When to start looking for wedding dress?

I wouldn't go too too early because you might get dress regret, I'll be going shopping 12-14 months before just to look and get ideas and if I find something I like I'll purchase it, but I'll probably purchase a dress 9 months before

If you wanted to gather design ideas, you can look now, but I think shopping 2 years out is too risky. There are collections that haven't been released that you may fall in love with or your style/body size may change in those 2 years. I'd start actually shopping 1 year out and make your purchase around 9 months out or so.

Hey!


I’m an organised person and If you feel like you want to have a look, and feel for a wedding dress I’d just plan to visit one shop, I did this 4 months after I got engaged knowing my wedding was 19 months away.
I went to a more reasonably priced shop where you bought off the peg, this was so helpful to me as the style I thought I’d love I didn’t and it did not suit me or my body.
I tried on about 9-10 dresses and disliked how I felt in all of them, I was a little sad thinking I’d never find the right dress or feel like a bride.
However I knew I had time, a couple of months later after browsing boutique stores, I found a dress I wanted to try on - no one local had it so I had to travel a little and safe to say I said YES to the dress.
November 2020 May 2022 Wedding
My mom has the pics in a hidden album on her phone, so when I want to see what I looked like I can. It’s the perfect dress for me and I’m not worried about dress regret as it just felt right.

I bought my dress November 2019 and was supposed to get married last June, but due to covid, it’s now this June and my dress has been through the ringer with alterations because it was so long ago. I think 8 months should give you ample time, but there’s no harm in trying on dresses now to get an idea of what style you like!

I would start browsing but wait to buy anything until about a year out.

You can definitely browse. Just don't buy anything more than a year out

Personally I would avoid it. The risk you run is that (a) you will have more time to second guess your choice (if you are indecisive), (b) if you gain or lose weight alterations may be more costly / your style may change, and (c) a lot can change in 2 years!

I say this as someone who bought my dress in Jan 2020 for my Dec 2020 wedding, postponed my wedding and gained 20lbs, and now need to lose those 20lbs to fit into my dress before my Dec 2021 wedding.

There are a lot of pros and cons for both sides, but I'd do a lot of pinteresting now, and start to shop 12-18 months out. So many factors impact how long a dress takes to come in, including the boutique, the designer, the relationship the two have with each other, etc etc.

Some dresses can take a minimum of 12 months, and then you also need to factor in time for alterations as well. Complex alterations can take ages - my seamstress has my first fitting next month, which is 3 months out from the day.

Far better to have to store your dress for a few months than for it to not arrive in time, or not with enough time to allow for alterations!

Honestly it depends on your personality though.

I shopped 18 months out and it gave me comfort to know I wasn't restricted by 'what they could get in by my date'. I also felt more confident knowing that, if the dress I'd always dreamed of didn't suit me, I had enough time to go away and think about another style, and I wouldn't feel railroaded into buying something I didn't love purely because of a time crunch. I'm also definitely not a wishy-washy person and so I knew that I wasn't the type to have dress regret - and you might have that even if you buy closer to the day, so that wasn't a considering factor for me.

The main big one to me is weight gain or loss. If you know you are likely to change sizes significantly in either direction then I would hold off until you are fairly certain of your anticipated size. I have lost about 20lb since I bought my dress, so if I'd gone shopping a bit later, I might have felt confident buying the sample size, and wouldn't need to have my dress altered as much. But then on the other hand, as I thought at the time - far better to have a dress that's too big than too small.

I am getting married December 10, 2022. I bought my gown may 15, 2021. Everyone does their own thing. It’s never too early in my opinion. I didn’t think I’d find the gown but I did.

I would wait until at least 15 months before your wedding. I’m getting married in March of 2023 and will start looking at wedding dresses in February of 2022

I bought my dress just shy of 2 years before my wedding, and I have had no dress regret, no issues so far, nothing. I had a vision for my dress that hasn't ever really changed, so I knew that this dress would work for me no matter what because it was timeless and my vision hasn't really changed in years. I wouldn't wait 8 months out because some dresses take a bit to come in and that is REALLY cutting it. Most people start 12-14 months out. If you want to start now though, I say go for it. It worked for me.

Because I am not a dress person usually and because I had no clue what I would want, I have appointments set for this summer for my wedding next October. The very first appointment I made was a "style" appointment where we tried on all different kinds of dresses to get a better idea of what I actually like since I didn't know. At that appointment they suggested I order my dress a year out due to covid stuff, but I still plan on looking at different boutiques in the mean time to see what I like. I figure I can go back later on and re-try on the ones I really liked.

I also know that the seamstress I plan on using books crazy fast so I'd rather order my dress earlier to make sure I can get on her list!