Michigan is filled with charming, small-town bridesmaid dress shops. Here’s the way you should prepare to create the most of your energy!

Michigan is really a state of small towns. While you will find definitely some cities which make for popular bridal shopping destinations (Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing), no city holds pride in place because the obvious destination to find The Dress.

This gives brides lots of range when they’re hunting for a good bridal boutique, which is especially ideal for brides who wish to enjoy the charm of small-town shopping. Our bridal shop in Brighton, MI is really a perfect location for any bride who would like to combine her dress shopping and having a stroll around our charming downtown location, with a number of cute cafes and restaurants that are perfect for a celebratory dinner, or perhaps a pre-appointment brunch or lunch for individuals who want to create a day from it.

Bridal shopping is the best time to create beautiful memories with family members, but forethought is essential to ensure that your time and effort are stress-free. If you’re likely to do some wedding shopping in Michigan, listed here are some tips for planning your time and effort.

1. Consider in which you purchase your dress.

We frequently see brides enter our Brighton shop from as a long way away as Alpena or Traverse City, simply because they have family around and want to shop with their mom. Or maybe they’ve been living for a while, but are likely to go back up north for that wedding. Either way, we now have found that most brides are searching for a Michigan bridal shop either near where they live or near where they intend to be married.

While neither of those options is necessarily much better than the other, both may also lead to some practical inconveniences. Whichever option the bride-to-be chooses, she’ll be traveling either together with her dress to her wedding location or visiting her dress for alterations. If the bride-to-be is getting married during the cold months and is concerned about a snowstorm blocking the roads, we'd recommend ensuring she has her dress together with her a few weeks in front of her wedding to prevent disaster.

bride and groom wearing coats outdoor

2. Think about Michigan weather when selecting your dress.

Anyone that has spent greater than a week or two in Michigan knows how fickle the elements can be. While we will have four distinct seasons, it’s common for summer weather to increase well into the fall, or for a surprise snowstorm to hit in mid-May.

This often leads you to believe that bridal shops carry special dresses for winter or summer. In fact, most dresses work with every season, and coming to a gown season-appropriate is much more about the way you style it. You’ll probably want to prevent long sleeves for summer dresses or choose gowns with heavier fabric during the cold months, but mostly you’ll wish to plan for that weather by selecting a beautiful coat to choose your dress for outdoor pictures, or bringing a set of umbrellas when the day appears like rain.

While we don’t have seasonal dresses within our store, we all do update the inventory with new gowns whenever our designers come out having a new collection, which is usually twice yearly.

2 designer wedding dresses

3. Make sure your boutique carries your designer.

Speaking of designers, if you’ve done your quest and have a favorite designer, it's also wise to make sure the boutiques in which you plan to shop carry that designer. Most wedding gown shops are selective about the designers they've in their store, in addition to which dresses from each designer they stock.

Some designers might be easier to find in Michigan than others, plus some dress styles tend to be more popular as well. Because of this, it’s vital that you check with your bridal boutique ahead of time for you to be sure they've what you’re searching for. If a boutique carries your designer but doesn’t have your dress, make sure to ask if they have a sample program. Some wedding shops, like ours, can order a sample of the dress from one of their designers, even when it’s not just one of the ones they often carry within their store. Also keep close track of sample sales and trunk shows, which could give you an opportunity to find a special deal.

4. Think about how exactly many trips you wish to do in a single day.

Some brides wish to do all their wedding gown shopping in a single day, while some prefer to not rush. Either choice is fine, however, you should plan your trips carefully. We recommend not likely to visit a lot more than two or three boutiques, as this is much more likely to leave you feeling conflicted. Instead, you might decide to visit one boutique in the morning, and have a leisurely lunch to consider that which you saw, after which schedule another boutique for that afternoon.

Or you may wish to only do one boutique per weekend to ensure that if you find your dress at one boutique you aren’t needing to cancel other appointments. This option is most effective if you’re likely to go shopping by yourself, or if you've got a couple of people who wish to go shopping with you however, you also wish to keep your entourage small. This brings us to a different point…

bride and groom with bride maids behind them

5. Plan your entourage.

Some people prefer to shop on their own to ensure that they can make their decision without outside pressure. Others seem like they can’t agree on a dress without key people within their life present—their mother, their grandmother, their sister, or their bridesmaid.

The issue is that the more and more people you have along with you when you go bridal shopping, the more likely you will be to have conflicting opinions. Because of this, we quite often recommend that a bride only bring a couple of people together with her at a time. If you do wish to bring more people along with you, consider bringing them set for a celebratory appointment in which you try on your top favorites and say yes altogether, as well as plan another appointment for choosing accessories with everyone present. The point is that you will find many appointments where you’ll maintain your dress, so you will find many possibilities to bring all of the people you need to benefit from the fun and showcase your gorgeous gown!

6. Know when you should stop shopping.

Finally, you can’t keep shopping forever. We’ve seen so many women who feel hesitant about saying yes to their dress for any quantity of reasons, from being concerned about the cost to feeling anxiety overcoming an ultimate decision. Brides have entered our store his their first stop out of the dozen, or their fourth or fifth stop with increased to go.

Unfortunately, this tactic is bound to leave a bride torn between multiple yellow bridesmaid dresses. If you’ve already found two dresses that you simply love at two different stores, it’s time for you to stop. Going to more stores is only going to leave you with increased dresses you like.

The White Dress team within the boutique

Ready to go wedding gown shopping in Michigan?

If you’re searching for a bridal boutique in Michigan, our Brighton store is ready and waiting. Located less than half an hour north of Ann Arbor and forty-five minutes west of Detroit, we’re an ideal stop for anyone who would like to enjoy small-town shopping within the region. Make an appointment with us right now to get started.