Wedding Dress Alterations – Expert Advice For A Stress Free Process

If you’ve found your dress or you’re being very thorough in your research before you purchase your dress, wedding dress alterations are needed for 99.9% of brides, so, you’re in good company with this in-depth article! Button and Bows Alterations are experts in their field of wedding dress alterations and we welcome them onto the blog to take you through step by step of what to expect and what to do when it comes to wedding dress alterations for your big day! So sit back and have a read to ensure that you’re prepared and that your wedding dress alteration journey is as stress-free as possible!

Image: MarkUza Photography Dress: River Elliot Bridal

The Preparation

“You’ve got the dress and it needs altering here’s what happens next… Book an apt with a recommended seamstress who has years of bridal experience and make sure they are insured.  This is not a job for someone taking up jeans all day or a well-meaning aunty with a sewing machine.”

“Book as soon as you can.  If the shop has already given you the heads up that the hem will need taking up book as soon as you buy the dress. Be prepared to have fittings during daylight hours! Mon -Fri.  Seamstresses need to sew, fit, sleep, eat, and see family too, especially true during the busy season March-Sept.“

Image: MarkUza Photography Dress: River Elliot Bridal

“Try and use a seamstress local to you, this cuts a lot of stress out – For example, you buy your dress near to your mums, a best friend, in say, Essex, but you live in Manchester.  The shop may have recommended a seamstress local or even in-house for your wedding dress alterations.  You may think, I’ll just tie in fittings with a visit to the friend/relative, etc.  But what IF the shoes for your fitting don’t arrive in time, there’s a work commitment unforeseen, or you’re just not feeling well? You’ll be making mad dashes halfway across the country for a 30-minute fitting only to be told that you’ll need another fitting as you’ve lost weight due to all the stress!! Or you get halfway only to remember you left your wonder pants at home. I can almost hear your cry from here.”

“Preparation is key so ALWAYS ALWAYS bring the underwear, shape-wear, underskirt, and shoes you are going to be wearing on the day, and yes it does matter! I know there will be fitters screaming this up and down the country.”

The Bra

“Let’s start from the top! Boobs! if you would never answer the door to the postman without a bra DO NOT buy a backless dress for your wedding day.  Okay so you did, what can we do about it? Often dresses do what you pay them to.  But an awful lot of backless dresses are not constructed to take a C+ cup that needs help to stay in position.  We have fitted illusion and low back dresses up to an E cup with a big thank you to Mother Nature or Byebra and other various stick-on cups. But not everyone has a gravity-defying E cup and not all dresses work with a sew-in cup.”

Image:Camilla Andrea Photography Dress:River Elliot Bridal

“If more boob is what you require, bump pads can be added. We have fitted many of these and they can help shape out a little curve or be positioned in such a way that they push up your natural assets for a little decolletage. Big or small, it is wise if you are going to wear a bra to buy a nude coloured strapless bra that you do not mind your seamstress cutting up, into, or stitching to your dress.”

Image:Camilla Andrea Photography Dress:River Elliot Bridal

Bums & Tums

“Shape-wear, it’s everywhere and a lot of brides choose to wear it. Even if they are not sucking you in an inch they can add a very smooth line to the dress whether you’re size 0 or 32. Make sure if you are wearing it that you don’t have your very first fitting without it and then come to a subsequent fitting with it. Your seamstress may have to redo the alterations and be very annoyed as you too will be when they hand you the bill. Need extra bum cheek? There’s a pant for that at Love My Bubbles”

Dress: Hazaar of London

Hems

‘Why do they make wedding dresses for 6ft brides?’

“Hems, ah hems, one of the things when quoting we have to explain is that even though it only needs an inch off it doesn’t make the job any cheaper than taking off 2 inches we still have to cut and sew the same piece of fabric and the same amount of layers. Hems can sometimes be the most expensive when it comes to wedding dress alterations. Lace trimmed hems, beaded, and any special finish e.g. ballooned hem, pleated are some of the more expensive to alter.”

Dress: Hazaar of London

‘Why do they make them so ridiculously long?’ This is the biggest complaint. Manufacturers are trying to accommodate so many heights add to that heel height and I cannot imagine there’s a mathematician willing to come up with the perfect length let alone a pattern cutter. All I can say to help this be less of a problem is to have the shoes you will wear on your wedding day with you when you go to choose and order your dress. Some manufacturers have different lengths that can be ordered. Always worth asking your shop if this is something your dress designer offers.”

“If your dress is a tad too long or short it may be cheaper to change shoes. As simple as this sounds it’s amazing how many brides do not think of doing this. Another option is to wear an underskirt with a hoop. I don’t mean the big ones with lots of nets. A small hoop with one bone and no net will not only potentially raise your hem a little it will hold your dress shape, stop layers collapsing into your legs and provide much-needed airflow if it’s a hot day!”

