The Most Common Fabrics You’ll See When Wedding Dress Shopping

When you start shopping for your wedding dress, you will be bombarded with questions you will have no idea how to answer. Unless you have been prepping for the day you go wedding shopping for your entire life (or you happen to work in fashion), we completely understand if a lot of these things go over your head.

Things like:

• Dress style (mermaid, princess, A-line?)
• Or details (illusion necklines, flanging, and a million types of lace)
• And fabric

There are hundreds of types of fabric that can be used in wedding dresses, but unless you become familiar with what they are, what they do, how they feel, and how they fall, you may not know what to ask for. We don’t expect you to learn every fabric that could possibly go into a wedding dress (the options are endless), but here are five of the most common types of material used in wedding dresses and how they will fall and fit:

1. Satin

Considered a structured fabric, satin is heavy and lustrous and is ideal for traditional dresses since it holds shape very well and has a natural sheen. While its heavy structure means it keeps its form well, it can be too dense for warmer months and may be uncomfortable. You will often see satin used in dresses that use full skirts and pleated and fanned bodices. Unfortunately, it does crease extremely easily, so it has to be transported carefully. Due to the heavy consistent of the fabric, it is suggested to wear satin dresses only in the colder seasons.

2. Chiffon

Chiffon is an increasingly popular choice for wedding dresses, especially for casual weddings or destination weddings. Chiffon is light and sheer and without sheen. It lends well to simple styles because it doesn’t hold structure well. However, it travels exceptionally well and does not wrinkle much. It can also be steamed out very quickly.  The light fabric is perfect for beach weddings, where the skirt will flow with the breeze.

3. Charmeuse

Charmeuse is a slinky, sultry fabric that drapes beautifully and will really show off your figure. It’s light and floaty and is often used for overlays or train embellishments. Entire dresses made out of this fabric are best if you’re planning on wearing control underwear since this fabric can be very clingy.

4. Organza

Organza is a stiffer form of chiffon. Sheer, with very little sheen, it structures well and works beautifully with other fabrics. It works great for skirts or trains and can add tons of volume to a dress.

5. Lace

There are so many versions of lace that it could stand to have its own article (and, in fact, there are literal books written on lace), however, for our purposes, we will categorize all lace together. Lace is a stunning fabric that is used as an overlay on wedding dresses. It gives dresses a beautiful vintage feel and can be used to create dramatic illusion details.