Your wedding day is one of the most important days in your life. All eyes will be on you, and you want to make sure that you look your absolute best; not only for your guests, but for your groom and for yourself.

While shopping for your wedding dress is certainly exciting, if you don’t know what to expect and don’t have a plan, it could end up being an overwhelming, unsuccessful experience – and one that could result in you getting a dress that you don’t truly love.

In order to ensure that your wedding dress shopping experience is joyful, and that you purchase a dress that you adore, here are some important things to keep in mind before you go shopping.

Limit the Number of People

Sure, you may have a big family and tons of friends, and you may value all of their opinions, taking all of them with you to help you shop for your wedding dress could turn into a nightmare.

The more people the more opinions, and the more opinions, the more stressful wedding dress shopping will be.

Instead of taking a huge entourage with you, limit the number of people to maybe two or three, at most. Really think about the people who will give you their honest opinion, but who also understand that your opinion is what really matters, in the end – and will support that. Your mom, your sister and an aunt, for example, could be all the entourage that you need when you go wedding dress shopping. Let everyone else wait to see your gown when you walk down the aisle.

Set a Budget

Wedding dresses range in price from a few hundred dollars to 10s of thousands of dollars. Setting a budget before you go shopping can help you avoid sticker shock, and a serious blow to your bank account.

Don’t go broke because of your wedding gown. Determine exactly how much you can comfortably spend on your gown before you go shopping – and stay within that price range.

Don’t Try a Dress that’s NOT in Your Budget

Once you set your budget, make sure you stick to it while you’re shopping. Never, ever, EVER try on a dress that is over your budget. You could end up falling in love with that dress, but not being able to afford it. The end result could be one of two things:

1. You could be miserable because you will never find a dress in your price range that lives up to the dress you can’t afford.
2. You could end up buying the dress that is too expensive and put yourself into some serious financial turmoil.

Remember, your wedding day is supposed to be the happiest day of your life; the last thing you want is to be miserable because of the dress.

Keep Unexpected Costs in Mind

When setting your budget, keep in mind that it shouldn’t only cover the cost of your dress; it should also include the cost of alterations, undergarments, accessories, and any extra features that you want to add to your gown.

Shop for Your Current Body

While your intention may be to lose a certain amount of weight by your wedding day, you should buy a dress that fits you now. Buying one that is too small could end up in disaster. What happens if you don’t lose that weight? Your dress won’t fit and you could be incredibly uncomfortable, or you could need such extensive alterations that you the look and integrity of the dress will be compromised.