When little girls spend their maths classes daydreaming of weddings (instead of winning the World Series — not to point out you will not do both ), what do they dream of first? The perfect marriage dress, naturally : a robe in white satin with a bustle and sweeping train, the ideal elaborations, and the ideal shoes.Many brides are fortunate. They may search high and low, braving chilly dept shops and forceful bridal shops, but finally they come face-to-face with The One. They know this is The One because they start crying, or their mum or chums all start crying at once. Suddenly the rest of the planning … the tone, the right sort of venues … It all springs to life.Other brides are not as fortunate. They’ve searched just as hard, working their way thru shops across three or four states, but they have not found The One. Instead, they’ve found three or four Contenders, all of which are serviceable and nice, but not earth-shattering sufficient to tell them that now is unquestionably time to stop the searching and get on with the planning. These brides have it harder.Even if you’re the first kind of bride, buying the dress is such a momentous decision that you run a likelihood of falling into that wallet-skinning category known as the Two-Dress Bride. These are some tips for picking the ideal dress and avoiding that horrible fate.1. Bring the entourage, but do not buy. It’s fun and useful to bring your mum, buddies or sisters on the dress-shopping expedition. It gives you a buffer against an overbearing sales staff, and it’s fun to see whether your impressions of perfection are shared by your family and friends, not to say how they’ll love being part of such an important decision. But whatever how enthusiastic everyone gets over a certain dress, don’t buy in the heat of the moment. Give yourself time to reconsider and buy with a cool head later, alone. The overwhelming majority of dresses are non-returnable, so when you’ve bought it, you have purchased it.2. Don’t buy too early unless you must. Bridal robes can take four to ten months from the maker, but there is no reason to buy over a year previously, unless your chosen style is going to be abandoned. Give yourself some time to sit on your decision. Once you pick a robe, you can see a hundred others nearly like it. You’ll become a walking encyclopedia on that style of gown. All the better if you still have room to choose.3. If you have acquired “The One,” stop shopping. Any more window-shopping at this point will only lead you down the line toward the dull land of Two-Dress Brides. What you want to do instead is remember that ecstatic sense of having tried on The One. Go get The One out of the closet, put it on and stand out front of the mirror. You may remember precisely why it is The One.4. If you’ve bought “The One” and can’t stop shopping, get a 2nd view. Show your first and 2nd selections to other brides. Be honest — tell them you have already remortgaged your apartment for the 1st dress, but you believe this second dress could be It. They are going to be honest, too — the 1st one was better. You can feel reassured.5. Don’t tell yourself “I’ll sell the old dress and choose a new one.” This old saw of the Two-Dress Bride just won’t work. You can never get more than a fraction of what you paid for your first dress if you purchased it new.6. Don’t be afraid to aim high — regardless of what your financial position. Some brides knew from the start they would have liked a designer label, but life just failed to cooperate by making them heiresses. Yet all isn’t lost if you’re willing to shop courageously. At any given moment, a better-heeled bride is selling her once-used St. Pucchi or Ulla-Maija on eBay. She paid thousands on thousands, but you, smart client, will pay half that or less. To take this road, you need to shop sooner than other brides so you will have a choice of gowns.7. Shop on the internet, but never send a check. Bridal robe companies infrequently have a technique of disappearing overnight. Regardless of what the owner tells you, never make a purchase as large as a wedding gown without the chargeback protection of a Visa card. If they are saying they can’t take plastic, move on.8. Don’t hold out forever for The One. Some brides never find The One. What they do find is some dresses they look handsome in. If you’re this bride, try beginning your planning from the theme instead of the dress. You’ll probably eventually get sick to death of dress shopping. When that occurs, “good enough” truly will be ok. Focus on other sides of the marriage that mean a lot to you, like the venue, the food, or the inevitable adoration of your soon-to-be husband.Need help in selecting the right dress for your wedding day? Visit yourweddinggowns.com to get some ideas about the proper wedding gown for your special day. Browse through some wedding gown ideas to help you select the right dress; you might also want to learn more about weding dresses.