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Wedding dress shopping comes with its own language.
After more than 20 years in the wedding industry here at The Garter Girl hand making wedding garters and working with thousands of brides, I’ve picked up A LOT of bridal fashion knowledge along the way, including all of those wedding dress shopping terms that can make your first bridal appointment feel like everyone is speaking a completely different language.
Come along as I share some wedding planning tips that will hopefully make your road to your "yes" to the dress smooth and fun!
Shop the 'Couture' wedding garter collection
You walk into a bridal shop thinking you're there to try on pretty wedding dresses and suddenly everyone is talking about silhouettes, basque waists, bustles, boning, trains, trunk shows and sample wedding gowns.
Wait... what?!
You absolutely do NOT need to become a wedding dress expert before your first bridal appointment. That's what your bridal stylist is there for.
But knowing a few common wedding dress shopping terms can make it easier to explain what you like, understand what your stylist is telling you & follow along when you're discussing everything from ordering your dress to alterations.
I've been working with thousands brides over the years, so consider this your quick guide to speaking “bridal” before you start wedding dress shopping.
Let's start with some of the most common wedding dress terms you're likely to hear while shopping.
The silhouette is the overall shape of a wedding dress.
Common wedding dress silhouettes include A-line, ball gown, mermaid, trumpet and sheath or column.
Knowing these names can be helpful when you're describing wedding dresses you like, but please don't decide that you're an “A-line bride” or that you “can't wear a mermaid” before you've even started shopping.
Try the dresses on!
RELATED: Wedding Dress Silhouettes Explained: A Guide to the Most Popular Wedding Dress Shapes
The neckline describes the shape and design of the top of the wedding dress around your neck, shoulders and décolletage.
You'll hear wedding dress neckline terms such as sweetheart, scoop, square, V-neck, halter, high neck, strapless and off-the-shoulder.
If you keep saving wedding dresses with similar necklines, show those pictures to your bridal stylist. That's useful information even if you don't know the name of the neckline yourself.
The waistline describes where and how the wedding dress defines the waist.
Natural waist, dropped waist, empire waist and basque waist are a few terms you may hear while wedding dress shopping.
And yes, waistlines can make a HUGE difference in how two otherwise similar wedding dresses look and feel once you put them on.
The train is the portion of the wedding dress that extends behind you as you walk.
Wedding dress trains can range from barely there to VERY dramatic. You may hear terms like sweep, court, chapel and cathedral train used to describe different train lengths.
Keep in mind that you're going to have to move around in that gorgeous wedding dress eventually, which brings us to...
A wedding dress bustle is the system used to lift and secure the train of your wedding dress after the ceremony so that you can move, mingle & dance without dragging it behind you all night.
Bustles may use buttons, loops, hooks, ribbons or ties depending on the dress and the type of bustle your alterations professional creates. Your original timeline described the bustle as gathering the train for easier movement, usually after the ceremony, which is still the important thing to know.
Your bustle will typically be added during wedding dress alterations rather than being something you need to figure out while initially shopping for your dress.
Here's a special little tip from me to you... Have someone who will actually be with you on your wedding day learn how to bustle your dress.
Take a video during your final fitting, too. You will NOT want to figure it out for the first time at your reception.
Shop this Bride To Be Sash made by Loomm Store →
The hem is the finished bottom edge of your wedding dress.
You'll probably hear much more about your hem during alterations, when your dress is fitted to the correct length based on your height and wedding shoes.
Which is exactly why you should bring your wedding shoes, or shoes with the same heel height, when your alterations professional tells you to!
Crinoline refers to material or an underskirt used beneath a wedding dress to create structure and volume.
Your original bridal-fashion guide described it as layers of tulle beneath the skirt that may be built into the dress or worn separately.
If you've ever wondered how some ball gown wedding dresses get ALL that skirt, there may be some serious structure happening underneath.
Boning is structure sewn into the bodice of a wedding dress to help provide shape and support.
You won't necessarily see it from the outside, although exposed corsetry and visible boning can also be intentional design details on some wedding dresses.
It's one of those terms that sounds strange until you've heard it once, and then suddenly you'll notice bridal stylists talking about it everywhere.
Cups can be sewn into the bodice of a wedding dress to provide coverage, shape or support.
Whether you'll need to wear a bra or other undergarment with your wedding dress depends heavily on the construction of the particular dress and your own preferences.
