12 months left .. when should I buy dress?

[s88]

We have 12 months until our wedding day, I have no idea when to go dress shopping or when to go to suit hire companies ?

[themonsteratemyspacebaragain]

I haven't been married but have helped my friends who have been lately so may be able to offer some advice.
Each of my friends had a seperate situation. If you are getting a dress made for you and to measure, this can take anything up to 9 months for the dress to be made. Thats without the months before actually finding and picking your dress.
The other started looking about 7 months before her wedding and found an ex show one that was on sale that she loved, and walked out with it that same day!
So i would say theres definately no harm in looking right now as you dont know where your dress is or how long it will take to make if thats the case!

In regards to suits. 2/3 months before is plenty of time before finding them and ordering them for hire.

Congratulations!

[kaykayblue]

We are ordering our suits the month before the wedding.

If you are getting a dress off the high street, then I would recommend that you start looking now in case you find something you like, but you only really need to buy a couple of months before.

If you are getting a dress from a bridal shop then you need to get a move on pronto. It took me a few weeks to find my dress, it takes five months from placing the order to it arriving in the store, and then you have to factor in time for alterations.

[EmeraldLion]

We arranged the suits about 4 months before the wedding...just booked and deposit paid. The fittings were only done the week before.

I don't personally get all the hype of buying a made to measure wedding dress 12 months before, having umpteen fittings and paying £000's. It seems so unnecessary to me.

I went wedding dress shopping 8 weeks before the wedding. I found a lovely little shop that had a huge range of sample dresses that were for sale...all brand new, but ones that may have been tried on over the past few months, and in standard sizes.

Most of them can be adjusted for a perfect fit anyway, there's no need to pay for head-to-toe customized sizing.

I found a beautiful dress that was £2500 rrp (when bought the whole 12 months before etc) in my size. I tried it on, it looked lovely but was a bit tight and the wedding shop lady said it would probably need to come out slightly but we'd do that just before the wedding.

It was listed as £850 due to being ex-sample (it was pristine), after a chat I managed to get it down to £750 (cash sale).

I went back 10 days before the wedding and was measured for fit and length...I had to take my bridal shoes and wear the bra i'd be wearing on the day. Off it went to the dressmaker, which cost £45, and came back two days later looking like a made to measure, it fit perfectly. Final fitting to check all the alterations were right and done.

It was incredibly stress free and I got the same gown with the same quality fit that others were paying 3 times the price for just because they ordered it 12 months in advance.