Wedding dress shopping in Cornwall: Our 10 best tips!
What every bride should know before wedding dress shopping in Cornwall
Planning on booking your wedding dress appointment in Cornwall soon? Here's the our top 10 tips on what you’ll need to know before trying on those gowns…
1. When is your wedding dress wear date?
When at your wedding dress appointment in Cornwall, you’ll need to let the Bridal Consultant in-store know when your big day is. When ordering in brand new dresses, it can take up to 6 months for some dresses to arrive in store in your size, with some designers and boutiques having even longer wait times (especially with the backlog from the dreaded pandemic) so make sure you allow yourself as much time as you can to give yourself as many options as possible!
2. Check out each bridal boutique in Cornwall’s Reviews
We all love a bit of honesty and transparency and bridal dress shopping in Cornwall is not exempt from this! Do your research and check out out the wedding dress shop in Cornwall you’re heading to prior to rocking up for your appointment. Hearing an honest recount from a real bride who’s visited the bridal boutique in Cornwall recently can be worth it’s weight in gold! Check out each wedding dress shop’s Google and Social Media reviews and see if you want to have the same experience as previous brides who visited.
3. Ask for recommendations
As well as reading all the real bride reviews and experiences, ask around and find out where your married or engaged friends bought their wedding dresses and if they would recommend their bridal boutiques in Cornwall. It should be a really unique and special experience, so having a personal word-of-mouth recommendation from someone you know and trust will definitely help!
Image by Steven Prebble Photography
4. Would you consider off-the-peg?
A great way to get more for your budget when wedding dress shopping in Cornwall is to consider buying the sample gowns stocked in each bridal boutique. You may hear the term off-the-peg used whilst at your bridal boutique appointment in Cornwall. Off-the-peg is just as it sounds - you’ll be buying the dress off of the hanger and most likely taking that dress home with you on the same day. Off-the-peg/sample dresses will have been tried on before, but if you have a limited budget, it’s a great way to make it go further and bag a bargain! Off-the-peg particularly works well with a shorter wear date as we mentioned before, some dresses can have longer ordering times due to being made to order.
5. How much would you be willing to spend on your dream dress?
We ask all our brides who visit us what their dress budget is - this isn’t because we’re being nosey or disrespectful by discussing money but so that we can be transparent and realistic with you. It’s important for you to have a clear understanding of your budget and decide this before visiting your bridal shop in Cornwall appointments. Another of our tips is to be prepared to buy when you head out dress shopping, as as much as it can be a fun day out for you and your nearest and dearest, that particular mindset may not be helpful in your dress journey to finding ‘the one’.
Image by Steven Prebble Photography
6. Who’s on the Wedding Dress Shopping in Cornwall guest list?
When going wedding dress shopping in Cornwall, you may be tempted to invite your whole bridal squad, but it’s important to know that less is more. It can become overwhelming with that many people in the room with you, and along with that comes opinions and personal preferences and that’s not always what you need. Take your mum and your Maid of Honour and maybe a few trusty close friends.
7. Spread out your bridal boutique visits
As much as you might be tempted to ‘make a day of it’ and book a full day of bridal dress appointments at several bridal boutiques in Cornwall, it can be a tiring activity and you might not love every second of it! Trekking from shop to shop may get tiring, and you might find it frustrating not finding the one right away – but it’s worth it in the end!
8. Get in touch if you’re interested in a specific dress
Whilst each bridal shop in Cornwall will be stockists of different designers, it doesn’t always mean they’ll carry every single dress of each collection. If you’re fixated on a particular dress, make sure the bridal shop you’re visiting stocks that actual design, or can at least order it in for your appointment. The same goes if you have a specific style in mind, for example, check out the bridal boutiques and website to see what style wedding dresses they stock if you have an idea in mind and want it to match your Pinterest board.
Image by Steven Prebble Photography
9. Figure out what underwear you’re gonna wear to your bridal appointment
When trying on wedding dresses in Cor might want to try on a dress that doesn’t need a bra with it – and the shop assistant may come in to help you into it. I’m forever seeing odd socks and mismatched sets of bras and pants so don’t stress too much when in the changing room. We’ve seen it all before! Prepare yourself for not wearing your bra at all actually - lots of dresses have built in support. The staff member helping you at your appointment will most likely be in the fitting room with you, helping you in and out of those tricky gowns, just so you know. They’ve seen it all before.
10. What’s your venue like?
Keep in mind your wedding venue style and decor when wedding dress shopping in Cornwall. For example, if you’re getting married in a rustic Cornish barn venue, you might look for a boho style to match the style, whereas if you’ve booked a stately, country home in Cornwall as your venue, you may look for a more traditional classic style to suit. Imagine yourself getting ready and having photos taken with your photographer - can you see your dress in that setting?
Hopefully this should help you feel a little more prepared for your wedding dress appointment! For more information please get in touch and we are more than happy to answer any queries you may have. In the meantime why not take a read on Wedding Dress Shopping in Cornwall, The 12-month Timeline Every Bride Should Know!
Happy shopping!
Caroline and Molly x
