Radical Weight Loss and Dresses

[Zoni]

I'm a rather heavy girl and I'm planning on dropping a fair deal of weight before my wedding. Enough that it would cause me to be a few sizes smaller than my dress. I haven't gone dress shopping because I'm not sure how long I should wait, considering this. Advice?

[BriansBride07]

You can go to this post there are all kinds of ideas on how to do it the healthy way. best of luck to you.

http://forums.onewed.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23

[Zoni]

I'm already dieting and have been for some while. I just need advice regarding the dress ^_^;

[BriansBride07]

OH, Ok sorry I read the post wrong. I guess then it all depends on how much weight your losing and how much you have lost. most people order there dresses about 9 mo. to 1 year before the wedding and then have the alterations done during the last couple of mo. before the wedding.

[ladymelissa]

What dress are you interested in? Some high end designer dresses can take 6 or more months just to arrive, especially if it is hand made overseas or something. It would really be difficult to get a clear answer on that, you could try calling the manufacturer of the dress, but a bridal shop will most likely just want to nail down the sale and convince you to buy ASAP and then make more money off alterations.

Actually, just to be on the safe side, I think buying your dress about 6 months before is as long as you should wait. Even then, depending on the lead time you may have to put a rush order on it, while other dresses are mass produced and readily available at any given time. It all depends on the dress you have your eye on.

If you continue to lose weight the dress can always be taken in. You need time for it to get there and at least 6-8 weeks for fittings and alterations.

[JennF]

Hi, When purchasing a dress, think about how easy it will be to take in. Pick a style that doesn't have too much boning and skims the waist so that if you lose too much weight to have it taken in for a perfect fit then it will be more forgiving.

And by skimming, I don't mean something completely shapeless. In fact, a little bit of shape will mask the fact if the dress is a little too big on your wedding day. We had a destination wedding (sort of, long story) and did a LOT of walking in the weeks leading up to the wedding. So even thought the seamstress and I agreed that it didn't need to be taken in (even though it was loose) on the big day it was actually almost a size too big. Other than having to watch to make sure that the gap didn't gap, no one noticed, and my pictures looked fine. (considering that I didn't lose as much as I wanted to.)

Also...way to go on the weight loss. But don't let it become the focus of your wedding preparations. Your husband-to-be loves you, and he will continue to love you if you're only partway along your weightloss plan by your wedding day. Don't let concerns about your weight diminish your happiness during the days leading up to your wedding.

[Zoni]

The weight loss is actually my thing. He honestly doesn't mind me being this heavy, and truthfully I'm not THAT heavy, but I have a heart condition that is adversely affected by even a little excess weight. Thus, I'd like to lose the weight for my own piece of mind rather than impressing my FH.

I won't be looking at anything terribly expensive. We're on a very tight budget, I'm afraid. Six to eight weeks for alterations isn't neccessary. My aunt is a professional wedding gown alterationist and she's offered her extremely prompt and talented services.

Right now, truthfully, I'm just worried about having a dress ordered by the six month mark. My mother is paying for the wedding, and for some reason she's refusing to even come help me with it. Thus I can't really do anything for the moment.

[Jacklynn]

It really depends on where you get it. I ordered my dress from David's Bridal and it came in 3 weeks after I ordered it. I don't know if it was just because I ordered it at a slow time or something, of it is normally like that there since several are made in the same style. I ordered it in October, I dk if that is a slow month or not. I would assume not because of Summer weddings being 7-9 months from them.

Good Luck!