Tips when ordering your gown

Order your wedding dress in the size you are now

Realize one thing: designer’s sizing is not the sizing you’ll see in the dresses you buy at the department store. Designers don’t use vanity sizing, and you’ll probably wear two sizes above what you would wear at other stores. So, first thing is to forget what the size says. It doesn’t matter.

Designers give their bridal shops measurements to go by. When you’re ordering a gown, the shop will take your measurements and look at the manufacturer’s chart. They’ll look at the chart and take the largest measurement for a size and order that size. The actual size doesn’t matter here – it’s just the measurement that they need to be sure of.

If you’re a size 10 and you’re ordering a size 14, don’t think a thing of it. That label size doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it fits and fits well.

In alterations, the seamstress can take in three to four sizes, but can only let out about one. If the seamstress has to take out a seam more, than he or she will have to add in fabric and do a lot more to make the dress fit. That’s a lot more work and a lot more cost. That’s why when the shop orders, they’ll pick the largest of your measurements and then tailor the dress down to fit.

If you’re dieting and think you’ll be in a smaller size, that’s great, but still order what you fit into today. You can take the dress in but can’t let it out in case you don’t lose as much as you hoped to lose. It’s tempting to be say it needs to be another size, but that puts a lot of stress and strain on you during your wedding planning. If you lose it, great, the dress can be taken in. If you don’t lose as much, then you will be in for a much larger alterations bill than you planned for paying.

If you are dead set that you will be a smaller size before the wedding, then you might opt for not ordering the dress now. Choose one you can buy off the rack a few months before the wedding.