Out of State Wedding

If someone offers to throw you a shower/bachelorette, let them decide where to host the event that is most convenient for them. As for fittings, your wedding party should be able to handle that on their own. I’ve never done alterations with other people.

I'm following this thread. I'm planning a wedding out of state as well.

I had my wedding out of state, but my bridesmaids were local. Even though they were local we still had our dress fittings in different stores. I used David's bridal and I set a profile and the bridesmaid were able to set an appointment and pick a dress they liked. I went with, but the girls went on separate occasions.

A lot of people have been doing virtual showers maybe you could do one of those. People can send you gifts and you can open them on Zoom and you can still play games. As far as dress fitting I agree with pp you could look online and find styles you like and when they try them on they can send you a picture for your approval before buying it.

View Quoted Comment

Thank you. I sort of figured they could do that on their own as long as i send them to the location and know which dress for them to wear.

View Quoted Comment

Our wedding isnt until May 2022. So we have time and hopefully wont need a virtual shower / party. Thats a no no for me. Ha. Thanks love.

View Quoted Comment

Yessss, thats exactly what ill be doing. That makes the most sense to me.

View Quoted Comment I wasn’t suggesting it just for Covid. Unless you plan on flying to your families hometown a lot of people may not want to fly out to Texas for a bridal shower and a wedding unless you host it the week of the wedding and just have a wedding week.

View Quoted Comment

I think if anything i would probably go back to Wisconsin for my party/ shower then. I wouldnt want them coming all the way here like you said two times.

I went shopping with my one bridesmaid that was local and sent pictures to the other. We decided on one and the one out of state found a bridal salon near her that carried it/could order it and got it there.

View Quoted Comment

Makes sense!

You provide a date you are available and guest list. That is the extent of your involvement in shower planning.


Fittings are done individually, not as a group.

View Quoted Comment

Got it, yup i think i know what im gonna do now. Thanks ladies.

I had my wedding out of state and planning was more difficult, but the things you mentioned were actually the easy part. We picked Men's Warehouse so that the groomsmen could go to any location to get their tuxes. I personally don't recommend Men's Warehouse, but at the time that was the only chain store I knew of. Since I've heard great things about Black Tux and Generation Tux which are both online companies that will mail you the outfit to try on before you rent/purchase. As for the bridesmaids dress, I met with my girls to look for dresses. I didn't want to go to David's Bridal because I didn't hear very good things about them. We tried some smaller stores in town, but they didn't have anything in the right price range or color even though I called ahead of time to confirm they had dresses in the right color and price change that they could try on. We ended up going to David's Bridal and that's where they got their dresses. Another option is Azazie which is an online company like Black Tux and Generation Tux where the girls can try their dresses on before they purchase them. I had considered this option, but my mom and a few of my bridesmaids were against it hence why I didn't go this route. However, I have heard amazing things about them and I wish I had gone with them because they had lot more options. As for pre-wedding events like a bachelorette party or bridal shower, those parties are hosted by someone who offers to host so you don't plan it.

We live 2.5 hours away from our venue (in northern AZ) which is in the Phoenix area. We chose the location as the majority of our family lives there. There’s also family from WI coming into town for the wedding. I’m having my bachelorette/lingerie party the Tuesday before the wedding-keeping the # to around 10. My sister is my MOH & I have told her what I’ve wanted so she is making the arrangements. Rehearsal dinner is the Thursday before the wedding. We planned it like that so we can have those out of town guests be there.
My bride tribe is going dress shopping in 2 weeks when I go down there. It seems like doing a virtual shopping is going to be the best way.

My sister just had her wedding last year in Washington and I have since moved to Miami, she had all the brides maids go through a national retailer (David’s Bridal) - depending on your plans, I might add that she also had us pick any dress we wanted as long as the color matched. It turned out very nice and it was flexible. We are also choosing Minneapolis instead of Miami, due to rates and vale, and have decided that formal wear, from a national retailer, will be there best way to ensure continuity. Likewise, if you’re looking for a national wedding hopefully these tips help.

I had two showers - one in the state I live in & having the wedding and one in the state my family lives in. I also used Men’s Warehouse & David’s Bridal where there are stores across the US & provide online ordering

We live in CT and got married in Florida. The majority of our guests live in the Northeast. Our shower was in CT, and I would suggest having your shower in the place where most of the guests are, even if you have to travel.

In terms of bridal party attire, we had our groomsmen go to Men's Wearhouse, knowing that some would pick up their tux in CT before they flew down, but also wanting them to have the option of picking it up at a Florida location after they arrived for the wedding. Most people traveled with their tuxes, but our ring bearer and one groomsman did a Florida location the day before the wedding—and good thing, too, because the location forgot to put the ring bearer's pants in the garment bag! His mom had to Uber back to Men's Wearhouse the morning of the wedding to grab them.

For my bridesmaids, none were local enough to me that shopping in person was feasible. I picked dresses for them to choose on Amazon and Etsy, and everyone ordered their dresses online.

I live in TX as well. I am from Idaho, my parents and all my extended family lives in the Pacific NW. My FH and his family have lived here the majority of his life and his extended family is all in Georgia and Florida. We decided to have our wedding local to where we live, and a second reception in my hometown a month later as they didn't want to/couldn't travel here, which a friend of my moms (who is a professional wedding planner) is taking care of.

Before 3 of my bridesmaids/MOH dropped out, I had them use JJ's House so that they wouldn't have to go to a brick and mortar store as they were all closed due to COVID. NOw my last remaining bridesmaid is my cousin who lives 45min away so it wouldn't have mattered anyway lol. Plus my MOH lives in South Korea so we needed and international retailer. FH's groomsmen are all local but due to COVID we used GenTux and so far, not that impressed with their service. It has been a very confusing process to order from them. We did not have anyone offer to throw any parties, so we are throwing ourselves a joint bach party.

My wedding was in Texas and most of my bridal party was in Chicago.
What my husband and I did was coordinate our bridesmaids and groomsmen fittings around the same time and came to Chicago to attend with them. As well as shop for ourselves with them.

As for our wedding party members that wasn’t able to attend in person we found a tux rental vendor the had affiliate companies in Dallas where our groomsmen was able to download a measuring form and go into the affiliates shop that was closest to them and get measured then send the measurements to the tux rental company’s website. Since most of my bridesmaids and family was in Chicago i coordinated my bachelorette and bridal showers for the same weekend and my fiancé and I came in town the week before to finish last minute details. I let me friends plan my bachelorette party for a Friday and my mom and my Aunt plan my bridal shower for that Sunday. It worked great. I only had one bridesmaid that was out of town and we just flew her in for the weekend.