Don't buy a pile of bridal shapewear before you find the dress. Ask your bridal stylist and alterations professional what actually works underneath YOUR dress first.
Shapewear refers to garments worn underneath clothing to create support or a smoother foundation. Your original guide included pieces such as slips, bodysuits and corsets in this category.
Do you need shapewear under your wedding dress?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Some wedding dresses have enough structure that you may not want or need much underneath them at all. This is another decision that's much easier to make once you actually have the dress.
Shop this Shapewear made by Ameek Crafts →
There are also a few terms that aren't parts of the wedding dress itself, but you'll probably come across them while researching bridal shops and making appointments.
A sample gown is a wedding dress that a bridal shop keeps in the store for brides to try on.
When you go wedding dress shopping, you're usually trying on samples rather than the exact brand-new wedding dress that will eventually be yours.
This is also why the sample you're trying on may not fit perfectly. Your bridal stylist may clip or pin the dress so you can get a better idea of how it will look in your size.
A bridal sample sale is when a bridal shop sells some of the sample wedding dresses it has used for appointments, usually to make room for new inventory.
These wedding dresses are generally sold as-is, which means you may be able to take the dress home much sooner than you would with a traditional made-to-order wedding dress.
Your original bridal-fashion timeline described sample sales as shops discounting their try-on dresses to make room for new designs.
If you're shopping on a shorter wedding timeline, sample wedding dresses can definitely be worth asking about.
A wedding dress trunk show is a special event where a bridal shop brings in an expanded selection from a particular bridal designer for a limited period of time.
That may give you the opportunity to try wedding dresses the shop doesn't normally have available.
If you've fallen in love with a specific wedding dress designer, ask local bridal shops whether they have an upcoming trunk show.
Many wedding dresses purchased at traditional bridal shops are made to order rather than taken home on the day you find them.
The shop takes your measurements, determines the appropriate size according to the designer's sizing and places the order.
This is one of the big reasons I tell brides not to wait until the last minute to start wedding dress shopping.
Alterations are the changes made after your wedding dress arrives to adjust the fit and length and make other necessary modifications.
Your wedding dress alterations are usually a separate expense from the price of the dress itself, so make room for them in your bridal fashion budget from the beginning.
And please don't expect the dress to fit perfectly the minute it arrives. That's what alterations are for!
Wedding dress preservation generally involves professionally cleaning and packaging your wedding dress after the wedding to protect it for long-term storage.
Your original guide called this “gown cleaning or preservation,” and noted that the service may be available through bridal shops or professional cleaners.
If keeping your wedding dress matters to you, don't wait until six months after the wedding to start thinking about what you're going to do with it.
Shop this Bride and Bridesmaid Hangers made by Engraving Kings →
No, you do not need to know all of these terms and suddenly become an expert before you go to try on dresses.
Please don't turn this into homework.
Wedding dress terminology is useful because it gives you a common language with your bridal stylist. That's it.
You don't need to walk into your first bridal appointment announcing that you're looking for a sweetheart-neck A-line with a natural waist, chapel train & cathedral veil.
You can literally show your stylist a picture and say:
“I don't know what this is called, but I LOVE this.”
That's enough.
A great bridal stylist can take it from there.
And even if you've saved 100 pictures of the exact same style of wedding dress, keep an open mind once you start trying them on.
The wedding dress you think you want and the wedding dress you can't stop smiling in might be two completely different dresses.
And THAT is why you go shopping.
Knowing the wedding dress lingo is helpful, but there’s a whole lot more to bridal fashion than knowing your A-line from your alterations!
My Bridal Fashion Fix helps you plan the whole thing, from wedding dress shopping and alterations to accessories, beauty, all those other wedding looks & your bridal fashion budget.
You’ll get expert advice, planning tools, my BFF Budget & Spending Tracker and a customizable Bridal Look Book to help you keep it all organized & actually enjoy the fun part.
Once you find the wedding dress, you get to start choosing all the little things that make your wedding-day look yours.
Shop The Garter Girl's handmade wedding garters, something blue garters & bridal heirlooms, or work with me to create a completely custom wedding garter made from your mother's or grandmother's wedding dress, veil or other family materials.
SHOP WEDDING GARTERS →
P.S. Some of the above product links are affiliate-connected and purchasing through these links helps to support the blog.
