Start early when selecting a wedding gown

Whatever step it is in the planning process, choosing wedding clothes is high up on the to-do list. Mary Sollog, a registered bridal consultant with Tiffanys, says it can take as much as 16 weeks to order your wedding gown.

Her advice? Shop early.

Assuming that 16 weeks is law, don't forget to factor in extra time if a formal portrait is desired. Sollog said brides must allow time for the sitting, the selection of the pose and having the finished product ready. "And you can't do any of that until you've had the dress altered."

If a dress is shown in a magazine and marketed aggressively, it's called a formal gown, Sollog said. The gown is going to have to be special ordered "and it's going to take a while to get there." But, Sollog said: "Many of those manufacturers make the identical gown without the train and the price does fall off considerably. Basically, it's because everybody dreams of that great big train dragging behind them."

But, without the train, the dresses are great for outdoor weddings and dancing, Sollog said. "A lot of girls are going: 'What a good idea. And I save how much money?'"

Then there are the bridesmaids' dresses.

Shriner said it can be "more of a headache" selecting bridesmaids dresses than the wedding dress. Regardless, for bridesmaids' dresses, "the timing rule of thumb is 12 weeks," Sollog said. "We will not order any of the dresses until we have the information for all of them because we want them cut from the same dye-lot of fabric so they're all true to the same color. That 12 weeks is from the date that they are all ordered - by us not the customer."