Bridal Appointment Etiquette (For Friends & Family)

Bridal gown shopping is rarely a solo experience! Bride's often invite their closest friends and family for moral support and to make them feel included in the wedding planning process. If you have been invited to a bridal appointment with your daughter, sister, niece, cousin, or bestie, we have a few words of advice to make the entire experience a positive one! 

Read on for our 4 Basics of Bridal Appointment Etiquette (For Guests)

1. Be Mindful of Her Budget

We see this happen all the time. The bride will tell their stylist that they want to stick to a certain budget, but friends and family insist that they try on gowns that are 3-times what the bride wants to spend. Even if it is "Just for fun!" or "Just to try!" it never ends well. 

There are beautiful dresses in every budget. However, dresses that are higher-end tend to have different fabrics that aren't available at a lower price. If a bride puts on a dress she can never afford, it can make the dresses she can afford seem lackluster and unexciting. We've seen it happen and it's heartbreaking! Unless you're willing to personally pay for the dress, only pick dresses within the bride's price point. 

Unless you're Carrie Bradshaw, leave the $10,000 dress on the hanger!

2. Let the Bride Have an Input

This is another one that breaks our heart! Many times, a bride will put on a dress in the fitting room and tell her stylists immediately how amazing it makes her feel! With a smile on her face, she will walk out in the dress and the first thing someone says is,"Well, this one is awful!" or some other negative remark. The bride then feels obligated to dislike the dress, even if deep down she is in love with it. 

The bride's input should always come first. She brought you along to give your opinion, but she did not bring you along to choose the dress for her. Listen to her opinion first and tailor your reaction accordingly. 

Give the bride a few minutes to form her own opinion before anyone else in the party gives their input.

3. Be Honest but Be Positive

People always ask our stylists, "Have you ever told a bride that she looked good in a dress when she didn't?" We honestly reply "Never." When a bride loves a dress and adores how she looks in it, her confidence is what makes her look like a bride! 

As a friend or family member, keep this in mind. Don't point out the bride's every flaw in every dress. Most of the time, she is in a dress that doesn't fit her, doesn't have the proper undergarments, and lots of other things that she is aware of. I've had a mom point out her daughter's "arm fat" in every strapless dress. I've had friends obsess over how "tight the dress looks" when the sample is 3 sizes too small for the bride. Put the entire look in perspective. Focus on the positive. Give the bride harsh criticism if (and only if) she asks for it explicitly. 

Why make a bride feel bad about herself? Tell her 3 positive things about how she looks. 

4. Let Her Say "Yes"

Let's set the scene: The bride is in a perfect dress. It is the only one she has loved, the only dress that made her tear up, & the only dress that she can see herself marrying her fiancé in. She says, "This is the one! I'm saying Yes!" Instead of celebrating, her friend says, "You can't say YES yet! I'm not done shopping!" The bride's face falls & you can see all of the happiness and excitement melt away. The magical moment that every bride is looking for? She just had it, and now it's gone forever. 

This happens probably once a month at our boutique.  

Friends and family often don't realize the impact they have on a bride's shopping experience. They can make it or break it. Please, don't be the one that breaks it. Be supportive, be caring, and let her find the dress of her dreams. 

She finds her dress, you get to celebrate with a champagne toast (win-win!)
  Click here to buy this cute print!

Bridesmaid Appointment Etiquette

We love helping bridesmaids find the perfect dress or dresses that bring the bride's wedding vision to life! A week ago, we posted about the 5 Basics of Bridal Appointment Etiquette. Here are a few pieces of advice to make the bridesmaids shopping process easier for everyone involved!

Read below to learn our 

6 Basics of Bridesmaids Appointment Etiquette

1. Don't Overwhelm Yourself with Options

We have hundreds (literally hundreds!) of bridesmaids dresses to try on in our store. Nothing starts a bridesmaids appointment off on the wrong foot more than the bride (or bridesmaids) insisting they try on everything. Not only is it impossible, it also becomes a huge chore about halfway through. Limit yourself to a few different options per girl at the beginning of the appointment. Once you have them on & know what you are looking for, your stylist can then steer you in the right direction. 

2. Be Mindful of the Other Bridesmaids

Whether you were friends before or are total strangers, keep the feelings of your fellow bridesmaids in mind during the appointment. Saying a dress is "so cheap" when it is at the top of someone's budget or saying how the size you order is "huge" when someone is ordering a larger size than you is a quick & easy way to hurt feelings. Even if they aren't your close friends, be mindful of their preferences and opinions while dress shopping. 

