Your Perfect Wedding Dress

With full enthusiasm as your as your dream wedding is 9 months from today, you're searching for that befitting, wedding gown. Along the line, you strolled into a bridal shop and discuss with a sale person. "When is your wedding day coming up?" they asked you, to which you promptly replied. "Well...nine months from today, any help?"

Without hesitation she informed you'll definitely have to wait for up to nine months to order a special wedding gown! "Woah...could this be true?" You thought to yourself, a bit bewildered. Now, here is your answer: "Most cases, this is not true." Most bridal stores deliberately weave such 'story' just to get bride-to-be like you in a frightful mood, so as to make you place an order with them that same day.

They also do this to stop you from going elsewhere for your shopping. Well, just be calm and don't allow yourself to be wrongly influenced into buying wedding dress on any given day. Even, if you discover the dress matched your dream, still spend some time to think over it well. You must remember this is for a BIG -- special day, so make sure you're getting the perfect dress.

How? You may spend at least a day; go out with your friend or family members, over some satisfying lunch, discuss this issue with them, and allow them help you make a concrete decision on your dress purchase.

Making the perfect decision is vital because most stores don't allow returns or refund of money, especially on special orders. In order words, once you pay for a special order, the dress becomes yours.

However, most designer wedding dress manufacturers need between eight to twelve weeks to finish your dress on special order, unless you require some drastic changes. But are you even aware you could order changes on designs? Yes it's possible! For example, most manufacturers will allow you to lengthen a train, shorten a train, take off some beads, or add beads.

Also, if you desire to add or make a change, just ask the salesperson. Though not all manufacturers will give you this privilege, but some will; ask to be assured on this. Now, if any bridal store offers to deliver your dress 6 months or more, then be cautious. Vintage wedding dresses, more often than not, are purchased directly in a store. In general, they are more difficult to find, and often more difficult to modify.

As your perfect wedding dress is about to be ordered, only pay for "one-half" of the deposit, and if you're ask for more, simply walk away. You shouldn't pay more than HALF for a dress, when you won't have it until several weeks later! Moreover, if your wedding gets canceled (for whatever reason), you'll lose only one-half the cost of the dress, since deposits on special order don't get refunded.

As an experienced bridal business owner, I know stores ask for more than half because weddings sometimes are canceled, or the bride may decide she no longer want the dress. I strongly suggest that you pay deposit down with a credit card, as this option will enable you recover your deposited money in case the store closes down or you eventually didn't place your order.

But if you put deposit down, don't forget to ask for receipt, and ensure the style number, color, and size of your dress are written down on both your own and the store's copy. This ensures that you have proof of every transaction with the store.

As a bride myself, I had an experience after hours of painstaking searches in bridal magazines, I picked my desired bridesmaids dress from a store near me, but unfortunately when the dress arrived one month before my wedding, I realized the wrong dress was ordered for me. Though I got lucky as the mistake was promptly corrected, but make sure you avoid such nasty situation, by getting everything in writing.
Then wait for couple of days, call the store and get a projected delivery date, so as to be sure your dress has been ordered. But do realize that estimated dates given are not definite, because such is not feasible by human standard.

Do ensure you write this date down on your receipt, couple with the day and person you spoke with.

Vital hint: If you have plenty of time, I strongly recommend you shift your wedding date up to 4-5 weeks, as this will create more rooms for your dress to be delivered before your wedding. Personally, I ordered my dress from a manufacturer, and shifted the wedding date forward for several weeks, which allowed me abundance time to get my dress before the Day.

Another option of course is to find a local talented seamstress to create a handmade wedding dress for your perfect day. This is often done when the Bride either wants something incredibly unique, or when the Bride may have a unique body type that needs addressing that cannot be addressed with modified dresses. For bigger sizes women, a plus size wedding dress might be in order.

Jen Carter is owner of My Wedding Blog, a free wedding planning guide about weddings. You may publish our articles on your website only if you do not edit the article in any way, and include all html as direct links to our site. Visit us at www.my-wedding-blog.com