Buying a dress out of state

I moved from North Carolina to colorado. I bought my dress in NC and my mom picked it up and shipped it to me. I had my alterations done here in CO. Now I’ll have to either ship my dress before the wedding and have my mom steam it, or bring it on the plane with me.

I would just say to call and double check that the dresses will be in time. There was an Essence trunk show at the bridal salon that I went to this weekend. They told me not to bother with them because they won’t be in until November (my wedding is in July). But other than that, I think it’ll be fine if you go back frequently enough to pick it up (or have someone else pick up and ship).

I bought my dress in Florida while visiting my parents. the store was able to just have it shipped straight to my house here in Virginia. it doesn't hurt to ask what they can do for you, most of the time they are pretty accommodating!

I would definitely check on lead times though.. might be cutting it close with only having 6 months!

View Quoted Comment Thanks for the heads up! I already have some emails out to the salons so I’ll wait to see what they say!

I would call and make sure they have the dresses you are interested in available to try on at the trunk shows.

I would also call local bridal shops and see if that have any of the dresses you are interested in locally. You could at least try some on and make sure that’s what you want. Then you could go to chicago and try it on with your friends if you need a second opinion.

View Quoted Comment Chrystal, would it be completely insane if me to just go to a store on my own and try on dresses? I feel like I would be the first to try wedding dresses on alone haha

I didn't buy close to my wedding (in fact, I bought it close to 2 years before the wedding), but I did buy my dress out of state! I purchased it in CT and had it shipped to MN. It worked out just fine and i had my alterations done by a local lady.

View Quoted Comment No I think it’s completely reasonable to do. You can get a better idea of what you are looking for. You don’t have to buy the dress that day. I know I had a hard time figuring out what dresses would like like on me before I went dress shopping. You may even find another designer you like.

If you do find a dress you like, I would take note of the designer and you can also look online and see if you can find the dress cheaper. I see a lot of the EOA dresses on the resell sites like Tradesy (my favorite, I just did a post about them), still white and preowned wedding dresses. They have a lot of new dresses on the sites which can save you a lot of money.

My wedding is in Puerto Rico but I’m currently living in NYC area... my recommendation is buy your dress where you are and then travel with it for your wedding. I tried dresses in PR, I even chose my dress in PR, but I found a boutique in New Jersey that had dresses from
the designer and bought the exact same dress here. Why? It all comes down to fittings. I knew it was going to be a lot of stress to be flying back and forth 3+ times just to do the dress fitting. So I bought the dress here, it ended up costing me less money, no taxes, and I don’t have to pay for tickets to travel back and forth during the months heading up to the wedding.

So, I’d definitely go to the trunk show in Chicago, maybe see some designs you like and who knows? maybe even chose the dress, but I wouldn’t buy it in Chicago and then have to travel a lot for fittings. Also, and maybe I should’ve started with this, it depends on how much time and funds you have to spare.

I bought my dress in Florida and they shipped to me in Georgia.

I’m buying my dress from an Australian company. I live in Colorado and am flying to their showroom in LA for the dress! Not weird to me!

View Quoted Comment I went alone

i didn’t want everyone bothering me and I’m self conscious enough without people judging how I look (I do get thry would be judging dresses but how it would feel to me is that scenario is about the worst thing I can imagine)

i think probably more people than you might guess go alone

Honestly, I don’t feel like you have to take anyone with you. I planned to go alone and my mom ask to ride with me. She actually ended up buying my dream dress for me.

Then I’m getting my alterations done in another state. I found an seamstress that’s really does quality work in a neighboring state. So I’m getting my alterations done by her. I called in advance to see how much time they need. She gave me a time and let me know they will have it ready so that it fits perfectly even if they have to rework it two or three days before wedding if I keep losing weight.