<p>Now call me a pessimist because I’ve already had one failed engagement, but this just seemed really odd to me. I have two friends that are getting married next year after they graduate college. One in late June and one in late September. Both of them already bought and tailored their wedding dressings. Is this normal? There is no way I’d buy a wedding dress well over a year ahead of time (especially wouldn’t get it tailored yet given my weight fluctuations), but maybe this is more common than I think. What do you guys think? Any experience with this? Is this fairly normal?</p>
<p>And no, neither of these are old family dresses or anything like that. They both bought spanking new dresses.</p>
<p>I think it is a great idea. One less thing to have to worry about. I never thought of it though, but then again I found something off the rack at a dept store.</p>
<p>I see nothing wrong with it.</p>
<p>If you are the kind of person who finds The Dress, then it makes sense to get it when you find it. I expect the tailoring was part of the deal, and the bridal shop(s) would only take care of that at purchase. One year (or even one week) from now, that particular shop could be out of business.</p>
<p>I know women who found The Dress a year and a half before the wedding, I know women who got married in something they pulled from their closet on the morning of the wedding. Some of each category are still married umpteen years later to that same spouse.</p>
<p>I would be afraid that I would see something later that I liked better and I certainly wouldn’t get it tailored this far ahead. That’s just asking to gain weight.</p>
<p>Actually some dresses take so long to order that one can buy a year in advance and have them tailored much closer to the wedding. I can’t think of a reputable bridal shop that would encourage a woman to tailor her dress a year in advance. Most alterations are not included, so if a shop did that, I would buy the dress, take it home and have it tailored on my own schedule. Final alterations should be made within two weeks of the wedding. </p>
<p>A bridal gown, especially strapless, is not like an ordinary dress. If the tailoring is not right the bride will be adjusting the top of her gown throughout the wedding. Not pleasant.</p>
<p>My H is a wedding photographer, and I sometimes go a long as a second photographer. I have my own career, so I don’t do most weddings, but occasionally I do, and I learned a lot about the process.</p>
<p>As for me, I’ve been married twice. Each time I bought a dress off a sale rack for $25, and each was beautiful and perfect. Neither was white or a bridal dress or altered. Just my taste. When I got married the first time, bridal gowns were to my eyes big ugly poofs and I just didn’t want that. The second time, well, it was a second wedding, and I didn’t want a lot of fuss. The first dress was floor length and dove gray. It wasn’t an evening gown because it had sleeves and was very soft material, so I can’t imagine where people actually would wear it. Probably why it was $25 on sale. The other was a mid calf rose colored dress with a handkerchief hem with chiffon sleeves of the same color.</p>
<p>Nice dresses. Still married to the rose colored dress guy.</p>
<p>Insom, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, it just seemed too early to me which is why I asked.</p>
<p>My two Ds who are married, and the one who will be marrying this summer, all chose their dresses the fall before their weddings. If you’re ordering a gown, this is the norm. Trunk shows usually make the circuit in September/October for weddings the following spring/summer. It takes months for the gown to be made and shipped to the bridal shop. Any alterations are done when it arrives, usually a month or month and a half prior to the wedding. This usually will involve two fittings, in our experience. No reputable bridal shop will tailor a gown a year ahead of time.</p>
<p>Thanks guys, I guess it is more common than I thought. My man and I have set a wedding time for spring of 2014. I don’t plan on getting a traditional wedding dress but this has given me stuff to think about. We purposely set the date for then because neither of us wanted to plan a wedding while we were still in undergrad. I can’t imagine how people manage that!</p>
<p>It seems odd to me, but then I was engaged for only 4 months. 
