Claire Pettibone

Options abound when shopping for a bridal gown and it can feel overwhelming.  To shop for your wedding dress is such a big event in a bride-to-be's life. Before going serious bridal gown shopping, you most likely have some criteria.  We recommend writing those criteria down because once you start shopping for a gown, a sales assistant may just start handing you dresses that do not fall within your requirements. 

Sometimes outside help can be very helpful (women almost always have a vision of what style they want for their wedding dress, but it may not be one that fits them best so a nudge from a salesperson on this change is probably very helpful).  But sometimes what happens is that you try on dresses well above your price range. This is where writing a list is so helpful.  When shopping handing, or communicating, your wishlist to a wedding gown specialist, you can ensure that (most) of the dresses you try on meet your criteria.  

For such an important and dress, in addition to thinking in advance about style, price and fit, how about also adding a criterion for sustainability?  A wedding dress is one of the very most important purchases of your life.  Think about aligning that purchase with your values.  

Here are just a few things that you may not have considered to put on your wedding wish list, but can be quite important to think about:
 
-Are you comfortable with someone being paid unfairly while making your dress?

-Is it okay if animal products were used in your dress?

-Do you want to make sure your dress materials are safe for the environment?

When you make a purchase, you are voting with your wallet.  Use the buying of your wedding dress, or any item purchase for that matter, to communicate your values to the world.

A question that we like to address is for, Where is My Dress Made?  If supporting your local community is on your bucket list to find your perfect wedding dress, the brands in our wedding dress resource list can be a good place to start for assurance that yes, this is indeed possible.  

Wedding dresses are actually a category where American Made wedding dresses are actually a lot more common than you might think.