Massachusetts-Boston

To all my 'short" bride friends out there..

Did you have to pay extra for a shorter dress? My dress is all beaded and has a different fabric on the edging of the dress. I'd post a pic, but I dont know how.  Anyway,  I am only 5 feet and 1/2 inch (wicked tall) and when I got fitted they said that it would be tough to shorten it a lot because it would lose the whole style of the dress.  I don't want to do that, because, obvs, that is why I bought it! Anyway, the line is made specifically for the bridal shop I bought my dress at, and they are charging me an extra $100 to have the dress made to my height.  I am not particularly upset, because in order to give teh dress the right look, it would prob cost wayyyyyy more than that for alterations.  Just curious, has this ever happened to any of you?

Re: To all my 'short" bride friends out there..

  • acollupyacollupy member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Yes, I had to pay an extra $200.00 to have my dress made to the correct length. I'm only 5 feet as well so it was something I had no choice but to do. I figured that allterations would have def cost way more that $200.00, plus they said that if the length was wrong the would fix it and not charge me anything.  Hope this helps.
  • 2dBride2dBride member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    My wife (who is all of 5'1") just had her dress shortened, but that meant she lost some of the embroidery.  Beyond a certain point, just hemming it doesn't really work, and you need to have it made differently.
  • edited December 2011
    Same here.. they measured me "hollow to hem" and got the right length so I didn't have to shorten it... but it did cost extra (but like you said... it is WAY less than having it shortened!)
  • KellyH554KellyH554 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I'm just under 5 feet tall, and I didn't get charged extra to shorten either one of my wedding dresses (yes, unfortunately I ended up with two - long story!).  Nor have I gotten charged extra to shorten any of the bridesmaid dresses I've worn (4).  Then again, none of these dresses had any beads or detailing at the bottom.Are there any other options for shortening the dress?  My girls dresses had some details at the bottom, and my sister needed to have it shortened.  Rather than taking it up at the bottom and making it look funny, they actually took it apart at the waist (empire) and shortened it from there.  Of course, that would only work if the dress wasn't all one solid piece.It may not be that unusual to charge extra if it's going to involve considerably more work than a normal hem.  It sounds reasonable to me, though $100 might be kind of steep (what isn't when it comes to weddings though).  Then again, I don't know anything about alterations, so I could be totally off base.  Either way, I'm sure your dress will be gorgeous!  GL!
  • KellyH554KellyH554 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Ohhhh...I TOTALLY misunderstood the question!!  You're having it made to your height?  Yeah, I definitely never did that...since my dresses weren't detailed I didn't have to worry about it.  Hahaha - oops!  :-)
  • tiarabtiarab member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Glad to find out I'm not the only short bride around here! Yes, I did have to pay extra to have my dress "hollow to hem" to fit me. I'm 4'11, and my dress has lace so I really didn't have a choice. Like you, I would rather have the dress look right, so it's worth it to me to pay the extra money.
  • edited December 2011
    I'm the same height, and my dress can't be hemmed, so it had to be made into petite, but they aren't charging me for it. I don't know why, since I didn't ask! It costs more for petites because they have to change the whole pattern of the dress, but $100 doesn't seem high, where I got mine said it's usually $200.
  • edited December 2011
    My dress was available in a petite size, but it still needed to be shortened.  Alterations were included in the price at the shop I went to, so it was no extra cost.
  • edited December 2011
    Another shortie here. :o) I'm 5'2 and had my dress measured hollow to hem. Since I have a lace dress, it was really the only choice.
  • edited December 2011
    I'm 4'10" and got a hollow to hem on my dress aka they made it to my height. Cost me an extra $50. Usually it costs $100 but they gave me a discount, couldn't tell ya why though. Def made a BIG difference. And the only alteration I need now is to take the straps up about an inch. I think its much better than hemming costs!
    BabyFruit Ticker
  • edited December 2011
    ooo and I like that there are so many of us! Some of my friends are 5'2 and always complain about how they are short....I am like HELLO I am under 5 feet, do not complain to me!
    BabyFruit Ticker
  • edited December 2011
    I am short, too, but I don't have details on the edging of the dress, so they told me all I needed was regular hemming to shorten it, which is covered in alteration and doesn't require hollow hem.  That said, I did try on a lace gown by the same designer and when they were quoting me the price, they didn't mention any additional charges for hollow hem.  Another store told me there would be an extra charge for making the dress shorter and others didn't.  So I guess it depends on the designer?
    BabyFruit Ticker
  • Scarlet856Scarlet856 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    That was a real issue for me when shopping too. The dress I picked had the option of being ordered to length. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when I go pick it up next week it will be the right length!
  • edited December 2011
    Wow...didnt think this would be such a helpful post! And I too am glad I am not the only "shorty".  I actually got a $125 discount on my dress in the beginning, mainly because I used to dance with one of the employee's daughters! In theory, I am still saving myself $25 :) If I can ever figure out ANYTHING on here, I will post a pic.  My actual dress is white on white, but the sample was lilac on ivory, so you cant get the whole feel for it anyway.  It should be in by the end of the year-wooo hoooo
  • sprinkles2003sprinkles2003 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Yup, another 5 footer here, I got my dress measured hollow-to-hem as well so it was the exact length I needed, I think that was a couple hundred bucks.  Worth it though, since my dress has tons of detail at the bottom too I didnt want to loose.
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