In today’s shopping society, we have endless options, images and inspiration from which to select anything and everything we could ever want.

Apps, ecommerce, pinterest boards and instagram exploration are all digital tools that put products front and center of shopping lists.

And on one hand, it’s nice to have options. But on the other, buyers can easily suffer choice paralysis and overwhelm when it comes to seeing too many ideas. And the same rings true for brides during wedding gown shopping.

Let’s start by painting a picture of a soon-to-be-bride…

Excited, eager and ready to take on the planning process – having likely envisioned the wedding dress as a crucial piece of the puzzle.  As the bride starts to do research to determine where and when she wants to shop, she often-times will cast a very wide net – making plans to have appointments at any and all bridal salons and shops within a certain mile radius. It’s also not uncommon for brides to travel to salons outside of their home city in order to view more options. This isn’t a bad strategy if the goal is to see every single gown for sale, but it doesn’t guarantee a quality shopping experience.

That’s because seeing all of these options is actually changing the way the a bride can process what she’s seeing. In fact, it’s changing her mindset. A Harvard Business Review article would
suggest that a negative impact is being built utilizing this shopping strategy. Barry Schwartz describes that research is showing that there is a thing as too much choice, and when there is, consumers
are less likely to buy anything at all. And if and when they do buy, they are less satisfied with their selection.The idea of any consumer being dissatisfied with their selection is hard to accept, but there’s
something particularly troubling about a bride being dissatisfied with her wedding gown! In fact, that scenario is heart-breaking.

So how can an eager and enthusiastic bride prepare herself for a quality shopping experience that won’t leave her with anxiety, overwhelm or dissatisfaction?
The professionals would suggest that limiting your choices is the best first step. Since there’s been a direct correlation found between an increased number of choices leading to an increased
amount of poor decisions made, start with less! This means less appointments, but more quality shopping when it comes to visiting bridal salons.

Along this line, it might help the shopping process to make one appointment early, then allow time after to live with the choices you’ve seen and any decision you’ve made up front. If there’s anxiety that arises, you have time to change ideas and solidify your satisfaction!

Ultimately, the wedding gown shopping experience shouldn’t be tainted by any negativity – especially choice paralysis, and we hope you keep this in mind before you search far and wide. If you have any comments on this experience, please let us know over on our Facebook Page!  And we hope you’ll consider The White Room as one of your only choices in gown-shopping! You can schedule an appointment here.

So say LESS to the dress !!