2023 was a landmark year for Dillon and I, from our engagement in April 2023 to a crazy year full of food, family, friends, and fun, plus a lot of frenzied (but fun!!) scrambling to piece together our dream wedding in 2024. Well, now, it’s 2024, and, with our wedding 222 days away as of today, it’s amazing and incredibly rewarding being able to see our vision coming together and all of the pieces falling into place after many hours of researching and planning and scrolling for inspiration and ideas. We’re getting married in October of this year and I genuinely couldn’t possibly be more excited for the rest of this chaotic year, which is already flying by at such a fast clip that my head is spinning.
All that being said, I thought I’d take some time to write about some of my favorite wedding planning resources, tips, and sources of inspiration, having basically made wedding planning a second job (not unlike the majority of other brides-to-be, I’d venture to guess). Of course, the planning is not done, and there are still a million little details that I need to overthink before October comes around, but most of the hard stuff is done (god willing).
Finding Inspiration from ReaL Weddings
By this point in my wedding planning journey, I am fairly certain that I have seen every publicly available photograph from every wedding that has taken place in the last five years. I have an entire folder on my computer full of photos from other people’s weddings.
I feel like gathering wedding inspiration is the first logical step in any wedding planning journey. And there is so much of it to be found on the World Wide Web. Pinterest is, of course, a classic and probably obnoxiously millennial source of swoon-worthy wedding aesthetic inspo, but it’s also led me down a rabbit hole of some amazing content curation websites as well as photography blogs managed by wedding photographers or collectives from around the globe promoting their work and services. I love weddings and I love creeping on other people’s lovely, romantic, and gorgeous portraits and details.
Wedding Planning & Vendor search Sites
When I first started wedding planning shortly after getting engaged last year, of course I immediately signed up for every single wedding planning platform out there. Some of the major ones that I’ve found helpful for identifying vendors and setting up our own wedding website page and registry are The Knot, Zola, and Wedding Wire. Check to see if your area has local/regional wedding blogs and vendor search sites too. For me, because I’m getting married on Long Island, this was LIWeddings.com.
To be honest, though, I actually found a lot of my vendors through recommendations from my venue and from looking at photography blogs featuring weddings at my venue. This way, I could feel confident that the vendor was at least somewhat familiar with the venue, and I could see their work in action. For instance, I found our florist through a photography blog featuring a wedding at our wedding venue; I fell head-over-heels in love with the flowers, so I reached out immediately! Most if not all of these photography blogs list these details to credit the other vendors servicing the wedding. If you like what you see (whether it’s a wedding at your venue or just a wedding in your general area), check them out!
I also found some of my vendors through my other vendors. For instance, my hair person was able to give me a list of makeup artists she regularly worked with and recommended. People in this industry know each other and have probably witnesses their fair share of successes and failures, so their recommendations are definitely worth something.
I think the most important piece of advice that I can offer on this front, though, is to read reviews. See how other brides’ experiences were. I take one star reviews with a grain of salt because some people are just a-holes and we don’t always get to hear both sides of the story, but if there are multiple bad reviews … obviously a red flag. I also spent a lot of time reviewing the portfolios of the vendors we signed contracts with. Now, granted, our wedding hasn’t happened yet, so I will let you know how it all pans out, but so far all of our vendors have been absolutely delightful to work with, and that is what I feel is most important. The whole process from start to finish should be as fun and positive and stress-free as possible.
Where DO I START?
Once you start booking vendors, you start to see all of the many different pieces of the puzzle coming together, and it’s beautiful. Vendors are a good starting point for sure, especially since you’ll want to book most things as early as possible. Another early stage step to take is picking your ‘theme’ and color palette. If you don’t have a super specific ‘theme’ in mind, that’s okay. Comb through some of the wedding inspo resources listed above and see what speaks to you and your partner. What’s your vibe? How thematic and matchy-matchy do you want everything to be? Ours is not necessarily a singular ‘theme’ but rather a bunch of words to describe a general aesthetic, which is dreamy, romantic, elegant with a dash of whimsy and homey charm, all drawing inspiration from the Italian countryside, Tuscan wineries, and nature. Our colors are champagne and blush, which will be complemented by lots of greenery and florals.
We didn’t go into wedding planning having the words to describe what our ‘vision’ was, but looking through tons of photos from real weddings (I specifically looked at a lot of vineyard weddings) really helped us narrow down what we did and didn’t like, and what would be most representative of us as a couple and our personalities.
Where Can I find…
Online window shopping happens to be my specialty, so I am going to clue you into some of my favorite online retailers for Wedding Stuff. I have spent way too many hours assessing every single white dress in existence (which has taught me that as soon as a long dress is white it is automatically 10x more expensive because it can be classified as a wedding dress; same goes kinda for formal LWD’s) so that you don’t have to.
Affordable to Moderately priced Bridal Dresses & Accessories
Okay, first, special disclaimer for this pricing tier. These prices vary from affordable to moderate. I have not purchased items from every single one of these retailers before; these are my recommendations based on browsing alone, for some. Just wanted to note this as a disclaimer for some of the sites with seemingly too good to be true prices, because it’s highly possible that price can end up being reflective of quality. If you’ve ordered from any of these shops before and have thoughts to share, please feel free to comment below and help your fellow brides!
