Thanks to social media, many brides believe they need A Ceremony Dress, A Reception Dress, A First Dance Dress, and An After-Party Dress. (My goodness, will these brides and grooms NEVER leave their own weddings? Don’t they have something better to do? I hope so or the marriage itself will be a long row to hoe.) If you have enough money for four dresses and want to spend the better part of your wedding in a cramped anteroom with your stylist and her team rather than with your new spouse, your family, and your friends, then there’s nothing I can write here to sway you. But a gentle reminder that you have the rest of your life to wear special-occasion dresses, even white ones, which is really all Dresses Two through Four are.

If, as part of your heritage, you wear multiple dresses to your multiday celebration, that is wonderful. Ask your own aunties for advice. I’m sure they have it.

If you are getting enormous pressure to wear your mother’s 1986 Priscilla of Boston dress complete with capelet, or your grandmother’s yellowed lace and satin number from the bottom of the dress-up closet, or your future mother-in-law’s puffed-shouldered relic with the hideous fringed headpiece, hear me now: You do not have to wear someone else’s dress unless you truly want to wear it. If you need to show someone in your life this paragraph, please do. You’re a grown woman and you can choose your own dress. You’re welcome.

But if you, like me, believe in one and only one wedding dress, then this advice is for you.

Choose a dress in your budget. There are lovely, beautiful, elegant, perfect dresses at every price point. Don’t get talked into something you can’t afford.

Choose a dress you love, not one that your entourage loves. Long, short, mermaid, ball gown, sweetheart neckline. Bohemian, Grace Kelly, princess, minimalist, renaissance faire. Lace, satin, velvet, beaded, sequins, feathers. Make sure that when you look in the mirror, you love your dress.

Choose a dress that suits your body the way it is, not the body you wish you had. Buying a dress three sizes too small and putting all the pressure on yourself to drop the weight before the wedding will result in a miserable Bride-to-Be. Look your best, of course. But not at the expense of every joyful aspect of getting married. Counter with good fit. Good fit makes simple design spectacular. Good fit and good sense make for a beautiful Bride.

Choose a dress you can wear for ten hours. If you don’t regularly wear structured couture gowns, then don’t wear one on your wedding day. You will be miserable in the corseted bodice and the fitted mermaid bottom.