How Soon is Too Soon?

I don't believe doing anything is too soon. I originally was getting married next November (now this December) and I booked my photographer, venue, and made my dress appointment for September because it was made to order. It's never too early because you never know what could happen.

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Thanks! I'm not so worried about anything else as I am the bridesmaid dresses (I edited my post to reflect that a little better). I would hate for them to have issues with sizes if they ordered too early.

I'm getting married this October, and I got my dress last summer and decided on bridesmaids dresses around November 2020 too. The same timeline you were thinking! I didn't have them order until May 2021 though, but they could certainly order earlier if there was a deal (I used Azazie and there was!). I'm happy to have it out of the way so I can focus on more time-sensitive stuff now. Hope this helps!

I think it is fine to look at bridesmaids dresses, but I wouldn't have your girls purchase anything until about 4-6 months before the wedding.

Usual timeline is look during 5 th month out, put your money down at fourth month ( later for some, but a full 4 months safe.) They take 3 weeks to 10 weeks . Most stores or manufacturers have usual timelines, Azazie
10, Davids anywhere 3 weeks to 10, ask on here. Bridesmaids gaining or loosing 2 or more pounds, or being pregnant, is the problrm. Bridesmaid dresses that run $200 can cost $200 to $300 to alter 2 sizes, for a very structured dress. Who wants that risk for the sake of getting everything done early. And any time a pride ppushes brides to go early, and 1-2 ave overweight as little as 20 pounds, or pregnant by wedding time, they expect the bride to pay the bill for pushing early. And then is those quitting or cut from weddings.

I'm getting married October 2022 also, I was thinking about going wedding dress shopping August or September and I'm not having my bridesmaids order their dresses until like 6 months before. I already have my venue and photographer booked, as well as my menu picked out.

They can get their dresses memorial day weekend 2022 which is the end of May. they usually have amazing deals going on for literally everything

I'd stick with the suggested timelines for the gals and for your own dress as well.

I've worked with a good number of brides that were so excited to find a dress and ended up purchasing one a year and a half before the wedding. Nearly all of them had wedding dress regret. Some ended up going through a bunch of returns/logistics just to find a new one.

The other thing is sizing, for both the wedding dress and the bridesmaids dresses. Not everyone fluctuates too much, and it could be a non issue, but there's some potential of size changes (including pregnancies) that aren't as easy to navigate when you purchase early.

Lastly, cost. If you're requiring a certain dress, it's always nice to give the gals some time to save up.

I'd recommend you look/purchase about 10-12 months out from the wedding, and the gals order around 6 months out.

Being in the industry, I've seen disasters on both sides of this (from ordering way too early, to ordering way too late). Many people believe they're erring on the side of caution by ordering early (or, "being extra prepared" is just a bit of an excuse for "I'm too excited to wait," which I get) but that isn't always the case.

October 15, 2022 here! We’ve booked our venue. We actually booked it in Jan (or maybe Feb?). Catering, bar and DJ is included so we have a lot done.
I was worried 2022 was going to be booked already due to reschedulings from 2020/2021. I feel way more at ease now.

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We've had our venue booked since last November, but that's only because we originally considered getting married in October 2021, so we were in crunch mode after getting engaged last October.

I've had some vendors rush me because they're getting completely booked for fall 2022, and others who haven't even started booking for that year yet. Overall I'm just trying to do things sooner rather than later in case Covid rescheduling stuff catches up with me. We have venue, photographer, DJ, and officiant booked and have a meeting set up with our hopeful caterer in a couple of weeks (one or both of us were quarantined for close to a month so our original plans to meet got postponed.)

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Thank you! That's a great idea! I'm all about trying to make this as cost effective as I can for them and trying to give a little wiggle room to find a sale or cheaper dress has been important to me.

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Yes, that helps a ton! Thank you! I'm currently between Azazie and David's Bridal for their dresses based on the swatches I've gotten.

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Thank you for all of your advice! I plan to start looking around in July for my own dress, but I'm not super set on for sure finding "the dress" when I go. I am not much of a dress person and don't have much of a clue what I'm even looking for, so I want to start early so I have time to really consider things and not feel rushed into a dress.