch with me at info@thegartergirl.com for information on custom designing a garter just for you!
If you have any more garter questions, check out my garter 101 blog series or find all of my wedding planning advice here on my blog.
