Weddingbee Blog

You’d think finding the person you want to spend the rest of your life is, well, hard enough… but then you probably haven’t gone wedding gown shopping yet!

What to wear? Isn’t it the thing that creates the most anxiety before any event?

I am conforming with Chinese tradition and therefore will have four dress changes. Who am I kidding? I love that I get to wear more than one dress! Though I’m excited for all the dresses– in the shopping stages, it gets a little crazy.

I picked out my wedding dress before the venue, which is a little nuts because one of the first questions you get asked at these appointments is, “How formal is your wedding? What’s the event space like?” To be honest, I didn’t expect to buy a dress that early in the game, but once I got engaged, I found myself in these shops browsing and what’s the point of browsing if you can’t try? And once you try and find the right one… why not just buy it?

The first thing I did before visiting a shop was consult my PowerPoint and inspiration binder. I didn’t consider price when I was clipping a lot of these images and when I finally did my homework, I realized a lot of my dream dresses (by Lazaro, Amsale, and Jenny Lee) were way out of budget. My budget for my wedding gown was small because I needed to buy at least three dresses for the price of one designer wedding gown or less. I also do not plan on keeping my dress as an heirloom since I’m going to wear it once, and not even for more than three hours!

So when looking at dresses and prices, I would divide the cost by three to get an hourly rate for the dress… it really helped me quickly decide which dresses were definitely out of range. I decided that I didn’t want to spend more than $1,000 on the dress.  When I tell people this, they always think I’m insane because it seems either wildly overpriced or super cheap. (The custom for most Asian shops in New York is that you can rent the entire suite of dresses for a few hundred dollars.)

Another OCD thing I did was that I checked out the stores online before visiting and looked at the brands they offered, and from there went to the dress designers’ sites to pick out items I was interested in trying on. This made the process a lot easier when I showed up at the actual shops with dress numbers and styles on hand. It helped the sales staff figure out what I liked right away and gave me more time to try on dresses.

Here are some of the dresses I showed them:

This dress was my dreamboat. My MOH and I were trolling dress sites and we both agreed that this was the type of dress I wanted. Simple but with a little detail like the ribboning on the skirt. But Lazaro prices were definitely out of budget!

I loved the splash of color from the sashes (the little something to a simple dress I was seeking) and no one can beat Amsale quality. And I just ::heart:: covered buttons anywhere on a dress! Alas, Amsale was also out of budget.

For some reason, I was really drawn to pickups. Not crazy, cake-tiered, dizzying looking ones, just something added to the skirt. Watters had a few designs that were simple with a fun embellsihment. Plus, Watters was closer to my budget and still of great quality.

Casablanca also has some very elegant and simple creations. I really loved the way the sash cris-crossed in the front of this dress.

So my basic criteria for the dress?

• Simple with a little color and/or embellishment (like buttons, corset, or sash). I didn’t want crystals or beading on the bodice.
• I was pretty open to any sort of top style. Originally, I didn’t want strapless, but there isn’t much of a choice out there. After trying on a few, they actually looked pretty great so I threw that out the window.
• No train. But loved little pickups in the skirt or a bustle in the back.

What were you looking for when dress shopping? Was budget a huge factor?