Dress Shopping!

Try to keep it to 1 or 2 people whose opinions you trust and share your fashion sense. But know that it's your decision which dress to go with. Many posts have said that any more than 2 guests shopping with you can make it chaotic because feelings get hurt you didn't choose the dress they liked, etc.

I think there are three questions. First, would you truly prefer to shop alone? Second, are all who "want to be included" of equal footing? And, third, within the constraints, who do you want to have with you?

Daughter knew she did NOT want an "entourage" -- it was important to her that she wasn't influenced by others' opinions. She and I are very close, and she definitely wanted me to shop with her. There were a couple others who made comments early on about how they couldn't wait to go dress shopping with her, but there was no way she wanted them to come, so she just made appointments and didn't say anything to them about it.

If you read past posts you'll find that a frequent regret is including too many and/or the wrong people while dress shopping. Good luck!

2 of my bridesmaids and my MOH came with me. I only needed my MOH with me because she's my best friend and I trust her opinion but I didn't want an entourage of people nor did I want people thinking that I would honestly change my choices based on what THEY thought. Who would YOU like to go with you, not them wanting to go, who do YOU want? Start there first.

I agree, try to keep it to 1 - 2 people even if you're allowed more. I was only allowed 1 person back in July, I took my mom and we facetimed my MIL.

I definitely didn't want a million opinions being thrown at me so I only invited my mom and sister. Think about who you really want there in person to provide their opinion and who you can just send pictures to after.

Hi!! Totally up to you but for me, I’m a people pleaser type so I went alone and worked with the professional sales bridal consultant. She was wonderful and she ended up picking the right dress for me ❤️ I never regretted it! There are lots of follow up appointments (fittings) so I had others come with me (allowed one guest per appointment) to see it in person. I noticed other brides appeared really stressed with their entourage during my appointment.

I can't relate because I preferred to shop alone and I haven't ever felt left out of someone else's shopping excursion. But 5 sounds like a very generous maximum (considering COVID) so if you do want to have people with you, I would definitely invite your nearest and dearest and don't worry about "scrap[ping] it and say no one comes just to keep it fair since everyone can’t?"

I planned to bring only my mother for this reason. One appointment my mother couldn’t make, so my closest (physically—she’s my neighbor) bridesmate drove me & we FaceTimed my mother. Even without Covid, I think I would have gone with just one person. I ended up choosing a dress my mother doesn’t love anyway—you really have to go with what you want, & your own instincts, so more people doesn’t necessarily help!

It can be overwhelming if you bring a lot of people with you to the dress shopping appointments. Having 1-2 people there is ideal, though any more than that, and it gets difficult to try to find something that everyone agrees on, including you. If you bring a large group, you get a variety of styles that everyone thinks look best on you. Some of the people you bring with may like the way more fitted dresses look on you, while others prefer ballgowns. Something to remember too is that YOUR opinion of the dress matters most. It's great if everyone that you brought with loves one specific dress, but if you don't love it, it's easier to put it back if you don't have 5-10 people all telling you that they think it's your dress while you know it's not. You also don't want to buy something just because everyone else loved it, and then regret it later because you didn't like it as much. I recommend bringing 1-2 people with you (3 at most) to get honest opinions, but not be overwhelmed with a bunch of differing opinions. I like Katie's suggestion of bringing those who didn't shop with you to your fitting appointments so they can see the dress in person!

I had 4 people come with me to my first appointment (mom/stepmom/MOH/bridesmaid) & I had 6 people come to my second appointment where I actually found my dress (mom/stepmom/2 MOHs/ 2 bridesmaids). If you can stand your ground and say yes to something that YOU like then there's no need to keep it to 1-2 people. For me personally I respected everyone's opinions but at the end of the day I was going to buy something that I loved. So it didn't matter whether it was 1 or 10 people there

5 is a really good number actually. When I went in August the few places I went only allowed 2 guests. I think its better with less people. If you go to more then one appointment you could always bring different people to each appointment.

Hi there!
I just went with me and my mom. It was nice and stress free! That’s how I wanted it. One to many people, means one to many opinions and for me that’s stressful in itself. Good luck!

View Quoted Comment Yes absolutely! That’s been the problem.

View Quoted Comment Understood, juggling multiple people can come with multiple opinions but standing firm in my wishes is what it’s all about!

View Quoted Comment Never thought about it this way. I just thought this would be a moment to include those who I didn’t know how to include in anything else. But this makes sense, thank you.