By Dan Reach
Everyone wants to look beautiful on their wedding day, of course. Your wedding dress is a key part of planning for your big day and will help you achieve your desired bridal look. Whether it’s a regal, fairytale or boho aesthetic you’re going for, the choice is yours. But picking the right dress is no easy feat, and it requires a lot of patience – particularly if you’re dreaming of an entirely vegan wedding.
On top of all the stresses already associated with wedding dress shopping, vegan brides must also contend with a few extra limiting factors. For instance, their choices will be totally guided by the materials used within the dress, potentially making it more of a challenge to find ‘the one’.
But don’t despair – with a bit of guidance, you can be sure to find the vegan dress of your dreams. In this post, we’ve brought together four of our top tips to ensure your vegan wedding planning doesn’t encounter any sartorial hitches.
START EARLY
The best way to avoid being disappointed is to start the process early. Start looking for the
best bridal shops within your budget and create a shortlist of the dresses you like.
Before you visit a store, make sure you:
● Start collecting bridal magazines for inspiration.
● If you’re struggling with where to start, read through the guides about the type of body shape best suited for each dress.
● Circle the dresses you like and find out where they are sold.
● Start listing the shops that sell these dresses and compare the prices.
● Find the best deals.
TAKE TIME OVER YOUR MATERIAL CHOICE
When it comes to picking your vegan wedding dress, your choice of material will be the most important factor, and thus this element should command more of your time during the picking process. In this way, it’s important to be aware of which fabrics you should avoid, and which would work best in vegan attire. Fortunately, many of the most popular fabrics used in wedding dresses are vegan friendly. Examples of materials you should be looking for include:
● Modern satin
● Taffeta
● Lace
Some of the materials you should be avoiding include cashmere, wool and silk. Vegan brides should make sure to let their vendor know in advance of any fittings, so that they are prepared for your arrival. This will help to streamline the process, as they can handpick dresses to account for your preferences in advance of your appointment.
TRY ON MANY DRESSES
At this stage, you should know what style of dress that you want and what suits your body shape – as well as your preferred material. It is possible that you will have tried on a few but are yet to settle on the right one. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you try on your dresses:
● Never order a dress online without trying it on first, or being able to return it.
● Don’t settle on the first one you like. You will likely need to try on quite a few dresses before choosing the right one.
● Consider the overall theme and ethos of your wedding, and whether your dress will complement it. Perhaps sustainability will be the order of the day, in which case a second-hand or ethically-produced dress may best suit your theme.
● Take people whose opinion you trust along with you as you try out the dresses, so that they can help you as you make your decision.
GO FOR LAST-MINUTE FITTING
Due to the stress of wedding planning, most brides either lose or gain a few pounds before their big day. That is why you should make sure you go for a final fitting within the weeks leading up to your wedding. At the final fitting, the dress will be customised to fit your current size. Once the final fitting is done, you can rest assured that you have picked the right one. All you should be doing at this stage is looking forward to your big day!
I am a digital consultant with a passion for wedding planning. I try to apply a logical approach
to all of my projects, and love nothing more than taking on a new challenge and making it my
own.
