When to buy your wedding dress if you’re losing weight

If you’re planning to lose weight after you buy your wedding dress, then there’s no need to be concerned, your dress can still be perfect for your big day! Here’s some guidance, from our experience, that will help your decisions around purchasing your dress if you’re losing weight.

In our experience, it’s best to buy your dress in plenty of time before the wedding ceremony, even if you’re planning on losing weight. It’s best to order your bridal dress as soon as you decide which gown is for you, rather than waiting to lose weight first.

You might be considering a new exercise regime ahead of your wedding. You could be so busy planning that you’ve lost a few pounds without noticing. Regardless, you can still have your dream dress in time for your wedding, even if you change dress sizes between purchasing your wedding dress and walking down the aisle.

Bridal designers and makers like us will then have enough time to order the fabric and begin creating your dress. Allowing us time to plan your full fittings schedule with our team and flexibility to ensure your dress is perfect.

Regardless of your exercise plans, you should purchase your wedding dress 6-8 months before the big day

If you’re thinking about trying to lose some weight before you say ‘I do’, wedding dress shopping can feel like a hopeless endeavour if you’re not currently at your ideal weight. But that doesn’t mean you should leave it to the last minute. Each bridal shop and boutique will approach fittings differently. But as a guide, we advise soon-to-be brides to try and choose their bridal dress around 6-8 months before the wedding. This gives us and our team plenty of time to find the best dress for you, schedule in the various fittings and have enough time at the end for any needed alterations.

Because of this, we always encourage brides to start looking at wedding dresses as soon as possible, even if you’re planning on losing a significant amount of weight. If you wait to lose weight, this can leave you with very little time to find a dress. This can make wedding dress shopping a pressurising and stressful experience instead of the enjoyable one it should be!

What happens if you’re already losing weight after buying your wedding dress?

If you’re planning on losing weight after you’ve purchased your dress, it’s not an issue. Even if you lose weight without trying! Given the time and space to plan ahead, we can make alterations that match your body shape.

There is no right answer when it comes to how much weight you should or should not lose in the run up to your wedding. Many brides want to look their best when they tie the knot, even if that’s simply a matter of toning up.

It’s important to bear in mind that any new workout routine will change your body shape, even if you don’t necessarily feel any weight drop off. When it comes to weight loss, it’s important to discuss any plans you have with your wedding dress designer.

We always listen to our brides and work out a plan of action with them depending on what dress they’ve chosen, so that they can be sure their dress will fit perfectly on the day.

Trying on wedding dresses

Another thing to bear in mind is that there are various stages of the wedding dress process. At your first appointment, your bridal designer and their team will not be taking your exact measurements. The first appointment is all about discussing what bridal dress styles you like and trying on various dresses that take your fancy. The bridal team will adjust and pin the samples to your shape, so there is no reason to worry about dresses not fitting you exactly.

Moving forward, if we know that a bride is planning on losing weight, we would agree with them a date to begin taking measurements. This gives the bride a clear timeframe and goal to work towards. It also helps to factor weight loss into the wedding dress creation so that brides do not have to worry about having a dress that’s too big for them. Another important thing to consider with weight loss is the type of service for your wedding dress you’ve chosen to go with – whether you’ve selected a made to measure, ready-to-wear or fully bespoke dress design.

Standard size dresses

When it comes to standard size wedding dresses, things are done a little differently. Standard size wedding dresses (also called ready-to-wear wedding dresses) are bridal gowns made to standard dress sizes. This type of wedding dress can offer better flexibility with shorter timescales, less tailored dresses and working to a set dress budget. Because ready-to-wear wedding dresses require, by nature, less adjusting, we make each bride’s dress to their nearest standard size at the time of ordering.

If there is enough time between selecting your dress and tying the knot, we can prolong your measurement appointment by a few weeks or even months to accommodate your weight-loss plans. Our recommended alterations service is professionally executed and experienced in taking in standard size wedding dresses. This means if you do lose weight before your wedding day, your dress can easily be adjusted. When it comes to making a standard size dress, we recommend a timeframe of around 3-4 months before your wedding day, although we can work to shorter timeframes if required.

A professional alterations service will need roughly 6-12 weeks to carry out any adjustments that are required, so it’s worth factoring this in when considering how much weight you want to lose and over what timeframe. If you lose weight after this point, a tailor will be able to adjust the size of your wedding dress so that it fits your shape more accurately.

Made to measure dresses

Made to measure wedding dresses are created from a design in our current bridal collection that are then adjusted according to the bride’s individual measurements and tastes. As mentioned above, as standard practice we would discuss and agree on a realistic timeframe between selecting a wedding dress and taking measurements. This gives both the bride and us a reasonable, workable timeframe.

Because made-to-measure bridal dresses involve adjusting to an individual bride’s shape and size, we would ask that brides to aim to reach their desired weight by their measurement appointment. This means that we can keep the pattern and design consistent after this point. However, if a bride needs a little more time or loses weight afterwards without planning to, we can also adjust the dress at the Toile fitting. However, this appointment is the absolute latest point we would recommend to brides aiming for any drastic weight change, as this is when we start to make the dress in silk working from the bride’s unique measurements. This is approximately 3-5 months before the wedding, as this is the timeframe that we dedicate to the fitting process.

Bespoke dresses

A bespoke dress is a wedding dress that is created as a completely unique design for the individual bride. Therefore, it will be specific to the client’s requirements and measurements from the outset. A bespoke design has a very similar fitting schedule for a made to measure dress, the only difference being an extra silk fitting and an additional consultation session on the design work. As with made to measure gowns, it’s important to be realistic about the amount of weight you may lose in the given timeframe between your first consultation and your measurement appointment. This allows us to have a consistent pattern and design from your measurement appointment which can be used to create your dress to your individual requirements and measurements.

The best way to accommodate any planned weight loss is to be as open and upfront with your bridal designer from day one. That way, a realistic schedule can be agreed upon so that your bridal designer has enough time to adjust the dress to your new size, as well as giving you a schedule in which to work towards your weight loss goals.

At Andrea Hawkes, we pride ourselves on offering a wedding dress design service that considers the individual bride at every point. By agreeing on a schedule that works for everyone, we can strike a practical balance between providing enough time for us to create and adjust their perfect dress, and giving the bride a realistic timescale in which to lose their desired amount of weight. Every bride is different, and at every stage we take each bride’s journey into consideration, fostering a transparent, considerate relationship with our clients from the very first appointment.