Your wedding is one of the most memorable and special days in your life, so it’s no wonder you want everything to go perfectly. One of the most crucial aspects for brides to be is choosing a wedding dress, so how can you ensure you find the perfect fit?
A wedding dress is one of the most important clothing purchases you’re likely to ever make.
What’s more, it’s also likely to be one of the most expensive dresses you ever buy, if you buy a brand new dress.
There are numerous wedding dress shops throughout the UK with numerous different styles of wedding dresses, ranging from low, to medium and high prices.
You do need to try dresses on to get an accurate picture of how they will fit…
As a starting point, it’s useful to look at wedding catalogues and magazines to get an idea of the style you may like.
But ultimately you do need to try dresses on to get an accurate picture of how they will fit.
Styles that look great on the pages of glossy magazines may not look quite so perfect on you – which is not surprising, since everyone is different and varying styles suit different people.
The right fit will vary according to your own individual needs. It helps to have a think about what elements you’d particularly like in a dress and if there are any problem areas or areas of your body that you’re not so happy with that you’d like to play down or hide.
For example:
- If you have flabby arms, then you may want to consider a wrap or dress that isn’t sleeveless.
- If your stomach is a problem area, then highly fitted dresses may not be appropriate, but empire style or a-line might be better.
- If you want to show off your curves, then a fitted corset-style dress may be just the ticket.
All of these issues will be involved in determining what dress style you try and are useful to think about in advance of dress hunting so you know what you’re looking for.
But if you really don’t have a clue, you can be guided by the bridal shop itself. A good shop will provide honest feedback on what a dress looks like on you.
In contrast, you can tell a potentially unhelpful sales assistant if they don’t provide any feedback at all and just seem set on selling the dress.
Taking someone with you is useful and, if the shop allows it (many don’t) taking pictures of you wearing the sample dresses is a useful way of seeing what they looked like on you.
Types of Fit
In most bridal shops, dresses are provided for you to try on – but often not in the actual size you need, so you do need a degree of imagination to get an idea of what it would look like when it fits you well.
Once you’ve decided on a dress, it will then be ordered in a standard size and then altered to fit you.
In many cases, the size that is ordered for you in a wedding dress may be one or two sizes bigger than your usual size.
This can be a bit of a shock for some brides-to-be, but is a standard procedure with wedding dresses, as the fit can be very specific, but it also gives a degree of flexibility for dressmakers who subsequently alter it to fit your body shape.
Another option it to have a dress that is made to measure, specifically to fit you. In this instance, you would normally choose a design, or try a similar dress, but the actual dress you end up with is made entirely for you, so isn’t a standard size.
This is the best way of getting the ultimate fit, as it’s made purely for you, but it isn’t an option for everyone as prices tend to start from around £1500 upwards.
Whatever type of dress you eventually plump for, do make sure any necessary alterations will be carried out.
It’s often down to specialist dressmakers to ensure the dress fits your shape correctly and makes you shine like a star on your big day.
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