covid Dress Shopping

I haven't been yet, but my friend went to BHLDN and had a great experience! She was only able to bring one guest to reduce the amount of people in the salon, the staff all wore masks and enforced their rules very well. It's good to remember that it's MUCH harder to contact COVID through soft fabrics such as clothing, but I understand your concern!

Personally I would still go as long as the salon is only allowing one or two appointments at a time. If they're allowing for example, 4 brides in at one time and all of those brides are allowed guests, then I would be very hesitant about going. But if it's just you and maybe one other bride and you both can't bring a lot of guests, then I think you should be fine! You do have a little over a year left until your wedding day, so you could push off dress shopping until next year, but who knows what's going to happen in the next month or so. I'm also a huge planner and like to get things done ASAP, so that's why I say go while you know you still can.

It's just hard to tell right now because some stores are enforcing their rules and following protocol, and others aren't.

I was fortunate in that I found my dress right before the pandemic shut downs began. However, I had to pick it up and try it on right in the middle of the chaos. The boutique told me not to worry, they were taking safety precautions (masks were being worn, limited number of people per party, etc.). So I drove the 4 hours there, only to find I was the only person wearing a mask, social distancing was not being adhered to at all, and there were multiple groups there running around looking through dresses and trying things on. I am high risk and had I not driven 4 hours, I would have walked out. Instead, I requested my bridal consultant to please wear a mask (which she did kindly oblige), and requested that she not accompany me into the fitting room. I didn’t even get to see my dress buttoned up. Things were so crazy and hectic there, I had to wait forever for my consultant to come back, and eventually had to step outside my fitting room to find her (where I was met with about 15 non-mask wearing people standing right outside my room and clogging up the hallway). Needless to say, it was not an exciting or comfortable experience. As crazy busy as they were, I can guarantee they were not cleaning surfaces or steaming dresses in between appointments. These places make their money by packing in as many appointments per day as they can, so I doubt many of them are following any sort of safety precautions that are going to be time consuming. If you have time to wait, I would try putting off dress shopping until the spring. If you are not able to wait that long, I would highly suggest calling ahead to see if the boutique requires everyone to wear a mask at the very least. I’d also suggest bringing hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes with you.

I live in NY and felt comfortable with dress shopping (went last July).


I was only able to bring two people with me (which I’m actually happy about because it’s already overwhelming and I think a lot more opinions would’ve been super stressful).
We were NOT allowed to touch any dresses in the store which made me wonder if there was a better dress out there, but had a great consultant and went into the appointments with pictures of what I was looking for.
We were limited to 5 dresses per appointment. I was able to try on a few more when I was narrowing down or if the consultant had a dress that aligned with what I was looking for.
In some shops I was NOT allowed to take off my face mask, even when in dressing room. I was able to take it off when I said yes to the dress and walked down a little runway they have.
One thing I did do in every appointment was ask the consultant to pick a dress for me and ended up saying yes to a dress she picked !

It hasn't been the best for me. Dome places won't even let you try on any attire at all.

I went back in July when it was bad here in NYC. It was a small-ish boutique so I was the only bride in the whole place which was nice. They took my temperature upon arrival and made me sanitize my hands. The attendant kept her distance from me the whole time except to zip me up and take my measurements. We were all wearing masks the whole time. I was only allowed to bring one person so I brought my mom and we facetimed my MIL. I felt safe and enjoyed the process 💕

I booked a private appointment because I'm high risk. Luckily, I had a boutique that had that option. It was just me and the few people that I was allowed to bring. It was worth the extra money to me. If you have that option, I highly recommend it.

I went in June of last year and felt very safe! A lot of designers do have longer lead times because of covid so make sure you strike the balance between feeing safe and ensuring your dress arrives in time.


Not sure where you are in SC (I grew up there and my wedding is there in March ❤️) but if you’re close to the Georgia border everywhere I went in Atlanta was really on top of things!