BM dress help....(sorry kinda long)

SgtK9GF

Hi. I've been 'lurking' here on the Knot for awhile now do to helping a few friends of mine with planning weddings and hopeful soon my own .

First I have to say the Knot is a wonderful place to get wedding info and ideas.

Now for an issue that I have run into.

The 1 wedding that I'm helping with, I am also in the wedding party. The wedding is in Nov. I went and looked at BM dresses a few months ago (end of last year) and found one that I really really liked and the BF who went with me said that it was the one. (The bride said that the BM dresses have to be red and floor length.) While I had the dress on, the BF took a pic of me in it and I sent it to the bride asking to make sure that it would be fine. (I like to double check stuff.) The bride loved the dress and said it was great to go ahaead and get it. So I got measured and I was told that in that particular dress I would need a size 16. (At the time i wore a street size 12-14.)I questioned them on the size 16 and they showed me the measurements and said that the specific dress along with a few others the sizes ran smaller for some reason. Ok. Since I was out of work and once again out of work and knew it was going to take a good while to pay for the dress I had them "order" it. They rang it up and that and I put down $20 on the dress. The told me that the dress wouldn't actually get ordered until 55% of the dress total was paid for. Ok. No problem I have time. I got a phone call not quite 2 months later saying the dress was in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went in to make sure it was the right dress try in on and question them as to why the dress was ordered. I try the dress on it's a size 18 not a 16!!!!!! so I grab the attendant and told her the problem who then went to get the manager and told me to not change out of the dress yet so the manager could see it on me. The manager comes and looks at the dress and sees that it's a good 3-4 sizes to big on me. Tells me to change out of it while she looks the records up to see what happened. Admitted that it was their fault on wrong size and ordered at wrong time. They knocked about 10% off of my bill. Alterations at this point were stiill doable.
Since that time I have lost about 10 pounds. OK, no big deal really except I have gone from a (street size)12-14 to a size 6 possibly even a size 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know how or why but I've just dropped a lot of sizes. I'm afraid to go back and try the dress on now cause I know how bid it was last time. I was starting to swim in it. What do I do? The BF's mom is going to do my alterations on whatever dress i get. I don't know what to do. I wasn't planning on losing any weight let alone that many sizes. The sales receipt says all sales are final. Do I continue and finish paying for a dress that's way to big and possibly past being altered and try and sell it if it can't be altered and get a different dress? Do I see if they can somehow let me exchange/swap or whatever for a different dress? Help!!!!!! Has anyone had any kind of issue like this before  or have any ideas? I'm open to all help and ideas right now. Sorry that this was soooooo long. I really wanted to try and keep it short. Thanks!!!! here's a pic of the dress. BTW the beading is very elaborate and the dress has been discontinued.

AutumnFair

Man, you are definitely in a pickle. First I would see what other sizes the BM have ordered. If you can get away with switching with certain people that work out better. I really don't know how much dress sizes you can go down but I think a 18 to a 4 or 6 is too much, when it is that big usually the dress has to be torn all apart. I would actually call around a professional taylor/seamstress and explain the situation to see what their thoughts are or what they would possible quote you (which can indicate how bad alteration might be). If the quote is too high I would just order another dress or see if they will swap it (because they were at fault with the ordering the wrong size even though you've gotten smaller naturally).

greygarnett

Alterations will especially be difficult with that beaded wrap portion in the skirt. With all you'll need taken in it will wrap oddly (Congrats on on that weight loss tho btw! I wish I could do that without trying!!). Definatly see if they can exchange it since they did order the wrong size but just order the one you need. Otherwise you could always just buy another dress and maybe sell that one if nobody else in the WP can use it?

kimberlygo

I know you don't want to buy another dress. But maybe you will have to do that.  Losing that much weight sounds like a happy problem.  Congrats

DeeDee00

where are you getting this dress from? some places do swap for a new size. i had the same problem. the company ordered me the wrong size and then they just basically took it back and reordered for the new one. most of the time they expect that people could be dieting or could lose weight. call the company and see what their policy is. 

SgtK9GF

Thanks for all of ya'lls input. I plan on going to the store this weekend to see what can be done. I'm hoping they say that I can swap it for another dress since this one was just discontinued. It wasn't to be ordered until june and 'final' measurements were to be taken to make sure the size was right. So much for that do their mess ups.
If they won't swap the dress, checking with the rest of the bridesmaids is a good idea. I hadn't thought of that.
The BFs mom is a professional seamstress and she's doing any alterations I need. She said taking it in as much as it will need would be a massive job and a bit hard do to how the dress is made but it could be done. She said if I can get a different dress it would be better. I just have to see what happens when I talk to the store.
Again thanks for ideas and help. It's really appreciated.