The Photo Love

When you walk down the aisle, you usually won't just find your groom standing at the altar-- there's the groomsmen, the wedding officiant and of course, your bridesmaids.

The bridesmaids-- they have helped you with everything from the bachelorette party and wedding dress shopping to bridal showers and more, so wouldn't it be nice to try to make things a little easier on them?

The Bridal Cottage, 3305 JFK Blvd., North Little Rock, offers a few tips to help make the bridesmaid-gown shopping process at their store a simple one! Here they are:

  1. The store recommends appointments for bridesmaids. Understand that if you are a walk-in, there might be a wait or they might recommend to book an appointment for another day if they are already full. Appointments allows the staff to prepare for your party and gives you an hour-and-a-half (1.5 hours) window to try on dresses with your own bridal consultant. Think about all of the dresses you can try on then!
  2. If bridesmaids are paying for their own dress, consider their pocketbook. The good thing about The Bridal Cottage is that they have designer dresses from $150-$299 and here's the best part: If the bride purchases her gown from the store, she receives 15 percent off each bridesmaid's dress, or if the bride has 10 or more in her party and did not purchase her gown from The Bridal Cottage, she can still receive 15 percent off each bridesmaid's dress. Pretty good deal!
  3. The Bridal Cottage has designers' dresses in stock for try ons, but at the end of the day, all bridesmaids dresses need to be ordered. Bridesmaids dresses typically take between 8-12 weeks to make, depending on designer. Take into consideration shipping time to the store and alterations. Every dress needs alterations!
  4. The staff will measure each bridesmaid and work with them one-on-one to determine which size to order, according to the particular designers size chart. If your bridesmaid is out of town, have them go get measured at a bridal store and call in their measurements. The Bridal Cottage can work with them over the phone!
  5. A deposit of 50 percent down is required on each dress before any dresses are ordered. The store orders all of the dresses in the same wedding at the same time because they want the designer to cut the fabric for all dresses at the same time and dye the fabric in the same dye lot to ensure the same quality and color.
  6. When it arrives, the staff will look over the dress and steam it. Then, they will contact each bridesmaid to make an appointment to come in and try it on. Once bridesmaids are notified, they will have 30 days to pay the remaining balance and pick up the dress.  If any bridesmaids need us to keep their dresses longer, then it’s a $50 a month charge for storage.
  7. The Bridal Cottage does not have in-house alterations, but they will refer your bridesmaids to seamstresses within the surrounding area that they trust will take care of your girls.

For more tips, click here and get a look at all of the bridesmaid dress designers here.

Happy shopping!