*I wrote this post before the wedding, but held off on publishing it until now.*
Shopping for wedding dresses and realizing I had just found THE DRESS
When we last chatted about my wedding dress I mentioned that I had the teeny tiny problem that it didn’t zip up. Somehow or other by chest had inflated 2 inches in the last few months when I wasn’t looking? After that I watched what I ate, hit my bikini boot camp classes in the rain when no one else (save for one other lady) showed up and it was paying off. A few pounds lost and half an inch from my chest. But it was too late. I tried my dress on again a month away from the wedding and the zipper was still a good 1.5 inches away at the top.
My mom told me to stop worrying about losing the inches and just take the dress in for alterations. I called the dress shop up at 6:30 pm on a Friday and sheepishly asked if they had an appointment for the next day. And I even more sheepishly said the wedding is in July. Luckily I was able to get in at 4:00 pm the next day. Phew, I was lucky because I almost left it too late.
The seamstress was really nice. She ripped apart a seam near the zipper but there wasn’t enough seam allowance to allow us to let it out. Taking the zipper out and changing it to a corset back is simple enough so that is the direction we decided to go. (Sigh, I’m going to miss you zipper with pretty little buttons overtop…) 
I had enough silk left over from my hair flower so I brought it in, in case the seamstress wanted to use it for the modesty panel. I also brought the miscellaneous bonus pieces from my dress in case they could help and I think she contemplated using parts for the lace up.
After the zipper was replaced with a corset back the chest was too large (oh the irony)! They had to take it in now, but I also had to switch out from my bust minimizing strapless bra for something that wouldn’t smoosh the girls down quite so much – the Victoria’s Secret Biofit 7 Way Bra. I also picked up a pair of Spanx Simplicity Panties so I wouldn’t have to worry about sucking my tummy in all the time during photos.
After two rounds of alterations my dress was ready to pick up just a couple of days before Mr. Gazelle and I had to leave Calgary. I was so lucky that they were able to make all of the alterations in time. If I have any advice, if you are worried that your dress won’t fit, don’t put it off. Just get it altered. I feel beautiful in my dress and I’m happy with the changes that were made to it. Now I can’t wait to wear it!!
Did you have a dress fitting conundrum? How did you handle it?
4 comments:
Your Seamstress really knew what would work. I love how she turned it into a corset back. Very Anthropologie-esque in my mind.
Your dress is so beautiful!! The corset back looks like it was meant to be there!
Thankfully I didn't need any alternations on the top of the dress but I had a very detailed bottom and wanted a french bustle so I had a few fittings.
There were some tears involved as one of the seamstresses wasn't very nice and made me feel bad for wanting a french bustle. It stayed up the entire night and I didn't have to carry my train which is all I wanted (and paid for!).
you look great in your dress! I'm so glad you were able to get in done in time and it looked fabulous!
My only fitting woe was a "thank goodness this happened today and not a week from now" moment. Since I was living in Ottawa and the wedding was in Calgary, I didn't get to have my dress fitting until the week before my wedding (the only time I was there and the dress was there).
As I went to zip up the dress, the zipper broke. The brand new zipper on my never before worn dress broke. We all kind of laughed about it thinking "well, if it was going to break, now is the time!"
I think I would have been sad to give up those beautiful buttons as well- but you and your corset back looked gorgeous!
Post a Comment