There’s A LOT more to bridal fashion than finding your wedding dress. Ahead, I’m sharing 10 bridal fashion decisions brides often forget to make, from what you’re wearing under your wedding dress and whether you’re changing shoes to your veil, wedding garter, other bridal outfits and what happens to everything after the wedding. Shop the 'Couture' collection of wedding garters → After more than 20 years in the wedding industry here at The Garter Girl, hand making wedding garters and bridal heirlooms and working with thousands of brides, I’ve learned that it’s usually not THE dress that sneaks up on you. Brides remember the wedding dress! It’s all the little decisions surrounding the dress and the rest of your bridal fashion that are really easy to put off until suddenly your wedding is right around the corner. So, while you’re planning your wedding-day look, here are 10 bridal fashion decisions to make BEFORE they become last-minute problems. 1. What Are You Actually Wearing Under Your Wedding Dress? What you’ll wear under your wedding dress is one of those bridal fashion decisions that’s really easy to forget until your first fitting is suddenly on the calendar. Do you need a bra? Shapewear? Special underwear? Cups sewn into the dress? Maybe. Or maybe you need a lot less underneath your wedding dress than you think. Your wedding dress and alterations will determine much of what works underneath it, so please don't run out and buy ALL THE BRIDAL UNDERGARMENTS before you've even found your dress. Once you have THE dress, talk to your bridal stylist and alterations professional about what you actually need. And definitely figure it out before your final wedding dress fitting. RELATED: What Do Brides Really Wear Under Their Wedding Dress? 2. Are You Changing Your Wedding Shoes? If you’re planning to change from wedding heels into flats, sneakers or another pair of shoes for your reception, think about the difference in heel height BEFORE your wedding dress is hemmed. This is such a tiny bridal fashion decision with a potentially very annoying consequence. Your wedding dress is altered to a specific length. If you go from four-inch wedding heels to completely flat sneakers, your dress doesn't magically get four inches shorter with you. Does that mean you can't change shoes? Of course not! Just tell your alterations professional what you're planning. Bring both pairs to your fitting and let the expert help you figure out what will work with your particular wedding dress. Here's another little extra tip from me to you... This is another reason not to leave your wedding shoes until the last minute. Your alterations professional needs to know what will actually be on your feet. RELATED: Where to Shop for Flats & Comfortable Bridal Shoes Shop these Lace Bridal Heels made by Ecrin Wedding Shoes → 3. When Is Your Wedding Veil Coming Off? Deciding when you’ll remove your wedding veil is a bridal fashion detail that's easy to overlook because most of the attention goes into choosing the veil in the first place. Will you wear your wedding veil for the ceremony only? Keep it on for portraits? Wear it through cocktail hour? Take it off before the reception? There is no rule. But if you're wearing a cathedral-length wedding veil or another dramatic style, you'll probably want to know when it's coming off and who is helping you remove it without destroying your hair. And if you LOVE your veil and want to wear it all night? Do it. It's your veil.RELATED: How to Choose the Right Bridal Veil Length 4. Are You Changing Your Wedding-Day Look? If you’re planning a second wedding dress, reception outfit, after-party look or even removable sleeves or an overskirt, decide ahead of time when your wedding-day look is actually changing. Second looks are FUN. But you don't have to have one. You also don't need three different wedding dresses because social media has somehow convinced us that one gorgeous wedding dress isn't enough anymore. If you do want an outfit change, think about why you're changing and when it makes sense. Maybe you want something easier to dance in. Maybe you have an incredible second dress you can't wait to wear. Maybe your wedding gown transforms when you remove an overskirt or sleeves. Great! Just remember that every minute spent changing clothes is a minute you're not at your wedding. Choose what matters to YOU. 5. What Bridal Accessories Are You Actually Wearing? Your wedding dress may get most of the attention, but deciding which bridal accessories you actually want is another part of planning your complete wedding-day look. Veil. Earrings. Necklace. Bracelet. Hairpiece. Wedding shoes. Wedding garter. Something blue. You can wear ALL of it. You can also wear almost none of it. You don't need to buy bridal accessories just because they're on someone's “things every bride needs” checklist. Instead, once you've found your wedding dress, think about what would make the look feel finished to YOU. And yes, as someone who has been hand making wedding garters since 2004, I'm obviously going to tell you that a wedding garter can be one of the really FUN ones! It's hidden underneath your dress, it can be your something blue and, unlike many things you'll wear on your wedding day, it can become an heirloom you keep long after the wedding. Shop this Crystal Bridal Belt made by Luna and Stone Co → 6. Are You Buying New Outfits for Every Wedding Event? Deciding what you’ll wear to your other wedding events does NOT automatically mean buying a brand-new white bridal outfit for every single one. Engagement party. Engagement photos. Bridal shower. Bachelorette party. Welcome party. Rehearsal dinner. Wedding morning. After party. Next-day brunch. Honeymoon. OMG. So