Dress shopping for the first time

Mother of the Bride and Maid of Honor are the usual two who people ask to go with them. You can also invite your future mother-in-law or siblings. Everyone brings a slightly different crowd.


If you already know where you are going dress shopping then check with the store/boutique to see what the maximum party size is. Some places I went did not have one and others only allowed two extra people to come with you (it was COVID times but they also just had a really tiny space).

I only had my mom come because I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted and I didn't want a bunch of opinions about "you have to have [lace/beading/sparkle/etc]" when I knew that wasn't what I was interested in.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for the advice!!! I was thinking just my maid of honor my mom and my mother-in-law.

View Quoted Comment Thanks for the advice I really appreciate it!! I didn’t even think about the number of people they would allow that makes a lot of sense. I will call the place to ask that first and then decide from there. But I probably just do my mother my mother-in-law and my maid of honor

Not everyone is close to their mom or or their partner’s mom and inviting them could cause more stress than necessary. Take along 1 or 2 people whose fashion opinions you trust. That can be anyone: your sister, your cousin, your best friend, even your fiancé. During Covid, most shops have limits of how many people can accompany you to adhere to social distancing guidelines. You can always have those people and/or additional via video chat. Trust your gut and keep the entourage very small (1-2 people at most) because too many opinions can cause you to doubt your intuition.

With covid, all the bridal shops that I went to have a limit to the number of guests. I would recommend only bringing one or two people. I think bringing more people would make it tougher, especially if the group is offering different opinions and they don't align with how you feel. I would trust your gut with bringing only a few people.

View Quoted Comment Thank you 😊

View Quoted Comment Aww thanks you I totally agree with what you are saying because I already feel like I’m stress over everything such as my dress and bridesmaids dresses. Plus my mom and fiancé mother are just now starting to get along so…. I probably just take my mom and my best friend who is my maid of honor and video everyone else. Thanks

I agree with the previous comment about checking with the dress shops to find out if they have a limit on the number of people you can bring! I also suggest only bringing one or two people who you are closest to, who will also give you their truly honest opinions and not just say "yep looks great!" to everything. By bringing too many people, that's a lot of opinions to listen to. One person may prefer lace dresses, another prefers plain ball gowns, another prefers beaded mermaid dresses, etc. Keeping the group small will help your opinion stand out.

Another thing you could do is go look at dresses by yourself at first, just to get an idea of what dress shapes/designs you like, and then bring a group back with you once you've narrowed it down a bit. Happy dress shopping!

I appreciate everyone advice thank you so much it has help me think about who I would love to come along with me. I believe My mom and my best friend/maid of honor is my best choice

View Quoted Comment Thank you 😊 and I really did consider going by myself for my first dress fitting just to see what I like. But I see how excited my mom is for me and how happy she is just being part of the wedding planning that if warms my heart. My mom is everything to me ❤️

View Quoted Comment That is awesome that you are so close to your mom! It sounds like your mom and your best friend are both the perfect people for you to bring dress shopping with you!

View Quoted Comment Thank you 😊 I’m so excited about the dress fitting

So I have a really large immediate family, so I am kind of stuck with a large group unless I only cut down to my mom. My husbands mom lives too far away and, to be honest, probably isnt interested in being involved as we arent that close. All my bridesmaids live at least 7 hours away so asking them to come in town seems ridiculous.

Overall I will have my mom, my 4 biological sisters, my sister-in-law, and my grandma just happens to be in town the weekend we are going so I cant leave her out. We are video calling in my aunt and my MOH. At minimum I feel like I would've had 6 people anyway.

Edit to add: I wanted to include my sisters in this process since none of them are bridesmaids.

If you want to include others in the dress process, you could ask them to go with you to your alterations appointments (if you're allowed to bring people of course). Then you cut down on the opinions flying all over since you'll have already purchased the dress.