Many brides are fortunate. They may search low and high, facing cold dept shops and in your face bridal shops, but eventually they come face-to-face with The One. They know this is The One because they start crying, or their mummy or friends all start crying instantly. All of the planning … the theme, the tone, the right kind of venues …. It all springs to life.

Other brides are not as lucky. They’ve searched just as hard, working their way thru shops across 3 or 4 states, but they have not found The One. Instead, they’ve found 3 or four Contenders, all of which are serviceable and nice, but not earth-shattering sufficient to tell them that now is definitely time to stop the looking and get on with the planning. These brides have it harder.

Even if you are the first kind of bride, purchasing the dress is such a significant call that you run a likelihood of falling into that wallet-skinning class called the Two-Dress Bride. Here are some tips for picking the perfect dress and avoiding that awful fate.

1. Bring the entourage, but do not buy. It’s fun and useful to bring your mum, buddies or sisters on the dress-shopping expedition. It gives you a buffer against an overbearing sales staff, and it’s fun to see if your impressions of perfection are shared by your mates, not to say how they’ll love being part of such a critical call. But whatever how enthusiastic everyone gets over a certain dress, don’t buy in the heat of the moment. Give yourself time to rethink and buy with a cool head later, alone. The vast majority of dresses are non-returnable, so when you have purchased it, you have acquired it.

2. Don’t buy too early unless you should. Bridal gowns can take four to ten months to come from the manufacturer, but there is no reason to buy over a year previously, unless your chosen style is going to be abandoned. Give yourself some time to sit on your call. After you pick a robe, you can see a hundred others nearly like it. You may become a walking encyclopedia on that style of gown. All the better if you have room to choose.

3. If you have acquired “The One,” stop shopping. Any more window-shopping at about that point will only lead you down the line toward the dreary land of Two-Dress Brides. What you need to do instead is remember that ecstatic sense of having tried on The One. Go get The One out of the closet, put it on and stand in front of the mirror. You can remember exactly why it’s The One.

4. If you have acquired “The One” and can’t stop shopping, get a 2nd view. Show your first and 2nd decisions to other brides. Be truthful — tell them you’ve already remortgaged your condo for the 1st dress, but you suspect this 2nd dress could be It. They will be honest, too — the 1st one was better. You can feel reassured.

5. Don’t tell yourself “I’ll sell the old dress and select a new one.” This old saw of the Two-Dress Bride just won’t work. You’ll never get more than a fraction of what you paid for your first dress if you purchased it new.

6. Don’t be scared to target high — irrespective of what your financial position. Some brides knew from the start they wanted a designer label, but life just didn’t cooperate by making them heiresses. Yet all isn’t lost if you’re willing to shop courageously. At any given moment, a better-heeled bride is selling her once-used St. Pucchi or Ulla-Maija on eBay. She paid thousands on thousands, but you, smart patron, will pay half that or less. To take this road, you must shop earlier than other brides so you may have a choice of gowns.

7. Shop online, but never send a check. Bridal robe companies infrequently have a method of vanishing overnite. Whatever what the owner tells you, never make a purchase as big a marriage robe without the chargeback protection of a Visa card. If they say they won’t take plastic, move on.

8. Don’t hold out forever for The One. Some brides never find The One. What they do find is some dresses they look handsome in. If you’re this bride, try beginning your planning from the theme instead of the dress. You will potentially finally get sick to death of dress shopping. When that occurs, “good enough” really will be good enough. Focus on other facets of the wedding that mean a lot to you, like the venue, the food, or the inevitable adoration of your soon-to-be husband.

To get more ideas about what wedding dresses to wear for your wedding day, visit yourweddinggowns.com. While you are on the site, you can also take a look at bridal dresses.

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