I'm freaking. (dress issue)

[asm198]

I'm having a dress issue and am in need of some moral support. I'm getting married on Saturday, the 30th and I hate my dress. Well, that's not exactly true, I actually like the dress very much, but it looks terrible on me. There's obviously no time for alterations, so I'm at a loss as to what to do.

I bought the dress back in September and it fit perfectly and it looked pretty nice on me. Since then, I ended up gaining 20 pounds and realized the dress didn't fit anymore. I've worked really hard to lose the weight and am within 5 pounds of what I weighed when I bought the dress. Here's where the issues come in.

My dress is a pretty simple, strapless, a-line dress with beading on the front. It has boning built into the dress, but I was told I needed to wear a longline bra with the dress. Well, I can zip up the dress with a longline bra on, but I can't breathe at all and it's so incredibly uncomfortable and hot. It's a bit more comfortable without the longline bra and I honestly can't see any difference in the shape of the dress with or without the bra on.

My big issues are that the dress seems to be accentuating my problem areas now. I have a rather ample rear and I have a pudgy stomach. I have never been able to find any shapewear that would suck in either of those areas. Also, the boning in the back of the dress keeps poking my rear. Because my rear is so large, the boning pokes me and the fabric kind of gathers at the very top of my rear where the boning ends.

Other than that, and the fact that I decided (and forgot) that I wanted the train to be gone, I have no issues with the dress. The length is fine and in general, the dress fits. I can zip it up and it's not stretching the zipper (that I can tell).

Since it's obviously much, much too late to get it altered, I ended up buying two dresses online. I'm having a casual wedding, so I'm ok with the styles of dresses that I can order quickly. But it does upset me that I didn't have this taken care of much before now.

Anyway, I just needed to vent to people who might be able to understand. Thanks.

[NicksBride]

oh dear I am sorry. IT does happen, and it sounds like you lost weight. I am sure you look better then you think, it may be your self conscience coming through. Just try on the other dresses you bought and find one that suits you well. What does others say about your dresss? Again I have a feeling that you may just be uncomfortable and may find more flaws then what is really there! You will be beautiful. Have you tried finding those things called Spanx? They suck you in everywhere. You can find them online.

[Goin2thechapel]

Aww..Amanda (My name is Amanda too :)) I am soo sorry that this happened to you. It's happened to numerous people before too so you're not the only one and you won't be the last :)

As long as you're happy on your wedding day that's all that counts. If you like the dresses that you purchased online then go with it. And you can totally vent with us anytime :) You know that were glad to have you here!!

[asm198]

Yeah, I'm sure I'm probably being much harder on myself and noticing things that other people wouldn't. Currently, I only have one of the two dresses I ordered. The other one will be arriving on Monday.

The only person who has seen me in the dress (since I bought it) is my best man. He thinks it's looks ok, but you know how guys can be. None of the females involved in the wedding (bridesmaids or mom's) have seen the dress since the day it was purchased. They all live several hours away and haven't been to visit since I bought the dress.

I bought a Spanx knockoff at Target to see if it would work and it did nothing to help out at all. My problem stomach area is the part below my belly button and nothing I've found actually pulls in on that area.

I guess part of the reason I'm so bummed is because I've worked pretty hard to lose the weight and I'm so close, but have run out of time. The only thing I guess I can do now is to keep up with my workouts and hope for the best. I just feel like I don't look as good as I could and honestly feel like I look silly in the dress, which upsets me more than I'd like to admit.

Thanks for reading and responding, NicksBride. It makes me feel a little better to be able to vent about this.

[asm198]

Aww..Amanda (My name is Amanda too :)) I am soo sorry that this happened to you. It's happened to numerous people before too so you're not the only one and you won't be the last :)

As long as you're happy on your wedding day that's all that counts. If you like the dresses that you purchased online then go with it. And you can totally vent with us anytime :) You know that were glad to have you here!!

You're right. I just hope I will be happy on the day, but right now, I am too stressed to be even remotely happy. My poor fiance doesn't know what to do with me at the moment.

[asm198]

I've decided that I'm going to call around on Monday and see if I can find a seamstress who will at least take a look at my dress and give me some feedback. Who knows, maybe I'm not wearing it correctly (somehow) or I don't need to wear the longline bra or something. And maybe I'll luck out and someone will be available to take off the train. I would do it myself, but I don't trust that I'll get it straight. I know that sounds totally insane, but I'm pretty handy with a sewing machine and it would not be a complicated alteration because my train is one layer of chiffon and that's it.

And if I can't find anyone to do anything, then I will try on the three dresses and go from there. Venting felt good and now I can work on solving the issue.

[lize566]

I have a similar body type as the one you described and I feel like my dress bring attention to my lower abdomen. I went to Lane Bryant, a plus size clothing store, and bought a full body leotard type thing that hold my stomach in. It comes with removable straps so it would work with strapless dresses. It really just smooths you out and gets rid of any bumps under the dress, which is really what I think makes you look smaller anyway. I would try something like that maybe. I don't really know how to fix the back of the dress, though, but maybe this will fix the front! Good Luck and let us know how it turns out.

[asm198]

Jeez, I keep forgetting about Lane Bryant! I'll head over there this week and see what I can find. Thanks for the suggestion, lize566!

[4424]

i agree with what has been said. i'd also like to add that i don't think it is too late for alterations! you have 1 full week. a seamstress should be able to work with you as an emergency type situation so contact your seamstress or call around!!