The Wedding Loft: What to Know Before Wedding Dress Shopping
Located in Greenwood, Indiana The Wedding Loft is a sample bridal boutique created by Adrienne Love to provide brides with an unforgettable, memory-making experience. The Wedding Loft is a sister store of The Wedding Studios of Carmel and Greenwood. The idea for The Wedding Loft came to life when they realized they had an audience of brides that were hoping to purchase their gown for a steal and needed it quickly. Prior to opening The Wedding Loft, they sold their samples off-the-rack once they were discontinued and realized they could offer this experience for brides in an environment where every gown is available and ready to go for them same-day.
The Loft is a beautiful, fun and uniquely special boutique where brides can find their wedding dress for a fraction of the original retail price and take them home same-day. We spent time at The Wedding Loft learning how they serve brides across all styles, budgets, and timelines.
The gowns were once showroom floor samples at one of The Wedding Studio (TWS) locations. This means they have been tried on by brides, but they have never been down the aisle. They are in beautiful condition, making them “perfect for brides ballin’ on a budget” or the brides that have “a tight timeline.” (Elopement brides, these are perfect for you!)
What can you expect from a trip to The Wedding Loft? If you are looking for a fun, easy-going shopping experience we would suggest a walk-in appointment during their week-day hours. On Saturdays, they offer one-hour appointments, and certain Sundays the Loft can even accommodate private appointments for a more exclusive experience.
Gowns start at $599 and are from beloved bridal designers like Martina Liana, Essence of Australia, Lillian West, Justin Alexander, Made with Love and so many more. Trust us when we say, there is a style for everyone including beautiful veils and accessories.
Without further ado, here’s what to know before wedding dress shopping: advice from the pros.
What is the most common question you get about wedding dresses?
The most common question we get is “how do I know it’s the one?” And it’s unfortunately not a simple answer and can look different for each bride. Some brides cry, some don’t. Some brides jump up and down with excitement, some don’t. Some brides just look over and say, “yup, this is it.” So our advice to brides is to not put pressure on yourself to have a specific type of reaction to finding the one. It can look different than you thought and no way is the ‘wrong’ way.
What is the best advice you can give to a bride looking for a dress?
Trust your stylist and only bring the people that will support you through the process! Your bridal stylist is a trained professional that is truly there to help you through the process. Their goal is to find you the dress of your dreams and ensure you have an amazing, low-stress experience. Communicate what you are liking and not liking and be open to finding the one! You truly never know when the moment is going to happen or when you will slip into the one that feels right so be open to each dress.
As for who you bring with you, do your best to keep it at the people that truly support you and hype you up. Wedding dress shopping can feel overwhelming; it’s something you most likely haven’t done before; there are lots of options and it’s truly a lot of work (physically and emotionally, for the bride). We find brides that have the best experience are the ones who were really aware of who to bring and who was going to help them through the process.
How do you know what your wedding dress style is?
Some brides know right away what style is for them and others won’t know until they start the shopping process and try on different shapes and silhouettes. We always recommend looking online, whether that be Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, etc. to start getting an idea of what you are naturally drawn to or what you know you don’t want.
We have a Pinterest page that is updated weekly with the gowns that we currently have available in each of our stores and this is where we recommend our brides go to browse. This allows them to start saving/screenshotting the gowns that they love/what they want to try on. This also gives our bridal stylists an amazing opportunity to truly get an idea of the bride's style and details she is looking for, even if the bride is struggling to vocalize what it is about the gown she is drawn to.
What wedding dress trends are most popular?
Right now the most popular dress trends are Basque waist gowns, Chantilly lace, a-line and ballgown silhouettes as well as unique textiles/fabrics. We are finding that brides are really searching for ways to make their wedding unique to them and they are searching for that in their dress as well.
What are the classics?
The classics will always be a satin or “clean” fabric in a traditional shape (a-line, ballgown, fit and flare, mermaid, etc.) but Chantilly lace is also a classic lace fabric that is coming back in a very modern way right now. That is one of the parts of bridal that we enjoy the most: watching the trends shift and come back around years later in new ways.
What portion of the budget should couples set aside for the dress?
This will truly differ from bride to bride depending on the overall wedding budget along with the importance that she may or may not place on the gown itself. We do find that brides tend to highlight the venue, the photographer and the gown in their wedding budget as these are the things that will live on past the day itself. You will hang wedding photos in your home and share them with loved ones and the bride wants to feel confident in her gown choice and how she feels looking back on the moments from her special day. A wedding gown is also still a heirloom piece for a lot of brides. They are thinking about their daughter potentially wearing it someday or that it will be passed down for generations to come. All of these things will go into the decision that a bride makes when deciding the budget for her gown.
The Wedding Loft is truly perfect for the bride that wants to find a dream wedding dress at a fraction of the retail cost and doesn’t want to/can’t wait the full standard production time. We believe that we can provide a beautiful bridal experience and find the perfect dress for our brides without breaking the bank. These gowns start at just $599 for the standard collections but we also have a couture section that has sometimes brand new or near perfect condition gowns from couture bridal designers like Chosen by Kyha, Hera Couture, Martina Liana Luxe and more.
What’s your favorite style or trend and why?
Honestly, this changes daily. I am also finding a new gown that I am obsessed with and that is what makes this job so fun. Styles are always changing, designers are trying new things and it keeps it exciting and pushes me (and brides) to be open to things I wouldn’t have thought of before.