Dress: Hazaar of London

Changing Shape and Weight

“Hugely sensitive subject for many reasons.  Having fitted thousands of brides and maids over 18 years I have seen and heard it all. I do wish weight and body shape wasn’t such a sensitive subject but it is. Even with the baby steps being made in the fashion industry ask any fitter and they will tell you weight and body image are still a huge issue for brides and having an Instafabulous wedding is not helping this.”

Image: Amber Marie Photography

“I have never known it to be such a huge issue as it has been the last few yrs. Get inside any fitting room and I guarantee most brides are worrying over whether they look too fat, too thin, have big arms, no boobs, boobs too big, etc., etc., etc…..depending on which way the Instawind is blowing it changes from boob fixation to bum, at the moment it’s blowing bums!”

“Here’s the tricky part, fitting you, and doing it in the minefield of body image. The best way to look at us fitters is to think of us a bit like a Dr. we see so many women in next to nothing. All different shapes, sizes, heights, etc. that we really don’t give it a second thought. We are purely interested in the way the garment is fitting. Most backroom conversations won’t be about the shape, and weight of the bride but about the quality of the dress and it’s construction, we are primarily dress geeks. We couldn’t care less if you are a size 0 or a 32 we are there to make your dress fit like a glove BUT we can only do this if you are open and honest about your body.”

Image: Amber Marie Photography

“Recently had a baby? and you’re body is still in the throes of transition back to pre-pregnancy, if you don’t come in with a baby we won’t know. Are you still breastfeeding? Do you suffer from any condition that causes bloating or take medications that can cause bloating e.g. steroids, IBS tell us. Anything that will affect your body shape over the course of the fitting process we need to know.”

“Fitters have no abilities for time travel, we have no idea how your body will fit in 4 wks’ time if you are losing/gaining weight. You are going to be fitted into your dress exactly how you are at that point in time. We try and start fitting approx. 6 wks. before the wedding unless it’s a dress requiring lots of modifications.  If you are trying to lose weight or put on weight try and be at your goal weight 6 wks. before your wedding.  I’m sure shops are screaming ‘Be at your goal weight at the time of ordering the dress.”  

Image: Amber Marie Photography

The Sizing

“About shops……..We have dresses that come through up to 5 inches too small and 7 inches too big! Extremes I know but there are many in between these numbers and shops do not order dresses deliberately the wrong size-  99.99999% of the time shops are not in the business of selling you the wrong size dress they don’t want an unhappy bride, the hassle or the costs. The best advice I can give is to keep an eye on your measurements. Not high street sizes, they bare absolutely no resemblance to industry-standard pattern cutting charts. I could bore you senseless with talk of ‘ease’ positive and negative along with vanity sizing, I am a dress geek after all.”

Image: Yvonne Lishman Photography Dress: Powdered and Waisted

“So that’s the size issue out the way but also there are shape changers.  This can be anything from surgical enhancement, breast implants, lipo, to tummy tucks. I told you I’ve seen it all. It can also be from working out.  Be careful when toning up as you can add muscle, say, across the back. Although you may have lost weight your dress may not do up.”

Image: Yvonne Lishman Photography Dresses: Powdered and Waisted

The Cost

“Cost is a tricky one… How much does a plumber charge per hr, an electrician, a mechanic? And we don’t seem to bat an eyelid. These professions have been seen in the past as quite traditional male roles and as such it follows that these professions charged a higher rate than what was perceived as traditional female roles e.g. sewing. I can’t help but think if there were more men sewing and fitting the rates would be in line with a mechanic.”

Image: Ioana Porav Dress: Aneberry

“For instance we have brides book an apt, come in and they need nothing doing, apart from a lot of reassurance and to compare ribbon colours to a dress. Now if a plumber was called out and nothing needed to be done, I’m damn sure the plumber won’t be hanging around to discuss whether or not the taps are the right colour and I am equally certain that there will be a charge for his time. A seamstress’s time is just as precious.”

“Geography plays a part, London, as you can imagine is a bit pricier. Skill and experience level, a comparison might be between a senior hair stylist and a stylist. The difficulty level of the alteration, the construction of the dress and the fabrics involved and how many layers. Is there hand work needed, e.g. beading. These factors all play their part in the costings. Always get a quote. If you’re not clear on what’s being done, ask, but be prepared for us dress geeks to bore you senseless with tales of crin and interfacing.”

Images: Ioana Porav Dress: Aneberry

“It is a skill and not many alteration seamstresses will take on bridal because it is not straightforward, hugely time-consuming, and at times a very emotional and supportive role. But we do love it! Because we are dress geeks of the highest order.”