many outfits! Yes, you can have an incredible outfit for every one of them if bridal fashion is your thing and that's where you want to spend your money. But you don't have to. Wear something you already own. Borrow something. Rewear something. Skip white altogether. Think about which wedding events matter to you and which outfits you're genuinely excited about. Then spend accordingly. That's a much better bridal fashion plan than realizing two weeks before the wedding that you've somehow acquired nine white dresses you didn't actually need. 7. Have You Tried Your Entire Wedding-Day Look Together? Before your wedding day, make sure you’ve seen your wedding dress, wedding shoes, veil, jewelry and other bridal accessories together at least once. Not because everything has to “match” perfectly. I just don't want your wedding morning to be the first time you discover that your necklace competes with your neckline or the earrings you bought six months ago don't feel right with your veil. This is also your chance to notice whether something is uncomfortable. Put on the shoes. Try the earrings. See the veil with the dress. Look at everything together. You can absolutely change your mind about an accessory. It's much easier to do that BEFORE your wedding morning. 8. Do You Want a Something Blue or Wedding Heirloom? If having a something blue, family heirloom or sentimental bridal accessory matters to you, don't wait until the last minute to decide what it will be. This is obviously one of my favorite bridal fashion decisions. Your something blue doesn't have to be obvious. And your wedding heirloom doesn't have to be something that's been passed down through five generations. You can START the tradition. I've made wedding garters from mothers' and grandmothers' wedding dresses, veils, lace, handkerchiefs and other family materials. I've also made brand-new wedding garters that I hope become the heirlooms someone else is talking about decades from now. If you have a family wedding dress you want to incorporate somehow but don't necessarily want to wear, you have options. And if you simply want a pretty blue wedding garter underneath your dress? That counts too. Shop this Custom Bridal Sweater made by Chen Indie Crafts → 9. What Are You Doing With Your Wedding Dress AFTER the Wedding? Deciding what happens to your wedding dress after the wedding is a bridal fashion decision most brides understandably don't want to think about while they're still excited to wear it. But eventually, the wedding ends. Then what? Are you having your wedding dress cleaned and preserved? Selling it? Donating it? Keeping it exactly as it is? Saving it for someone else? Repurposing part of it into a future heirloom? You don't have to decide before your wedding. But you also don't have to automatically spend money preserving a wedding dress without thinking about what you ultimately want to do with it. Your dress can have a life after your wedding. And sometimes that life looks completely different from wearing it again. 10. What Is Your TOTAL Bridal Fashion Budget? One of the biggest bridal fashion decisions brides forget to make is how much they want to spend on ALL of their bridal fashion, not just the wedding dress. Because it's really easy to budget for THE dress. Then come alterations. Shoes. Veil. Jewelry. Beauty. Wedding accessories. Rehearsal dinner outfit. Maybe a second wedding-day look. And suddenly all those individual purchases have turned into a much bigger number than you expected. This doesn't mean you shouldn't buy the things you love. Quite the opposite. I want you to know where your money is going so you can spend MORE on the things that matter to you and stop spending on things that don't. Your bridal fashion budget should reflect YOUR priorities. Not mine. Not TikTok's. Not some random wedding budget percentage you found online. Yours. The Best Time to Make These Bridal Fashion Decisions? Before You HAVE To. Most of these bridal fashion details aren't particularly difficult decisions. They're just very easy to forget. And that's the problem. When you think about your wedding shoes before alterations, your veil before the wedding day, your other outfits before you're panic-shopping and your total bridal fashion budget before you've spent it, you have options. When you wait until the last minute, you have whatever option is still available. A little planning now can save you a whole lot of stress later. Want Help Keeping ALL Your Bridal Fashion Straight? This is exactly why I created The Bridal Fashion Fix. Your wedding dress is only one part of your bridal fashion, and my Bridal Fashion Fix helps you plan the dress, alterations, accessories, beauty, other wedding looks and your bridal fashion budget without feeling like you need to buy ALL THE THINGS. You'll get my best bridal fashion advice, planning tools, the BFF Budget & Spending Tracker and a customizable Bridal Look Book to help you keep everything organized and see your wedding looks come together. GET THE BRIDAL FASHION FIX → One Bridal Fashion Detail I Definitely Don’t Want You to Forget... Your wedding garter! I've been hand making wedding garters and bridal heirlooms at The Garter Girl for more than 20 years, from lace wedding garters to completely custom heirlooms created from mothers' and grandmothers' wedding dresses, veils and other family materials. Whether you want something beautiful hidden underneath your wedding dress, your something blue or a sentimental piece of your family history with you on your wedding day, I'd love to create it for you. SHOP WEDDING GARTERS → P.S. Some of the above product links are affiliate-connected and purchasing through these links helps to support the blog.
