We've all been there. We buy our dream dress a year or more out from the wedding and at the time, it's the best decision we've ever made. But later, the "what ifs" start to sink in and you wonder if you made the right dress decision. So many Brides experience dress regret- whether they find a better dress than the first one they found, or if they can't get the runner up out of their mind. With wedding stress on the brain, it's so easy to let those fears creep in. Here's how to avoid it:
Once you've purchased your wedding dress, stop looking at wedding dresses. This means in the store, online, pictures, etc. This is the easiest way that you can avoid getting influenced by other dresses or feeling like you're missing out on seeing other styles.
Have a wardrobe change during your wedding. Deciding between 2 great dresses? Get them both! Wear one dress for your ceremony and one for your reception.
Take cute pictures of you in your dress and look back at them often. You bought your dress for a reason. When the doubts start kicking in, trying on your dress again or looking back at pictures of you in your dress will help reassure you that you look amazing in your dress and there's nothing to worry about.
If you haven't bought your dress yet, just make sure that even if you think you've found the dress don't rush to buy it right away. Force yourself to go to other stores and try on other dresses before going back to purchase that one. You may be surprised to see that you've found a dress you like better, or maybe you will be more confident in your dress decision.
Personal Perspective: I tried on what felt like a million dresses before I finally went back and bought the dress I wanted originally. I've been asked a lot how I knew that dress was the one out of all of the other dresses that I saw. For me personally, I went wedding dress shopping during the pandemic so it was really hard for me to get excited about trying on dresses (because guests were limited and masks were required, and I had no idea if my wedding could even happen.) As a result of the pandemic and the stress of that, I did gain some weight that I wasn't proud of and thought surely I still had some time to lose the weight. But I couldn't help but be insecure in a lot of the dresses that I tried on. None of them really felt right, or helped the thought of me getting married sink in. Honestly, I had imagined that the first dress I tried on would make me and everyone else that accompanied me cry and I'd feel the most beautiful that I had ever felt. That was unfortunately not the case. Most of the dresses that I tried on that I thought were the style that I really liked actually felt out of place on me. When I tried on the dress that I ultimately ended up getting, it was the only dress that really clicked for me. It was THE dress that made me look in the mirror and cry happy tears, and that's how I knew it was the one. I felt truly beautiful and could immediately picture myself getting married in it. Because I found it early on in the dress shopping, my mom urged me to keep looking. I made appointments at bridal boutique after bridal boutique and couldn't stop comparing every other dress to that one. 4 stores and a week later, I went back to that store and bought that dress. And I'm so happy I did. Much like most couples' response when asked how they knew their significant other was the one, when it comes to picking out the perfect wedding dress for you "when you know, you just know."