Dancing in a ballgown...

Is there a way for you to make the skirt removable? Have a mid dress and a removable ballgown skirt?

First 3 are same pic. Last is same idea diff dress but maybe this could work for you?

View Quoted Comment I don’t think I could do that to the dress, I’m so in love with it I’d hate to risk not liking it after the change. I looked at one like that and it was pretty but I ended up loving this one so much more

View Quoted Comment Okay it was the only thing i could think of off the top of my head id looked at highlow dresses with removable full skirts for the ceramony

Can you send photos of the dress? Is it possible to just remove the petticoat for the dances? It might also be easier to dance in once it’s bustled.

I wore a wedding ballgown and had a choreographed dance with my dad (he reeeeally wanted to do one of those, start out slow, then shock everyone by breaking into a fast paced dance routine, things lol). We had some crazy dance moves to Uptown Funk and I was able to dance just fine. I had my dress bustled so the train wouldn't get in the way and although I was initially worried that a strapless and puffy gown would make the dance difficult, it really didn't hinder our dance at all! I think you would be just fine to dance in your ballgown

Here's my dad and I in action haha one of the more tame parts of our dance...

A couple options, like others have said you could always do a second dress for dancing, you could remove some of the petticoat after the ceremony, or you could find a way to have the whole skirt remove

You can also look at getting a practice skirt so you get use to dancing in the big skirt (which is 100% doable). It doesn't need to be a formal practice skirt but something of similar size that you can put on to practice in. I have a skirt from renfaires that has a similar amount of fabric to my wedding dress that I'm pulling out to practice our dance in (not a huge petticoat just tons and tons of fabric)

Removing some of your petticoat is a really terrible idea, it will make your dress significantly longer and therefor more of a hazard. You should be fine, the only layer that gave me issues was the lining of my petticoat getting tangled in my feet, I should’ve just cut it off. Just practice and tell your seamstress you need to be able to move. Have a strong bustle.

If the dance is that important to you, buy a second dress to dance in and only wear it for that dance. It's your day, no one is going to think it's weird if you change multiple times.

If keeping the one dress on is more important, then you have to tone down the dress.

Decide what's more important to you then make your choice. Either way, it's your day and whatever you choose, people are going to support. I'm planning on getting a second dress for later in the night when I really want to dance and party. I want to wear my gown as much as possible too, but I know it won't be comfortable to wear all night.

Did you tell the instructors about your dress? The ones I talked to asked about my dress to see if it was restricting at all.

I really don't think the dress will be too big of an issue. I've seen quite a few people do choreographed dances in ball gown dresses and it worked just fine! I think taking the petticoat off would be the easiest option if you want to do a lift of some sort. But otherwise I think once it's bustled it'll be fine!

Thanks guys. I feel a lot more confident about the whole situation knowing other people think dancing in a big dress is still do-able. I'll reach out to the instructors again and see what they can do. I want to be careful to not give too much of what it looks like to the FH (super excited about surprising him), but I think either finding a big skirt or at least telling the instructors would help and still not give too much away.

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Any suggestions on where I might find some sort of practice skirt that kind of size? I'm not sure where to look

View Quoted Comment Etsy is always a good place, but those will be more expensive. JJhouse has some inexpensive petticoats that would work (did a quick google search), a search for ball gown skirt on amazing also has some options.