How far in advance

Sorry if this dissapoints you but I get married at t he start of August and had to order my dress at the start of Jan, they needed time to make it and ship it over, then timme for alterations. That being said however I know people who buy off the rack or find a way aorund it and order a lot later than 8 months in advance.

I would just go in and ask- they will know their suppliers and if it can be done in time.

6-9 months for a dress from a bridal shop I'm afraid so even going now would be pushing it, and you are now approaching wedding season so even busier. You could try phoning shops and seeing if they have any samples you could take straightaway, or if they have any ranges on shorter order, or find one you like and then try and find it second hand on preloved, or sellmyweddingdress etc?

Hi Josephine,

where are you based?

Thanks for the replies. I live in Reading, Berkshire, and am not just hopelessly disorganised, but we only got engaged about a month or so ago, and have been busy with booking venues etc.

It probably is better that I wont be able to be tempted into something too expensive, though I am worried that I won't find anything I like.

I am not sure how sample sales etc work really. The wedding dress is one of the areas i am most worried about, as I want something nice, that makes me look and feel lovely, not too expensive, not too over-the top, but I am not sure that it is going to be possible given the time, my size and budget!

If I was you I would go dress shopping now. If you leave it any later you are really limiting your options. I went 12 months before my wedding date, probably couldn't have ordered it with less than 9 months to go as it took 6 months to come into the shop.

If it's a bit tight on time maybe you could try Debenhams, John Lewis etc. They do dresses in 18's and 20's - plus Debenhams have 20% off some dresses at the moment