Formal season is all around us, and as we search for our dresses, it’s easy to realize that there are different levels of pickiness when it comes to this process.These levels are as follows:Level 1: “I don’t care! Mom HELP!”
The first level of formal dress shopping is the person who really doesn’t know or care what they wear. Going out to shop for a dress is either too much effort, or they know that their mom will do a much better job finding one at home or from behind her computer screen. Whatever their mom sends them will probably be fine, because they believe it’s most likely better than what they would have chosen.

Level 2: “Umm…. This will do!”This level contains the kind of girl that doesn’t want to put in too much/any effort to find one. She will probably walk into the first department store (or friend’s closet) she finds, try on a dress, and pick it if it looks halfway decent. She kind of has her own fashion sense but isn’t picky at all, and she would probably wear anything.

Level 3: “Click, click, done!”This kind of girl is a HUGE fan of the online shopping movement. She’ll scour the Internet for weeks upon weeks looking for a dress, but she won’t walk into a single store. She’s a Rent The Runway pro, and generally she knows all of her sizes. It may take a few returned orders, but she’ll eventually find a dress that she likes. A lot of people will be jealous that this girl was able to find her dress without leaving the house, but what they don’t know is that the dress she chose was actually the sixth dress she had sent to her apartment.

Level 4: “It took a few tries…or cities… but I finally found it!”This level contains the fashionista girls. A girl in this category has probably had a very strong fashion sense and style. She’s looking for a dress to completely fall in love with. That being said, she probably won’t find it at the Opelika Mall, so she’ll do a little traveling to look. Between Birmingham and Atlanta, this girl will find at least one dress that she deems a winner, and she’ll be completely thrilled with it.

Level 5: “I’ve traveled up and down the eastern seaboard looking for this dress.”
This level contains girls that are pretty high-maintenance, with minor OCD. Nothing except perfection is tolerated by this kind of girl. She’s looked for her perfect dress on the Internet, in Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, Columbus, Atlanta, and basically every other major city in the South. When she comes up with nothing, she’ll extend her search range to contain every major city on the east coast. The idea of having the dress hand-made probably popped into her head a time or two, until someone finally told her that she’s ridiculous. She’ll end up settling for a dress that she feels isn’t up to par, and (fair warning) she will definitely vocalize her dissatisfaction multiple times.

Formal dress shopping is different for everyone. Be sure to keep in mind that most girls will only wear this dress one time, so don’t get too stressed out about it. The formal itself should be the main focus, so have fun, take some pictures, and dance your booties off.