Do people really take 6 people with them to try on dresses. I always figured they did on this show because they all want to be on TV, but not so much in real life. I went with one person to look at dresses, sometimes my Mom, sometimes a friend. Heck, I even went to a couple of places alone.
Oh, yes, they do, and in certain ethnic groups it is almost a requirement to bring every female member of the wedding party and both Moms, plus grandmothers if they are up to it. I actively discouraged it because we didn't have the space, and dresses were getting ripped from being trampled by heels. I remember having to put my foot down and tell them we could not accomodate young children unless they were flower girls being fitted for their gowns that day -- there was just too much potential for disaster having bored young kids in a bridal workroom.
The thing about photographs usually only happens in salons that have exclusive lines, and it mostly happens in New York, where they worry that certain brides might really be spies for the knock-off mills. I would not do business with a shop that would not let me at least photograph the dress on and then destroy the image after I have seen it; the way that dress looks in a photo is too important. Regular shops that sell commercially available lines that are commonly photographed for advertisements should not object at all. There is another reason that a photo is important for the gown that you actually purchase: you want to be sure that when your own copy of it comes in for the final fittings, that it is the same gown. Some unscrupulous shops have been known to pad their bottom line by making subtle changes between the sample and the gown that actually ships, and there is always the possibility that someone will transpose a digit in a stock number.
As to my best tip if you're really going shopping: foundation garments and shoes. For fittings you MUST be wearing the undies that you will be wearing on your wedding day, and if you are busty and considering strapless or off-the-shoulder that means a corset (and a corset bodice on the gown doesn't count -- you need a real one underneath.) Brides who are not happy with what nature gave them also need to bring the proper undies -- you won't be pleased with the look of a gown that is gaping in the front, even if you are assured that the alterations will fix it. (And the honest truth is, they won't. They will tighten it up to fit, but that won't make it flattering. To give a bodice shape you actually have to put something in it, real or fake.)
If you are a slip-dress kind of person and have the figure for that, then the foundation garments are not so important, though a light Spanx-type all-in-one will make a dress like that look SO much nicer on almost anyone. If you are looking at a more "architectural" gown with a lot of seams and structure, the foundation garments are much more crucial, because they give the dress its proper shape on your body.
PS: About photos and timing re: knock-offs. A well-equipped knock-off shop with skilled pattern makers and access to a wide range of fabrics and notions can have a nearly identical gown in production in less than 24 hours. It's what they do. No deadline is too short to avert suspicion if an exclusive salon thinks that you are acting like a spy. I used to encounter a certain amount of suspicion when friends asked me to shop with them for a professional perspective on quality. I always flipped the gown inside-out and started looking at the finishing, which in a place like Kleinfeld's would have had them in conniptions. As to the photos airing on the show, that doesn't matter because by the time the episode airs the dresses you see are from the previous season.
I was thinking because they don't want knock-off designs being made but they allow them to be shown on the show so who knows.
. But I also thought I might want to wear my mom's gown, so we drove quickly to her house 30 minutes away, her gown didn't and never could fit (custom made, so no extra fabric, and I'm bigger than her), drove back to the salon and got the dress before they closed. It was their last weekend open. And I got it at an 80% discount...I still remember saying "I'd really love it with a veil with some tiny pearls on it", and didn't the woman go in another room and bring back an absolutely beautiful veil that was also exactly what I wanted! 
It was one of those very rare days where everything seems to go perfectly...I wish you could custom order those!
