1. Straps vs. Strapless

This seems to be the most common misconception about wedding gowns we hear. Day in and day out, there are always brides that think they need straps to hold their dress up. Either they claim they "don't have anything" to hold the dress up, or they are too busty and they can't have the "girls falling out" on their wedding day. We are here to tell you that neither of these claims have anything to do with a dress falling down! In fact, it is the rib cage that is responsible for keeping a dress in place; not the bust. On top of that, when you have a good designer coupled with a good seamstress, your dress will stay in place all night; there will be no tugging on the dress when you're on the dance floor.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the sample size just may not be the right size for your bust. Depending on the dress, you may need to do a custom bust cup to ensure it will fit "the girls" just right. This is typically a good option for women on the very ends of the spectrum (i.e. very large bust in comparison to their waist or a very small bust in comparison to their waist). Also note that strapless gowns have more structure built into them compared to any other gown. They'll have almost double the boning in them so that they do offer more support, especially when it fits properly. 

2. Affordability

This is something extremely important to keep in mind when looking at wedding gowns online. If a dress looks expensive, it probably is. Incredibly popular designers, such as Galia Lahav and Berta, have a starting price of ~$5K and can exceed $20,000 depending on the dress. These dresses have flooded the internet because they are so intricate and detailed. While these gowns can make brides weak in the knees, they can also make their wedding budget take a nose dive. This is why it is so so SO important to do some more research into designers as well as set a dress budget. This way you can better understand what works for your price range and you don't end up referring to a dress as "the one that got away".

3.  The shape that doesn't work for you

Many times when bride's come in, we try to get to know them a little bit before we begin trying on dresses. Something that a lot of brides have in common is what style of dress they think doesn't work for their body type before ever trying anything on. Some brides say they want a fuller skirt and something that doesn't show too much off because they do not want to draw attention to a particular part of their bodies. Or a petite bride believes a full skirt with have her drowning in fabric. There is one piece of advice that works for every bride when it comes to finding the right shape: you never know until you try! Because 9 out of 10 times, a bride ends up with a gown that she never expected to love. Don't walk away thinking "what if" if you never tried on a particular silhouette. Now is the time to try it all!

4. Dresses are not available forever

While things live on forever on the internet, that is not the case in reality. Photos of dresses can circulate for years and years which makes it difficult to tell what is current, and what is not. Designers cannot make every dress forever while also coming out with new collections once or twice a year. In order to keep things relevant and organized, designers will discontinue dresses over time - meaning a dress can no longer be ordered. So when looking at gowns online, make sure to do some digging to make sure the dress is still available (the designer's website is the best place to look for the most up-to-date information) before falling in love with it only to find out it no longer exists.