Anyone changing out of their dress before the end of the night?

1) I have a bad knee and I've found that I will have to wear at least some sort of heel the whole night because there's just too much of a height difference between my wedding heels and a pair of flats that my dress will end up dragging on the floor even after bustling the dress. Changing would enable me to wear flats and save myself a night (and a day after) of knee pain.

2) While gorgeous, my dress is a tad bit heavy (lots of lace) and very structured (fit and flair style) and may not be suitable for negotiating a reception of 150 people and trying to socialize, dance, whatever.

3) I don't wear dresses. Dresses in general make me uncomfortable. I love them, I think they're cute and I wish I wore them more often, but I get uncomfortable just wearing a sundress out to lunch with a friend - Like I get home and immediately want to change. If I can't even handle wearing a casual dress all day, how will I ever me able to handle wearing a wedding dress all day?

So now I'm considering changing maybe after our first dance (which will be after dinner). Did anyone else do this/are planning to do this? If so, what did you change into? (i.e. were you dressed just as formal after the change or did you dress down to any degree?)

I'm wearing my dress all night - but I am specifically altering mine so that it is as comfortable as possible. I am with you in that if I'm going to spend money on a dress I want it to be worth it - I.e. Get the full use out of it! That way any pictures that are taken that night too are of you in your gorgeous gown

Wore the hell outta my dress. I chose to wear a small kitten heel so I could change into flats ASAP.

Can you just plan you wear a good flat all night and have it hemmed for that?

@Karen P I'll admit I'm being extremely stubborn on the heels. They're gorgeous and only cost $40. And the dress is exactly the right length in these heels so not only were they only $40, they're also saving me probably nearly $100 to not hem my dress. I'm probably being ridiculous, but I'm fully prepared to deal with the pain if I have to.

Ah gotcha. Try Dr scholl's inserts, the ones that end at the metatarsal and make sure you break shoes in first. I actually have custom orthotics from a podiatrist and they are heaven. But that only works for a pump or peep toe type not anything strappy.

I wore mine all night, even while we unloaded some things from the car. I didn't want to take my dress off. The only reason I did is because I really wanted a shower. lol.

I should mention though, that I wore flats for the whole wedding, so I didn't have to worry about a difference in the length of my dress.

Thanks @Karen P I'll try the Dr. Scholl's, I've been meaning to find some good inserts for my everyday shoes as well.

I am not changing out of mine. I see why people do it but after spending all that I am on a dress, it'll be lucky if it comes off when I get home afterwards lol

Haha @MissWtoMrsH that was exactly my thinking! But I think my FH's just getting into my head! He keeps giving me this all knowing look and telling me I'm going to regret not changing!

I love my dress, so I will be wearing it as long as possible. I will change out of it to leave the reception, though, because we're riding our tandem bike away and no way that's happening in my dress.

I got a backup dress that is not too expensive. It is knee length. I am planning to keep it in my room and see how I feel. We are both salsa dancers and I just personally hate dancing in long dress. But I also want to wear my wedding dress as long as possible. It's doesn't hurt to get a pretty backup dress and see how things go.

I would definitely not change for my reception! However, I did change once we got back to the hotel and headed down to the after party at the hotel bar. I just bought a white cocktail dress from forever21 to change into. It was only like $20 so if I had ended up not wearing it, it wouldn't have been a big deal!

Backup dress! That's a brilliant idea @OuidaNLuis

I wore my dress for as long as I possibly could. My dress was hemmed for my heels and I brought a pair of flats to wear at the reception in case. I was having so much fun and really didn't care at that point so I kicked off my heels when they started hurting and went barefoot until we were ready for our exit. I was dragging my dress around but I didn't care. I loved it so much and was having a blast.

I'm doing exactly what @annakay511 did - changing into a short white cocktail dress after the reception for the after party!

I think a back-up "reception dress" is a great plan for you!

My wedding hasn't happened yet, but I plan to wear mine all night.

I planned on wearing mine all night. Unfortunately it didn't happen! I changed at about 11:30 pm into the dress I wore to the rehearsal dinner (all i had!). Our wedding was over by midnight so only a half hour or so but I felt so much better after that. My dress got so hot and heavy!

I plan on wearing mine all night...I spent enough on it.

I would bring a back-up dress just in case. It doesn't have to be anything overly fancy/expensive. But that way you won't be thinking, "Ah, I'm so uncomfortable! If only I'd decided to change dresses!"