How early do you buy your dress?

[spuls5]

My FMIL is looking at dresses for HERSELF already. She said she has a few picked out that she found online. I haven't event went to look at dresses for myself. One she found is like $700 bucks!! I said that will probably be more than mine, seriously!!! Then she was saying she has to wait until my mom buys hers because it's protocol. I said who cares about protocol. I'm just laid back and not worried about that kind of stuff.

How early should I get a dress for myself? My wedding is 13 months away and I didn't plan on looking until June. Mainly because I work at a college and April and May are busy at work and I have some things planned for many of the weekends. Then late May I'm going to be gone for a week out of state for work. So things are busy and I won't have time to take off work until maybe mid May and June. Also my sister and mom work at the same college and they will go with me dress shopping.

I have the photographer, the church, the reception building and the DJ booked so far and that's it. I didn't plan on working on much more for the wedding until summer. I have thought about other things but really haven't sat down to work on it yet.

[crazycatlady]

wow. ours is the same day as yours and we dont even know if we want a small wedding or a big one haha. i have pretty much picked out my dress. but a couple months ago i was between a 14 and 16. now im down to a 12! so im going to wait until about july to order it to see if maybe i can get down to a 10. i recently stopped taking birth control so the weight im at is going to drop drastically over the next few months. id say youre in pretty good shape if you already have all that stuff booked. we were planning on doing a lot over the summer, then over winter break basically using that month and a half to book everything and get all deposits paid. i think they suggest at least 6 months before hand for alterations, in case something gets messed up etc... but what id be worried about is buying it now, then in 13 months, being either heavier or smaller than you are now. i mean, most girls in their 20's fluctuate in weight over a year to the point where you might want to wait a little longer. you never know.

[spuls5]

Sounds like you and I will be planning our events along the same timeline lol. I plan on doing a lot of planning over the summer then next year over winter break I want almost everything done. i will have two weeks of spring break to take time off work and also tie up loose ends. I'm the type that wants it done in advance. I don't want last minute things.

I agree with the 6 month mark. That's what I was thinking as well. I have found some dresses online but didn't even plan on looking at them in person until this summer.

[crazycatlady]

wow. are you and i twins? haha. i have EVERYTHING done waaaay ahead of time. jason thought i was crazy picking out reception halls in january haha. maybe we can share some ideas and make it a little easier on each other :) nice having someone with the same exact timeline as me. were getting married in cincinnati probably. either there or at his parent's beach house in N.C.

[spuls5]

I AM an identical twin haha. I got my stuff reserved in Jan. too. I told FH I was going to be a pain until we figured out a date and got those majors done. Got them done and haven't done anything since. LOL.

I will be in touch with you. By the way a lady I work with we call her crazy cat lady LOL. She has something like 50 cats....no joke.

[crazycatlady]

wow. im not THAT crazy. i only have 3 cats and a dog. there are people we like to call "hoarders". they think that they are the only ones who can provide good care for their cats/dogs. when in reality theyre harming their pets. typically they have so many pets that they dont receive vet care or proper food. those are the people you see on animal cops: houston and stuff.

were actually looking at having our reception at paul brown stadium right now. im waiting on an email to tell us how much the cost is to rent it out.

[LoLo62808]

I'm just buying my dress this week and my wedding is in 3 months! Hah, I'm not too stressed about it, I don't need too much alterations, the dress was practically made for my body type! I can't wait to go! :D

[RosieAngel]

I got my dress before I was officially engaged, in early November during a David's Bridal sale. There's a huge sale every November! I was told it was a bad idea to have a dress fitted too early, though, so I'm waiting until 3 or 4 months before to go for alterations.

The latest you can get away with is 3 months before the wedding, because it takes about that much time to get alterations, if you're buying an off-the-rack dress. I'm not sure what the wait time is on custom-made dresses, though. :/ It might be more.

One of my friends, who happens to be tall and rake thin, managed to get away with buying her dress, which didn't need alterations, 6 weeks before the wedding. Lucky!! I'm short and curvy, though, so I'm not so lucky.

[FirechickBride]

Well Being it is still much time left. I got my dress early because it gives me inspiration to lose some extra weight. I am 5'5" and 155 pounds but got a belly not a huge one just some extra. I also got it early because it was one that literally made everyone in the store that i got it all had to stop and stare and mouths dropped and tears fell from not just family and workers but other brides so i knew it was one they wanted to get

[thetsakid]

personally i would start looking now...like in magazines or online and see what you like and what you don't like...i bought my in november and my wedding is the 29th of this month...

[firespirit]

I got mine about 10 months before the wedding, but my mom was in town, we went to a bridal show and found the dress on the rack. I've heard it can take a while if you're planning on having one made. For alterations, the seamstress for my dress said she doesn't want to see brides until 6 weeks before the wedding at the earliest because she wants to make the alterations at a time near when you will be wearing the dress. I just started casually looking around when I found my dress.

[cole_b27]

I got engaged last March and had my dress by June of that year lol and my wedding is in alittle over 3 weeks!!!

[Jacobs_Girl]

I got my dress 7 months before my wedding, just dropped it off for alterations last week and should be ready this weekend to be picked up. :bunny:

[sweetvenus]

I've already found my dress but I'm not buying it until July. The store is having a trunk sale then and it will be 10% off. So there's one reason why it pays to start early.