Definitely, doing alterations a year in advance seems foolhardy.</p>
<p>Mythmom, that rose-colored dress sounds lovely.</p>
<p>I can understand looking for a dress once you have decided to get married. Finding the perfect dress can be really hard, especially if you are not sure what you are after. I would not though have the dress tailored until closer to the wedding. </p>
<p>If you are looking for a bargain dress then you really have to look around ahead of time. I did not want a traditional wedding dress. Just was not at all interested in all those yards of white lace. So my search took a while and i looked at a whole variety of dresses. </p>
<p>I looked online, at department store sale racks, and at second hand boutique shops. There was no way that i was going to pay wedding dress prices. I also had to find my fiance a suit that would match my dress once i found the dress.</p>
<p>I did find a great dress, at a ridiculously silly bargain. It was an almost gold colored lace and mesh dress with spaghetti straps and i found a gold-ish brown suit for my husband. They were both from local thrift stores.</p>
<p>I would be more concerned that these friends are getting married right out of undergrad…how old are they, 21, 22? Too young, IMHO.</p>
<p>I think that 16 months might be edging into unusual territory, but people do it. Having a dress altered so far in advance of the wedding is a catastrophe waiting to happen.</p>
<p>I’ve heard and read many sad stories of bridal shops taking advantage of customers, and I’m sure there are customers who try to cheat shops, as well. When a bridal shop in our area went out of business, women who had ordered gowns through them and paid in full were out of luck. They had to sue for what was due them, and none wound up with the dress they’d ordered. A bride should collect references from customers before deciding where to make such an expensive purchase. And if she orders many months in advance, she probably needs to keep in touch with the store. Mistakes happen at reputable shops, too. If you watch SYTTD, you’ve seen that even Kleinfelds goofs occasionally.</p>
<p>I think some shops have a bit of a racket going on with alterations. My youngest d wears a size 2/4, but when she was fitted for a bridesmaid dress, the shop swore they needed to order it in an 8, because “bridal runs small.” When it arrived, it was FALLING off of her. It practically needed to be remade. Which she had done at another shop, because she wasn’t going to put more money in the first store’s register. (The cost of alterations is not included.)</p>
<p>There are so many ways to find a gown. My SIL borrowed hers 25 years ago and was the loveliest bride I have ever seen (until my d got married last October :)).</p>
<p>Yes, I have many friends that are marrying quite young but it’s not my place to judge that.</p>
<p>Well, I bought a sample dress and found it maybe 4 mos. before our wedding. We saved a lot of money. I went shopping for my dress with my mother. She was paying for the dress, but was not willing to pay thousands of dollars. We went to our first bridal shop and they showed us a bunch of very expensive gowns. When they saw us ready to walk out they pulled out a sample dress. We bought it at a small fraction of what this dress would have cost and then they did the alterations. It looked great, but I would never have chosen it if my parents were willing to buy an average priced gown. In our case, alterations were included in the purchase price of dress.</p>
<p>Just curious as I never have been to a bridal shop,& the last time I was married, will be 31 years next month, but how much do dresses tend to run? ( since we have 2 daughters who will be 22 & 30 at the end of this month- I expect that question will come up at some point)</p>
<p>Anywhere from $125 dollars to $15,000 +. The upscale fancy dresses start at around $5K. You can even get a Vera Wang for that.</p>
<p>But retailers like J Crew have come onto the market and make lovely things for $400.00. </p>
<p>Vera Wang even has a line for David’s Bridal that starts at $800.00. The designs are nice; one probably compromises on the fabric.</p>
<p>I saw an add once with a bride in a tulle skirt with a white tank top. I really liked that. She was playing the cello. I don’t think my D would like that, but she doesn’t like beading and embellishment. Even if she pays for her wedding, wedding gowns have always been a subject of interest here. She has been too involved with her dad’s business for it not to be.</p>
<p>We also have a vintage costume shop in our town – very high end. Nan does Hollywood movies and has authentic clothes from all time periods – well maybe not medieval, but after that. The stuff is amazing and rents for about $250.00 s day plus the cost of cleaning. Bridesmaids less. She has done some amazing weddings: flapper, Civil War, Victorian.</p>
<p>I was engaged for three months. I hated everything in the bridal shops. I went to my favorite consignment shop and there was the perfect dress from the 1930s. It fit like a glove and made me feel like Katherine Hepburn.</p>
<p>I have had friends whose daughters found GREAT bargains on wedding dresses and so they purchased them when they found them (and yes…some were a year in advance). Even IF you purchase closer to the wedding date (most places say that 6 months prior is the LATEST you should do this)…you will still have multiple “fittings” for the dress. The only really important one is the last one before the actual wedding date.</p>
<p>Good for your friends for getting their dresses. Oh…we did have one friend who found a GREAT deal…really great on a designer dress…but the engagement ended. She sold the dress for twice what she paid for it on Ebay.</p>
<p>I’ve been dress shopping for kicks but with my wedding tentatively about a year away, I personally wouldn’t purchase the dress so soon. I can see the draw though, especially if you find THE dress and it’s a past season or a sample. But I definitely wouldn’t have it altered that far in advance! </p>
<p>As far as another topic that came up, I do generally agree that right out of undergrad is a little young to be married. But that being said, I just graduated a week ago and I will be 23 at the time of my wedding so different things work for different people. My fiance and I will have been together 7 years this July.</p>