While undergarments may not be at the forefront of your list of things to consider when planning a wedding, they play a critical role in how you look and feel on your special day. But what to bring when shopping for your dress and what you wear on wedding day may vastly differ, depending on the gown you choose. With so many options on the market, we called in the experts for advice. 

Dress For Success

Gown Shopping

Patsy’s Bridal Boutique owner Lindsay Nordyke has helped countless brides find the dresses of their dreams, so she knows that coming prepared is the best way to guarantee a successful appointment. She recommends brides-to-be wear nude or light-colored panties and, though most dresses have built-in cups, a nude strapless bra or stick-on NuBra in case additional shaping or support is needed. (A bra can also make more modest brides comfortable during the try-on process, she notes.) 

Also good to have on-hand—if not for initial shopping trips, certainly for subsequent fittings: any special lingerie items (your garter, for instance) you’d like to wear on your big day so you can be sure they’ll fit comfortably beneath the gown you choose. Most of all, Lindsay emphasizes doing what makes you feel comfortable in your own skin. “It is always a good idea to wear something similar to what you would like to wear on your wedding day,” she says. “So if you are wanting to wear shapewear on your wedding day, then by all means, wear it to your fittings.” 

“I Do” Essentials

Wedding Day

As the founder and longtime “bra whisperer” behind lingerie boutique-turned-concierge-service Trousseau of Dallas, Nasrin Hormozi has fitted many a bride for her wedding-day basics. Her biggest piece of bridal advice, regardless of dress or body type? Shapewear. “It’s not to make [the body] smaller or bigger at all,” she says. “It is to proportion the body so it looks beautiful in any gown.” She shares the best bras for common gown conundrums.

Backless/Sheer

For backless or sheer dresses, Nasrin recommends adhesive bras, like the ones from Fashion Forms and NuBra. If your backless dress allows you to wear a bra with straps, you can get a silicone lift adhesive bra, which offers brides with larger busts more support and an extra pushup for those who want to enhance their bust.

Strapless

Adhesive bras can also be worn with strapless dresses, but Nasrin recommends a strapless bra or bustier for brides looking for more support. Her favorite is the Carnival Bustier, which is great for smaller breasts as well. “It is made with flat lace, meaning it will not show through the gown,” Nasrin says.

Low-cut

Nasrin recommends two options for low cut dresses: plunge or contour. “Plunge bras have no padding, they’re just very low in the center so you can wear a very deep V-neck,” she says. “A contour bra is with progressive padding. That can work for a deep V-neck since it has very low center as well.”