Wedding Dresses Come First
As a wedding planner, I have a golden rule I’ve been preaching to my clients for as long as I’ve been planning weddings. It’s an invaluable tip my mentor taught me way back when. “Wedding dresses come first.” When planning a wedding, there is a definite pecking order as far as what to do when. Each new choice is informed by and built upon the previous choice. For instance, unless you want your flowers to inform the color of your bridesmaid dresses, I suggest picking them out first so that instead, the color of the bridesmaid dresses informs the flowers. Even within the “bridal dresses” category there is a best pecking order: bridal gown, bridesmaid dresses, flower girl dress, mother of the bride dress, and last, mother of the groom dress.
So, back to the golden rule. Some women argue that it’s the wedding venue that comes first. My answer to that is that it is really not necessary to know the exact venue in order to pick your wedding dress, rather just the type of venue. For instance, if you know you’re going to have a beach wedding, that will inform your choice of dress, but you don’t necessarily need to know the exact beach where you’re going to have the ceremony. From experience I would say that more often than not, these two decisions – wedding dress and venue – happen simultaneously.
The bridal gown is the centerpiece of the wedding around which all else revolves. It informs how formal/informal the wedding is, plus overall style. If the bride picks a gown that is very wistful and romantic, I will plan all other elements with that in mind. The same goes if the bride picks a very modern and chic type of wedding dress. As I’ve said, I’ve been preaching this golden rule for years, but it sunk in differently and more profoundly when it came to planning my own wedding. At the moment I am in the process of choosing my wedding venue and wedding dress. My parameters for the venue are outdoors and relaxed, so naturally that is informing my choice of bridal dresses. Yesterday, I found my perfect wedding dress and as soon as that fell into place, everything else crystallized. My vision for my wedding is so much clearer now. It’s even going to help me decide on a venue. I always stood by my golden rule because I knew it to be true from experience. But now I know it to my bones in a much more significant way. So remember ladies, wedding dresses come first.
Popularity: 57% [?]