Many nearlyweds have had the experience of finding their wedding dress and being so happy with it only to come back home and feel dress regret creeping up. It can be the fear that you chose the wrong dress or that you could have found something better. There are so many reasons this can happen though, and know that many people have experienced this! Maybe you were torn between two dresses, or your family and friends made the dress you chose sounds more amazing than you think, or your family and friends weren’t as on board with your choice as you were! Now that you’re feeling this way, here are some things that you can try to do to determine if you should stick with your choices or decide to go a different route.

Analyze if you chose your dress because YOU love it

When going dress shopping, there can be so many big emotions that are flying high. You may have brought some of your family and friends to help you with choosing a dress, and now maybe you’re realizing that they really influenced your opinion more than you thought. Did you choose a dress because you liked it, or did you choose it because your family cried about how beautiful you were and you felt like you had to pick it? Hopefully, you made the decision because you loved it and your family and friends were all cheering you on in the dress you loved.

Check if your expectations for the day were too high

With so many shows like Say Yes to the Dress, it’s really easy to assume that you will have one of the best days of your life choosing a dress, besides your actual wedding day. You may have seen or heard about so many people crying as they said yes to their dress and all of your family and friends crying with you. It’s important to know that many people don’t cry when they find their dress and that is totally normal! It may not feel like a monumental, “main character” moment to you, but that doesn’t mean you made the wrong choice in your dress.

Ask your family and friends if they like it

Your family and friends, whether there on the day you buy your wedding dress or not, may have also had emotions flying high on that day and may have had slightly different opinions than they let on. If you’re feeling low about your wedding dress, try asking your family and friends later on what they think of your dress and if they think you made the right choice. Often times, they will gas you up and tell you that they loved it which is really great to help you feel validated in your decision! And even if they say they liked another one better, you can either feel validated in the dress regret or know that you won’t please everyone anyway, and people will still think you look beautiful on the wedding day regardless.

Check on Facebook groups

I see many posts in the wedding Facebook groups that I am a part of that ask people if they like the way their dress looks or to ask which dress they prefer. This provides a non-bias opinion that may help you feel better about your choices - often times, I see so many comments that say that they look beautiful in their dress!

Know when to stop window shopping

If you have your dress and don’t plan on getting a replacement, scrolling through wedding dress photos is only going to make the dress regret worse. I definitely recommend that you do your best to not keep looking for dresses after you have decided, because there will always be millions of options that make it so hard to know if you picked the right one!

Know your wedding day may change your mind

When my best friend picked her wedding dress, she told me that she didn’t really end up liking it. I did my best to reassure her that she looked beautiful, but I don’t think it convinced her that her dress was the perfect choice. However, after she received her wedding photos, she told me that she ended up really liking how she ended up looking! This may end up being the case for you too. It’s hard to know that you’ve made the right decision until you see it all come together and see how beautiful and happy you look.

Dress regret is incredibly confusing and isolating. While your family and friends are reassuring you, you may feel like you can’t really express yourself and your feelings because everyone is just shutting it down by saying it’s great. Know that this is an extremely common feeling and that if you can’t afford or don’t want to get another dress, you may end up liking it in the end. If you are really set on your dress not being the right choice and it’s in your budget to find something else, you can try and go shopping again too. If possible, I would recommend going to a shop that carries your wedding dress so that you can try it on again and compare. You can always resell the first dress too to make your money back. But if you can’t imagining going shopping and purchasing another dress, I hope that you know that you’re not alone in this feeling and can turn to Facebook groups to help you know what to do.

If you would like more help to plan your wedding, you can reach out to me at hello@firmlyrootedevents.com. I will get you started on my email list for monthly tips and my checklist so that you can stay on track while planning your wedding.