3. Don't Expect a Dress to be the Perfect Size or Color

Most bridal stores are not able to carry the same dress in multiple sizes and colors. In a store like ours, the bridesmaids dress companies send us one of each dress (usually in a size 8 - 12) in whatever colors they consider stylish for that season. We then take your measurements for the perfect size and use swatches to determine the perfect color. 

Luckily, we now have samples that range in size from 4 - 24. We also have a wide selection of colors so that you can see how a color swatch looks when it is actually on a dress. However, 99% of the time, the dress sample you fall in love with won't be your perfect size or color in our store. 

4. Don't Overbook Yourself

Like we said before, we have a huge variety of options at our store. Often when bridesmaids "shop around," they tend to get very overwhelmed & the fun of shopping is lost. Rather than booking 4 appointments all over town, we recommend booking at one boutique and making it a fun & stress free day.

5. Be Aware of Your Surroundings

We want everyone to feel at home in our boutique! However, don't treat our store like it is actually your house! We have walked into bridesmaids fitting rooms and seen a thousand dollars worth of bridesmaids dresses strewn all over the floor, stepped on, & in a state of disarray. Yikes! 

Your consultant is happy to clean up after you, but make it easy on her by hanging the dresses back up when you are done with them.

6. Save Happy Hour for After

After you find a bridesmaids dress & get your order started, by all means, go out and celebrate! However, getting tipsy with your bridesmaids BEFORE your bridesmaid appointment is a definite no-no. We have had brides who have started Happy Hour well before they arrived at Miss Ruby, and it makes for an awkward experience for the consultant, the other appointments, and especially the bridesmaids. Drink up afterwards, not before!

Bridal Appointment Etiquette

When it comes to bridal appointments, our stylists have seen it all! While we don't expect everyone to know exactly how the bridal gown shopping process works, here are a few key tips to prepare you for  a fun & stress free shopping experience!

Take a look at the list below for our 5 Basics of Bridal Appointment Etiquette. 

1. Make An Appointment

Most bridal boutiques (including Miss Ruby) are by appointment only. The reason isn't to keep guests out. We like to make sure that we have a fitting room ready for you and a consultant available to answer any questions you may have. We've found that 99% of brides who come in to "just browse" end up also wanting to try on a dress or ask questions about the dresses that they're seeing. 

Similarly, if you find your dress at another store, don't hesitate to call to cancel your appointment! We often have waiting lists for appointments, so by canceling, you are allowing another bride to potentially find her dream dress, too. Treat bridal appointments the same way you would treat a hair appointment with your favorite stylist. 

2. Be Honest (But Be Polite!) 

We say this time and time again - The dresses do not have feelings, so don't feel bad telling your consultant what you do like or don't like about a dress! With that said, tearing down a dress (that may be the favorite of the bride next to you) can make for an awkward moment. Remember, every dress is perfect for someone's wedding. There are ways to say that you don't like a dress that won't offend anybody in earshot. 

3. Be Aware of Your Surroundings

We often have 3-4 bridal appointments going on at one time. It's always nice to be mindful of and kind to the brides you are sharing our store with. For example, we once had a bride repeatedly complain (very loudly) that she was "WAY too skinny to fit into anything" while a few feet away, a fuller-figured bride was feeling down for having the opposite problem. Your bridal appointment is your day to be the center of attention. But please be mindful of others in the process. 

4. Talk to Your Consultant

Your consultant is there to be your helping hand throughout the bridal gown ordering process & to help you find the dress of your dreams. She is not there to make you feel pressured or more nervous. If you have questions - ASK! We know a lot about wedding gowns, but we don't expect our brides to. If you are confused about something, speak up! We would rather answer your question in store than have it become an issue later in your wedding planning process. Also, if you have found a gown elsewhere you really love - BE HONEST.  This will only help your stylist find the gown best for you!

5. Don't Overbook Yourself & Don't be Late

We see brides all the time who have a day jam-packed with bridal appointments. They are typically rushing out of their appointment early or arriving to their appointment late because there is entirely too much on their schedule for the day. 

Brides who do this are setting themselves up for added stress and ultimately failure. How can you fall in love with a dress when you are constantly watching the clock? Allow yourself time to breathe, relax, get lunch, and whatever else will make the day easier for you. One or two positive appointments is MUCH better than 4-5 appointments that quickly become a blur. If you do happen to be running late for the appointment make sure to call the boutique & give them a heads up.