When to begin the dress search?

I find myself to be the type of bride who wants to have a pretty (non-poofy) dress without a big price tag. I understand that this is “our special day” and I do want to look beautiful, but my common sense also tells me that we do not have the money to blow a big part of our budget on a dress that will most likely only be worn once (unless we do a day after or trash the dress session with Lynn Michelle).

Looking online and in magazines is the extent of dress searching that I have done up to this point. It feels like it’s just too early to go and look at dresses for a wedding that isn’t until April 2011. The best part of my future dress search is that I have an amazing mother, and 4 wonderful bridesmaids that actually want to go dress shopping with me. I’ve read about the unfortunate brides on the Knot that find themselves with friends and family that just don’t want to spend a day watching them try on pretty white dresses.

Here are a couple of dress ideas that I have come across and like at this point (we’ll have to see how they look on me to know if I still like them hehe):
(both pictures from David’s bridal)

As you can see the type of dress I'm going for is more flowy, possibly lace, lighter weight so I can dance the night away.

I’m planning to schedule a weekend in the early spring of next year to go to stores and start trying on dresses. I’m super excited!