Tips Ordering Your Wedding Dress

Ordering a wedding dress should be a wonderful, memorable time in the life of every bride. There is no reason that it shouldn't be either. Unfortunately, all too often it is not. Here are six tips that should help any bride who has chosen to work with a reputable bridal shop to have a positive experience ordering their wedding gown.

• Understand that wedding dress manufacturers use size charts that are unique to them. Don't get hung up on the number. Chances are that if you wear a size 6 in jeans you will end up ordering a 8 or 10 for your wedding dress. Be ready for the shock, but don't let yourself be thrown by it. Nobody but the bridal shop and those who come to the bridal shop with you will know.
  
• Order your wedding dress to fit you on the day you place your order, then watch your diet. Most dresses can be taken in but very few can be let out – check with your bridal shop with regard to the specific wedding dress designs' ability to be altered.
  
• Plan on at least two fittings – one as soon as the dress has come in and a second after the initial alterations have been made. Schedule a third if you experience significant weight loss.
  
• Be sure to wear the lingerie and shoes that you plan to wear with your wedding dress to make sure that every hem and fitting is just right.
  
• Don't be shy at your fitting. Look closely at how the dress hangs. If you care about how the dress looks on you, this is the time to make the changes.
  
• Watch what you eat. The wedding planning period is a stressful time in a woman's life. It is easy to let down your guard by eating fast food as you rush from consult to event to party. It is also easy to fall into the trap of turning to comfort foods when times get real stressful – but that will only lead to more stress.

Wedding Dress Train Options

We all know what a train on a wedding dress is, don't we? In the simplest terms, yes we do. But when a bride goes to choose her wedding dress she will usually find options that she did not know existed. But there is no need for any bride to go into a wedding dress store unprepared and risk feeling foolish. Take a look at this brief run down of train options:

Detachable Train: Popular with brides who plan a dance as a part of their wedding reception since the detachable train is joined to the gown at the waistline with hooks and eyes, and can be removed for the reception.

Watteau: The Watteau train is a separate piece of material (that may or may not be detachable) that falls from the back yoke of the dress.

Caplet Train: The Caplet Train is also a separate piece of material that flows from the back of the shoulders.

Sweep or Brush: Just as the name implies, the train barely touches the floor.

Court: A slightly more formal train, extending one foot longer than the sweep train.

Chapel: An even longer train which extends about 1 1/3 yards from the waist. This is the most popular train of young brides of today.

Cathedral: Aka, the Monarch Train. The Cathedral train trails the bride by six to eight feet. This option is usually chosen for the most formal of wedding events short of royal weddings.

Royal: flowing more than 3 yards from the waist. This is the longest train. Usually this is only chosen for the marriages of queens and princesses.

Bodice Vs Bouquet

Fortunately you don't have to choose one or the other, but your bouquet will be carried against the backdrop of the bodice of your dress so it is wise to consider how they will impact one another.

It's simple really. A complex design on the bodice makes a great backdrop for a more simple bouquet arrangement such as a pomander of roses with the subtlest of accents interwoven. On the other hand a smooth bodice allows for a more intricate bouquet.

The complication is found here: Contrary to what most expect, a wedding dress with a smooth bodice is almost always more expensive than one decorated with a more ornate design. Why? The answer is found simply in that it takes more skill to fashion a dress that has no place to hide a flaw in the workmanship or material.

So... if you have splurged, or gotten an incredible deal, on a wedding dress with a smooth bodice the good news is that you get to have that impressive bouquet.

If, however, you are on a budget then choose a wedding dress with a more ornate bodice that will provide a beautiful backdrop for the simpler and less expensive bridal bouquet.

Save Money on Wedding Dress

Since the wedding dress is one of the first items most brides purchase for the wedding day - and of necessity if they have to special order it - and considering how expensive a wedding dress can be, it follows that it is also a natural place to begin reigning in the wedding budget. After all, if you can get a bridal gown that is just as beautiful (sometimes more beautiful) for a fraction of the cost isn't it worth it?

Four places to look in your search for that perfect wedding dress without breaking the bank:

• Charity Sales / Auctions: Some charities have turned to accepting wedding gowns that they can resell to raise money. As a result you have the opportunity to buy dresses that are usually either new or worn once for a fraction of their original price. Call around. Check the Internet for a sale near you.
• Sample Sales: Do you have a high end wedding dress manufacturer close by? Check with them to see when they have their annual sample sale. Likewise, bridal stores usually find it necessary to clear out their samples along with anything left over of last years stock. If you are able to wade through sheer numbers of dresses, you can sometimes find some gems.
• Grandma: You've heard the old saying, "Something borrowed, something blue..." This is a great opportunity to import some family meaning into the wedding by borrowing the wedding dress grandma wore all those years ago - or mom, or aunt, or big sis. You get the idea. If you can find something that works for you this way you obviously save huge amounts of money.
• EBay: Let's face it. Most bridal gowns are never worn more than once so if you can find one on EBay you could save a lot of money.

