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This week's topics: finding the perfect wedding day look, shopping for bridal attire, benefits of having a wedding stylist, gown reveals, timeline for buying and altering your wedding look, trends in bridal fashion, second looks, bridal boutique red flags, pricing and payment options for your bridal look, preparing to go dress shopping, dress designers, venue and seasonal fashion considerations
For this edition of the Wedding Day Podcast, hosts Sonja and Dan sat down at The Society in Milwaukee to talk with Christina Wegner, owner of White Dress Bridal Boutique. Whatever stage of your outfit-planning process you are currently navigating, Christina has tons of advice on how to approach shopping for wedding attire and important things to keep in mind. Learn about trends, timelines and budgeting to ensure you find your ideal look and have a positive shopping experience!
"It's just one day." That was the phrase that started (and ended) this week's episode. Christina, Dan and Sonja dove into chatting about the idea that all of this planning goes into one single day. Christina reflected on her own wedding, which was planned on a tight timeline before she was familiar with the wedding industry. Planning can be intimidating, but our guest and hosts were in agreement that your wedding day is the perfect time to go all out with the details to ensure a seamless event.
As the owner of White Dress Bridal Boutique, Christina works directly with brides to shop for their perfect bridal look. It's a process, and oftentimes it takes an in person experience to truly understand what you want. She talked about how it's important to be open and embrace how you feel - even if it strays from the vision you initially had for yourself. Sonja even had that experience, the last dress she tried on was shockingly emotional but she knew it was the choice. It's also important to curate an ambience when dress shopping - you want to have a supportive group that will let you be true to your individual vision and style. Dan dove into his experiences shopping with his wife for dresses - a more nontraditional approach, but Christina said White Dress Bridal Boutique loves when fiancés join the appointment. Her tip for dealing with more opinionated attendees is inviting them to your reveal appointment when your dress and accessories are already solidified and altered instead of your initial appointment.
White Dress Bridal Boutique does it all when it comes to brides, you can walk out with a dress and you can also custom order months in advance to cater your look even more. Christina suggests looking for bridal attire a year in advance, because designers typically send their samples in one year in advance to bridal shops. Christina considers herself a "picky buyer," and as the owner of the bridal shop, she carefully curates her collection and attends fashion shows to make sure all the store's pieces align with her high brow of style and quality. The entire job is about making sure that Christina is in tune with the local brides, she said she has been loving the clean and classic look from last year but is also partial to the bold interpretations of color we're seeing in bridal. The hottest topic in fashion from this year is second looks. White Dress Bridal Boutique has a selection of mini dresses, but Christina also suggests brides head to her White Dress Off The Rack shop to check out some older discounted styles that can be altered to be as short as you want and are up to 50% off. In bridal fashion, there's a huge range of designers and levels of customization - some designers are open to swapping out details and fabrics while others don't allow for as many modifications, and Christina and her stylists at White Dress are experts in ensuring brides can find their optimal match.
To get into the details, Christina talked logistics on budgeting, altering and all things dress shopping. Over half of Christina's brides buy on their first visit, and there are a few options for payment, though most commonly dresses are paid for in full. The parting message this week was shopping for a dress can be a one-shop experience at the right place. Our hosts circled back to their opening thoughts to end the episode - be mindful about your day. Shopping for bridal attire should be an exciting experience, and ultimately your wedding look is up to you. Wear what you want and include the people you want in the shopping process. Remember, it's not one day - it's THE day.
This episode is powered by Milwaukee Flower Co., The Society and Two Birds Event Group. Special thanks to members Linen Effects, Continental Diamond, Warpaint International.
(Above) Christina of White Dress Bridal Boutique. (Below) Christina with our hosts Dan and Sonja.