The Decision Process in the Selection of a Wedding Gown

Women usually get married only once in their lifetime. In our society, this symbolic traditional ceremony implies that the bride will wear a specific gown. This empirical study explores the bride’s decisional process in the choice of her wedding gown. The research is based on in-depth interviews with thirty-seven newlyweds and with ten salespersons from specialized wedding boutiques. The decisional process is presented as a three-stage model: before the selection, during the selection and after the selection of the wedding gown. The results highlight the fact that the decisional process is intrinsically linked with 1) the specific characteristics of the garment and 2) the tradition and the symbolism associated with an event as ritualistic as the wedding day. Even though we have just entered a new millennium and in spite of the fact that in our modern world traditions tend to die out, the young women in our study do not seem to have a choice pattern different from the one their mothers had decades ago.