Yes, it's easier to just go down to the bridal shop and special order one. But if the budget for your wedding is less than expansive one of these four options for finding a wedding dress at a bargain price just might be the ticket.

Wedding White: Untangling the Issue of Color

When we think of a wedding gown in the western world we naturally tend to think of the white wedding dress. Truthfully it can be stunning seeing a gorgeous woman make her appearance in an elegant white wedding gown.

However, with so many other choices available the question is naturally raised, "Why is white the predominate color among wedding dresses. Should it be?"

Really there are three legs upon which the tradition of the white wedding gown rests within the western culture; tradition, symbolism, and beauty. A wise bride will take a few minutes to analyze each of these foundational concepts in an effort to determine what is best for her:

• 
  Tradition: It astonishes most to learn that the tradition that dictates that brides be adorned in a white wedding gown is not very old at all. In fact, most agree, that the tradition only goes back as far as Queen Victoria in 1840 who wore white as a show of her wealth since pure white fabric was expensive to make and obviously impractical to keep clean. Naturally, over the years as more and more families could afford the opulence of such an extravagant dress (This was most clearly seen in the 1950's as the post World War II economic boom hit and Hollywood began to produce glamorous stars) the practice was set.
• 
  Symbolism: In western civilization the white wedding dress has come in the past several decades to be representative of purity as opposed to reflecting wealth as in Queen Victoria's case. Usually the symbolism refers to the bride herself, but sometimes the connotation is broadened to embrace the spotlessness of the matrimony or the marriage vows.
• 
  Beauty: Truly, a white wedding gown that seems to glisten with radiance can be dazzling. Likewise, there is something stylish and proper about white - I suspect it goes back to how tricky it is to keep clean - either a pure white dress or simply a white shirt. At least it speaks subconsciously to us of class, for a man or woman of upbringing would have the etiquette and education necessary to keep white formal wear looking fine throughout the gala where those not trained in the finer things of life would not. At least that is what some part of our brain or upbringing wants to believe.

But what if a specific bride does not wear white well? Of course, that is a personal question. Just the same, the problem is legitimate. Is it necessary to spend the biggest day of one's existence wearing something that does not flatter one's appearance? We have all seen brides in white who appeared washed out and even harsh merely because of the white dress as compared to her already pale complexion. If it were me, I would not hesitate to ditch the white wedding dress in favor of another color that better enhanced the beauty of the bride.

How to Save Money on Your Wedding Dress

If you're on a tight budget the cost of a special order wedding dress can be a little bit hard to swallow. But what can you do? Yes, you will only wear the dress once, but it is your wedding - quite possibly the most important day of the year. You want a wedding dress that looks fabulous.

So what do you do? Is there any way you can find an incredible wedding dress without breaking the bank? Actually, yes. There are several options. Yes, each option is filled with it's own challenges but if you approach the opportunity with your eyes wide open you should be able to find a gown that you will be proud to wear on your big day.

1. Charity sales and / or auctions: Just as charities have turned to accepting donated cars and selling them to raise funds, some also do the same with wedding dresses. As a result you have the opportunity to buy dresses that are usually either new or worn once for a fraction of their original price. Think about it. Some bride goes out and buys a gown that costs two thousand dollars or more and then the wedding gets called off. What is she going to do with it? She donates it to a charity that accepts bridal gowns who sells it to you for a few hundred dollars. You get a gorgeous wedding gown, she gets a tax write off, and the charity makes money it needs to keep it's doors open another day.
2. EBay and similar sites: Just before I started writing this I checked EBay's listings and there were more than sixteen thousand listings for wedding dresses posted. Sure, EBay's listings are not perfect, so there's probably a couple hundred or so other items scattered about amidst the bridal gowns, but that still leaves a lot of gowns - gowns that could be perfect for someones wedding.
3. Sample sales: Bridal shops need a way to clear out their stock of each year's wedding dresses and sample sales are the industry standard (though not a hard and fast rule). To find a sample sale in your area simply look in the yellow pages of your local telephone directory under bridal shops and call each one on the list to find out both IF and WHEN they are having a sample sale. This option can require some patience and a lot of planning ahead, but it's possible to walk away with a great gown at a price you'll be proud of.

Remember, the most expensive wedding dresses are usually the least ornate. The reason for this is the fact that it takes more craftsmanship and better quality material that is totally smooth than it does to do more ornate designs. As a matter of fact, dress makers use the bead work, lace work, and embroidery to cover the flaws in less than perfect materials.

Finally, don't forget that while a wedding dress can always be taken in it is very difficult to let a wedding dress out - and the higher the quality, generally the more impossible it is to let the dress out. So the moral to the story is to use care when you buy your dress. You won't be saving any money if you buy a dress that's too small for you to fit into.