How to Shop for Your Dream Wedding Dress

When you begin to plan your wedding one of your first stops should be David's Bridal or davidsbridal.com. This may seem like a no brainier since you need to find a dress anyway, but there is more to their store than you think. I know there was a lot more to learn about the store than I knew. As a former bridal shop employee, I have a vast amount of information that you can benefit from. At the end of this article I'll show you a sneaky way to get the dress of your dreams at a good price, even if it is a $7000 gown.

The first thing you want to do is visit the website and order the catalog. You can look at the dresses online, but the colors in the catalog are more true to life than on the web. It will take a week or so to arrive, but the wait is worth it. The catalog will also have special order dresses that you will not find in the store or online; this makes the catalog an essential tool for you to utilize.

After you make good use of your catalog keep an eye on the television. There are always commercials for David's Bridal advertising the $99 gown sales. Do not be discouraged from buying the $99 gown. There are nothing wrong with the gowns, they are simple last season's gown. This will give you an extra edge on being different from anyone else that may be getting married in the same year as you. I have seen gowns marked down from $800 to $99 this sale will do you and your wallet a great service.

Next on the agenda is making your appointment. Take your catalog with you and your bridesmaids. David's Bridal will give your bridesmaids a discount of 15% to 45%, depending up on the item, as long as you buy the same item. This will save them a ton of money on slips, bras, shoes, accessories, and so on. Remember they only get a discount on what you buy if they do it all the same day. While you are at the store be upfront with your sales woman about your price range. There will be nothing worse than trying on the dress of your dreams and finding out its $6000 when you can only afford $3000. Always be nice to your sales woman, she will be your best asset in gaining discounts and finding the style of dresses, shoes, and accessories that you need.

While your bridesmaids are trying on dresses head for the After Hours Formal Wear booth, while you are there you can learn about valuable discounts your groom and groomsmen can receive. The standard program costs $20 and after you sign up your groom gets his tux for free, the ring bearer's tux is half price, and you'll receive a $50 discount card to either give to your father for his tux or spread out over the total for the rest of the groomsmen. This is an extremely great value. Also make sure you talk to your sales woman about the invitation services that they offer; the prices and designs for the invitations vary by store so feel free to take home any information they have for you. At the time of check out you can arrange an appointment for your dress fittings, and also learn all the options for cleanings before and after your wedding as well as ways to preserve your gown.

Now we are at the good part; this will show you a very sneaky way to get the gown of your dreams from any store. This will work best at chain stores since they are more popular. If you do anything on EBay you will love this one. Simply find your gown on EBay, but you have to find it with the tag. This may seem like a terrible task, but it's so much easier than it sounds. There are many brides that leave the tag on their dresses so they can resell them on EBay or return them to the store, or brides that for some reason or another never got married. Once you find it on EBay you have to buy it, don't worry if you can't find the exact one. If you can't find the dress find one of similar in store value. Once you have the dress find or create a flaw, to do this, pull out a seam. Take it back to the store, they will not repair your dress, defects get sent back to the manufacture. They will however give you store credit in that amount. Take that store credit and get your dress. If you follow those simple rules you can easily get your dream gown for a fraction of the price.