How We Turned Wedding Dress Shopping Into a Unique Passion

Our dream to start Runaway Bridal began with our own wedding dress shopping experiences. If you missed our bio, here is the backstory:

Lindsay’s First Dress Shopping Experience

I was so excited for wedding dress shopping, and had appointments with a few small boutiques. They all promised a personalized and relaxed experience, but each one was the same: lots of pressure to choose a dress, upselling and add-ons, rushing me through the process. Adding to my discomfort was the number of other brides a few feet away being told the exact same thing. Plus, I had decided only to bring my mom and sister after being told bridesmaids would “pressure me” into certain dresses. While I eventually settled on a dress, the whole process was not what I had envisioned. I missed my friends and felt panicked about my decision instead of having that magical, “say yes to the dress” moment.

Jessica’s Dress Shopping Experience

I was honestly not as stoked for wedding dress shopping. I visited a few boutiques and felt uncomfortable, pressured, and very rushed at each one (I may not be great at making quick decisions). But I figured that wasn’t what dress shopping was about. I wanted to take my time and fall in love with my dream dress. So, I eventually decided to order a selection of dresses online and invite a few friends and family over to have my own dress fitting. I LOVED being at home and getting to take my time in each dress, figuring out exactly what I liked. Although I loved trying on dresses this way, it would have been super beneficial to have someone there who could help with sizing recommendations and the actual fit of each dress.

It wasn’t until after both of our weddings that we discovered we felt the same way about wedding dress shopping, but had felt too bad to share our negative experiences about such a “fun” part of wedding planning. After a lot of talking and a bottle of wine, we had an epiphany moment where we realized we could combine the parts of our experiences we liked – being at home comfortably surrounded by our friends, designer gowns, professionals to help when we felt lost – and make a new experience by adding all of the things we would have loved to make it a truly personalized experience.

Ever since that night, we have been working to make our dream real. We are so excited the moment is finally here. We want to help you find your dream dress. Let’s Runaway Together.