Some of the sites listed below are very well known and come with tons of reviews that can give you more realistic expectations, some less so. It’s a gamble, so check return policies, and don’t risk a retailer you don’t know if you don’t have a comfortable cushion to make returns and find replacements!
- 12th Tribe – Bachelorette & Bridal Event ‘Fits
- ASTR the Label – White Dresses
- AZAZIE – Wedding Gowns | Bridal Event Dresses
- Beginning Boutique – White Dresses
- Betsey Johnson – Shoes for Bridal Events (ALERT! Sparkly White Sneakers HERE!) | All Things Wedding
- Billy J – Party Dresses in White & Champagne
- Birdy Grey – Little White Dresses
- Confête – The Bridal Suite
- Lucy in the Sky – White Dresses
- Lulu’s – All Wedding Dresses | Little White Dresses
- Meshki – Bridal Collection | White Dresses | Hens/Bachelorette | After Party | Bridal Shower
- Nasty Gal – Bachelorette | Bridal Shop
- Petal & Pup – Bridal Outfits
- Pippa & Pearl – Bridal Collection
- Princess Polly – White Dresses
- REVOLVE – LWD | Bach | Bridal Accessories (PSA!: sort or filter by price low to high for more affordable options; they carries a wide range of clothing & accessories from a variety of brands. And there’s nothing worse than falling in love with something before looking at the price and finding out it is 1 squillion dollars)
- Sage + Paige – White Dresses
- Selfie Leslie – Bridal Dresses | Bridal Shower | Bridal Accessories
- Showpo – All Bridal | Bridal Gowns | Bachelorette
- Superdown – White Dresses
Moderate to Expensive LWD’s & Bridal Gowns – $$$
Fancy white dresses & gowns! Prices of dresses and accessories from the shops below can vary and depend on sales and promos (make sure you sign up for those promo emails and get your discount code, for retailers that offer it!), but these are mostly under $1,000.
- Amanda Uprichard – Bridal Collection
- Anthropologie – Bridal Event Dresses | Bridal Shoes & Accessories
- Bec + Bridge – Brides
- Club L London – The White Dress
- ELLIATT – Bridal Dresses
- FarFetch – The Bridal Edit
- For Love & Lemons – Bridal
- House of CB – White Dresses
- Jenny Yoo – Little White Dresses
- Lovers & Friends – White Dresses
- MacDuggal – White Gowns
- Nookie Australia – Bride-to-Be Collection
- Odd Muse – Bridal Collection
- Park & Fifth Co. – Bridal Collection
- Bachelorette | Bridal Shower | Rehearsal Dinner | Reception | Honeymoon
- Post Meridiem – Bridal Collection
- REVOLVE – Bridal Dresses | LWD | Bach | Bridal Accessories
- Retrofête – Bridal Collection
- Revelry – Bridal Capsule | White Bridesmaids Dresses
- Selkie – Bridal Collection
- Show Me Your Mumu – Bridal Dresses & Accessories
- Sleeper – Bridal Edit
- STAUD – Staud Bride
- Studio Minc – Bridal Shop
- Untamed Petals – Bridal Best Sellers
- V. Chapman – The Bridal Studio
- WATTERS – By Watters | Little White Dresses & Bridal Event Dresses (made-to-order)
High End / Luxury & Designer LWD’s & Gowns – $$$$
(a.k.a. in my wildest dreams)
A quick note … some of these may fall in the more affordable category, they have a range of prices but I’d say that on average they skew more towards high end/luxury, or, at least, what feels unaffordable to me, a normal person; these would be total splurge options for me personally and I won’t likely be purchasing a dress from any of these fine retailers, but I sure do love to window shop!!!! Sort by price low to high and look out for sales & promo codes when possible for more affordable options!
- Amsale – Bridal Gowns | LWD’s
- Anthropologie – Wedding Dresses | Bridal Shoes & Accessories
- Bronx & Banco
- Galia Lahav – Ready to Wear Designer LWD’s & Wedding Dresses
- Grace Loves Lace – Boho Wedding Gowns
- House of CB – Bridal Collection
- Jenny Yoo – Ready-to-Ship Bridal Gowns
- Kyha Studios – Bridal Gowns | Ready-to-Ship Gowns, Dresses & Separates
- Michelle Mason
- Nadine Merabi – Bridal Collection
- Olivia Bottega – Ready-to-Ship Bridal Gowns
- Sak’s Fifth Avenue – White Dresses / Bridal Dresses
- V. Chapman – The Bridal Studio
- Sachin & Babi
- Selkie – Bridal Collection
- Shona Joy – Bridal
- Shopbop – Bridal Shop
Other Options To Consider
- Luxe Redux – Resale Wedding Gowns/Attire
- StillWhite.com – Resale Wedding Gowns/Attire
- Poshmark – search for wedding gowns in your size and filter for designers you know you like, or just browse!
- Etsy – just be sure to shop well-reviewed shops, look at customer photos and read the reviews!
- Check sites and stores for white prom dresses and/or graduation dresses, because everything is less expensive when it doesn’t have the word ‘bridal’ or ‘wedding’ in it
- Look for white bridesmaids dresses! This is a trend I’m seeing quite a bit lately and bridesmaids dresses tend to come at a different price point than anything labeled a ‘wedding dress’.
… And speaking of bridesmaid dresses … stay tuned for my next article in this wedding series, in which I’ll share some of my favorite sites I’ve scoped out and my personal fave dresses for 2024! Happy planning + shopping!
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