This may seem like a really odd question :)

Have just seen 'the dress' in a shop window while on the park and ride bus. It's absolutley beautiful! But .... am not even engaged yet. I know my boyfriend is the one and just know we'll spend the rest of our lives together ( he thinks so too! ). Do wedding dress shops keep a record of dresses they have in so that if i went there in say 3 years time they would be able to track it down?

The dress should have a manufacturer name or make number that you can ask the shop for :-)

i suggest you go with a girlfriend to the shop try it on, take loads of pictures of it (make up a story for why you need the photos) so in the event that it isn't still in production when you do tie the knot, you can get a good seamstress to make it for you.  possibly illegal though not sure :-D

I designed my own wedding dress by looking through magazines.  I was incredibly lucky to know a lady who made my sister's bridesmaids dresses & she took my pathetic drawings & made the most fabulous dress.  I still have in the vane hope that my dd (aged 6) will wear it to a ball or something when she's bigger ;-)

Does seem funny to me because when I got married I just went to the dress shop and asked what was the cheapest dress in my size!  Anyway I am sure the shop could give you the details of it so you could track down something like it when the time comes.

Have just seen 'the dress' in a shop window while on the park and ride bus.

:-D

Not the best way to pick a dress. :-)

If I were you I would go in the shop, try on the dress and make sure that close up you like the material and the detail, I can vouch for the fact I have often driven passed a boutique and thought wow love that, to then get close and realise I don't like the material or the pattern or it just doesn't look as nice on.

So before you do anything try it on, they won't mind, you don't have to buy it. You can also ask if it is a one off designer dress that will not be around in 3 years time, often styles change and manufacturers, designers do not remake a dress and they can not be re-ordered so check first.  And if you really love it, and it is 'the one' you could ask for the brochure it is in and maybe have it copied by a dressmaker in 3 years time, or order one in your size (maybe a size larger even, incase you put on weight, it can always be taken in) and pay off for it.

If you do that, do not tell the boyfriend. :-D 

A friend of mine bought her wedding dress before she even had a steady boyfriend, if you know you love it then get it, but bare in mind styles and even your own may well change over the next 3 years, so it may be a risk. 

> If you do that, do not tell the boyfriend. :-D 

Now there's the best bit of advice so far ... LOL.

No harm in a bit of planning in the head though.

Honestly meant kindly, but I would suggest you go and take photos through the shop window, put them in a box somewhere and pull them out when you need them. Wedding dress styles change, and if they haven't then you'll find dozens of very similar dresses when the time comes anyway.

M.

How lucky for you, I'm engaged due to get married next year & cannot find 'the' dress!

Not wanting to put a dampner on things but you may find that when you try it on it doesn't suit you or you don't like it as much.  From experience any dress you like or that you think will flatter you shape doesn't! It's a nightmare! On a more positive note if you do try it on & fall in love with it, do as others have suggested take plenty of photos, get the name of the designer etc etc.  If it's in a chain shop e.g. Berketex, Pronuptia it will be around for a long time there's even a site called preloved that stocks dresses second hand, plus there's good old ebay.  If it's a one off or by a smaller boutique/designer you may struggle but if you take plenty of photos I'm sure once he does pop the question you'll be able to find something very similar.

> Not the best way to pick a dress. :-)

lol, it was exactly the way I chose my wedding dress.  My hubby and I have been together and engaged since 1990, we'd talked about getting married, but just didn't get around to it.  My grandfather was a CofE vicar and I'd hoped that one day he would marry us, but sadly he passed away before we ever got 'around to it'. 
But, one day 5½ years ago, we happened to drive past a little boutique wedding shop in our local town,stopped at traffic lights just outside the shop, and BINGO there was THE dress.
I called my Mum, who was coming to stay with us that weekend, and I went and tried the dress on.  Apart from the length, it was like it was meant for me.  I proposed (I think - or should I say we decided between us to get married!) and we had a small intimate wedding 5 years ago this July 10th just gone. 
The happiest times of my life have been spent with this man.  :D

Not the best way to pick a dress.

Its how I chose mine  30 odd yrs ago, LoL, saw it in a magazine, looked to see where the nearest stockist was, went into the shop armed with the Page from the magazine,   tried it on and bought it...(the only one I tried on)  all for £40 !!!

I got mine 30 odd yrs ago, i paid £49 for mine and i have still got it in the loft somewhere.
It wouldnt fit now,im a bit bigger  than i was then...i dont mean fat either...just matured in certain places.

I bought my wedding shoes several years ago :) (That won't come as much of a surprise to those who know me ;) )  I have no great inclination to get married (even though OH and I have been together for 12 years) but if and when we ever do get around to it, I want to be wearing those shoes.  OH doesn't know...although he wouldn't be surprised either :-D