We get asked the question by nearly every bride: “Should I change into another dress for my reception?”. There are many pros to this question that we’ll present to you in this article. The only thing to really think about is the extra cost and the best thing to do is weigh out what you think would be the best for you. Honestly, we believe that if budget allows, changing into a fun and more comfortable dress is a great idea. You can decide for yourself if it’s worth it or not from an example wedding we coordinated where the bride changed into a dress that matched her bridesmaids.

Your Dream Wedding Dress

Changing into a different dress for your reception give you the flexibility to be able to wear your dream wedding dress. If your dress dress has a long train, is very puffy, or just plain uncomfortable…it’s okay! You’ll only be wearing it for a couple hours, get some beautiful pictures and adorning compliments, then get comfy!

Dancing

Dancing is the biggest reason people like to change into a more comfortable dress for their reception. You should be able to enjoy this special night with your friends and family without wondering if someone’s going to step on your train or spill on your beautiful white dress. It’s your night, make sure that you enjoy it!  Changing her dress definitely made leading the conga line a lot easier for this fun-loving bride.

When to Change?

Some brides change right after their wedding ceremony, but there are certain things to consider with timing. The main events during your reception to consider are: grand entrance, first dance, garter and bouquet toss, cake cutting, and formal portraits. Think about which dress you want to be in during these celebrations and in these pictures. This bride decided to change after she started dancing with her white wedding dress on and her new husband accidentally stepped on her train! Oops! She happily changed into her red dress (leaving her veil on so that you can always keep an eye on the bride) and had the cake-cutting, first dance, and everything else after in her red dress and the pictures turned out beautifully!

Portraits

There are probably certain poses and group portraits that you’d like to get with your white wedding dress on, so make sure that you don’t forget them before you change. The perfect time to takes these portraits with family and your bridal party is during the cocktail hour. You won’t make your grand entrance until after the cocktail hour, so you have some time to kill in between your wedding and reception for some portraits with your new hubby and you cuddling, poses with you and your girlfriends, and then portraits to make memories with your family.