Do you really have to buy your dress 9 months in advance?

Honesty, if I were you, I'd start shopping. My dress took 3.5 months to come in, and I'm starting alterations 3 months. At bare minimum, if give yourself 7 months.

I think it depends where you are buying it from. I know some shops near me have tons of off the rack stuff. But where I ordered mine she said it would take 6-8 months to come in. So I'm glad I got it last weekend! I would call around to shops and see how long it generally takes for dresses to come in. Also, I would suggest going shopping not waiting to lose weight. I was trying to do the same thing and I went and found my perfect dress and it looked great on me just the way I am now! It made me feel so beautiful! I told my mom I don't even want to lose weight now because it looked fabulous the way it was! You never know!!

We only had 6 months to plan our wedding. I went dress shopping about 5 months out and already have my dress. The reason they suggest going early is because it takes time for a wedding dress to come in. If you wait you may lose more t yourself to sample dresses only. I got lucky with my dress. It is from David's Bridal and came in 2 weeks. If you are going to wait I suggest a place like David's and be sure to let them know you have a short timeline.

I ordered mine in November and it just came in last week. I would give yourself extra time because you don't want to find a dress you love but not be able to get it in time.

I ordered mine in November & it's not going to be in until July.

If you wait I recommend a back up plan, just in case!

Note, I'm sooo indecisive as well. Lol it's the toughest choice to pick from all the dresses!!

I'm only going to be engaged for 7 months. I ordered my dress 6 months out.

I got mine in February. So 4 months out. I did buy off the rack from a local boutique, just happened to love a dress that was in my size. It's doable. I've found in my planning that a lot of things people say you HAVE to have done by a certain time isn't always something that needs to be done right then. However, if you like a specific dress it can take 6-12 weeks to be ordered depending on where you get it!

Mine is taking about 6 months to come in and the bridal salon wanted 3 months for alterations so in my case, yes. You may be able to find them off the rack at some places. Other places their shipping is faster. It all depends on the dress and time of year.

Mine came in one month. I bought a DB brand from DB in April, arrived in May, fitting appointment in July, for September wedding. It just really depends if you want a designer dress or not.

Depends on the designer you want. Some have 3-5 month delivery times. You can put off ordering them until 7 months before, if you take the longest time and add 2 months for alterations.

Others take 5-7 months to deliver. You definitely need to order those 9 months in advance.

Or you could limit yourself to whatever samples or consignment are close to your size, and wait until 3 months before.

I bought mine off the rack, so I took it home the day I bought it. If you have to order it though, it could take several months to be made.