Wedding Dress & Losing Weight

jenferian

Hi all!

Not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question/seek advice, but I thought I'd try it out! :-)

Here goes: I *just* got engaged this month and we set the wedding date for May 25, 2013. Short engagement, yup!

Now, I know I need to get a dress. And soon. Like right now soon. But I'm holding out until February.

Quick background: this is my second marriage. I first married when I was very young (it lasted 7 months) and I was morbidly obese. A size 24/26. I bought my gown 6 months before the wedding and I was in such denial that I was gaining weight that I refused to go for a final fitting. The week before the wedding, my best friend flew in from college and noticed the weight gain immediately and demanded I try the dress on. It did not fit.

A week before my wedding, I had to buy an off-the-rack size 26 David Bridal gown. I HATED it.

Speed up to 2012. I currently wear a size 8/10, up from a size 4/6 a year ago (I lost the bulk of the weight the year we divorced; I've been thin for the last 8 years or do). A health issue this year (namely, an allergic reaction to antibiotics that covered 60% of my body in the itchiest & ugliest rash you've ever seen; it required oral and topical steroids, including a petroleum-based ointment...in the dog days of summer, I was slathered up in Vaseline) took me off track and I put on right around 18 pounds.

For Christmas, my FI bought me 8 sessions with a personal trainer at our boxing gym. My goal is to slim down as much as possible in January (realistically, 8-10 pounds) and then go dress shopping starting in February.

Here's my question: do I continue to lose weight for the sake of my health or kind of maintain status quo and just firm until our wedding in May? I tend to lose weight mostly in my chest/stomach (vice my thighs where I'm heaviest) and with a fitted bodice, I'm worried I'll be in the same situation again--having to go out and buy a new dress right before the wedding, but only this time because I'm too thin.

How much is too much for a dress to be taken in? Do I need to even worry about this?

Thanks so much, All!!

unchatenfrance

Hi there,

Congrats on your engagement!

The more a dress needs to be taken in, the more expensive it is. But I don't think there's a limit to how much an average dress can be taken in - it just gets more complicated the more it needs to be adjusted (so if, say, 5 inches have to be taken in at the waist, then they'll have to take in the skirt portion as well). Also, it's better to take your dress to a local seamstress than to the store where you bought it to have it altered - bridal salon alterations take forever, but a local seamstress can make last-minute adjustments.

That being said, it sounds like you want to get your health back on track, so do what you feel is necessary, and have the dress altered, no biggie. But don't crash diet to lose weight purposely for the wedding so you can squeeze into a dress that you bought too small on purpose, which doesn't sound like what it is you're going to do! Since you said you will likely lose a lot of the weight from your top half, my only suggestion would be to avoid a dress with beading on top because this will be more complicated (but not impossible) to alter. I had my beaded corset gown taken in about half an inch on both sides of the torso and it cost over $100 at Davids Bridal. Just an FYI on the costs. Also, if it looks like you may lose a lot of inches in the waist which will require the skirt portion of the dress to be adjusted as well, I'd avoid something like a tulle gown that doesn't have vertical seams in the skirt. A-line dresses are probably the easiest to alter if we're talking more than an inch or two here and there.

If you find your weight loss is progressing quite steadily, I'd probably ease off the last month before the wedding and have a final fitting/adjustment done then.

Good luck!

entropicbeauty

Absolutely focus on your heatlh, I ended up losing so much weight that my dress was pretty ill-fitting but I don't regret it at all, and no one else could tell my dress was too big except me.

I recommend getting a corset back, so even if you do lose a few more lbs between your last fitting and the big day, you'll be able to adjust the dress to fit.

Goodluck! And congrats on losing all that weight!

mcda04

My seamstress said he'd be able to take it 2 weeks before if needed. I didn't notice the weight loss so I never tried it on after picking it up. I know bad decision...

My dress was really big on me. It was a halter so I had a bruise behind my neck for about a week since my dress was literally hanging on by the hook. Thank the Lord my hook didn't snap at the reception. lol.

PS. Congratulations on your engagment and your weight loss.

jennylee813

Congratulations on your engagement!

Buy the dress to fit you in February. A skilled seamstress will be able to make it fit (I used to work for a designer). Corset backs are more forgiving, and having things like corset/long line bras will help how the dress fits.

Take care of yourself - the dress is for one day.