Should i get a spare wedding dress?

IDK, My ceremony is the beginning of October and I just picked a dress too. The salon I went with suggested paying the rush fee to get it in earlier since their alteration schedule would begin in August, so I paid an additional $160 to get it in June/July. 3 weeks doesn’t seem like a lot of time for alterations, but that depends on who’s doing them and their scheduling I suppose.

Can you pay a rush fee to get it quicker? I would much sooner do that than buy a whole different dress.

I'd book a seamstress now so you'll have the time on their schedule and explain the situation. Se of the better seamstresses in my area don't even have time in their schedules to take any more dress alterations until those for December weddings.

I think if you can afford a backup, definitely get it! Maybe from bhldn or David’s bridal who accept returns?

These seamstresses wait last minute and do the alterations. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. My first dress is still in alterations and my second dress will be getting altered two weeks before my wedding. And my second dress has a lot of beadwork that would need to be done as it’s a fully beaded dress that needs to be cut short, aside from the other alterations, and she said two weeks would be plenty of time for her. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, but as far as if you’re worried about it being too small... sometimes alterations can’t do much if it’s too small. I think you should be good though.

I would bookmark a few dresses you like on a site like Lulus (they have a lot of options, all are pretty affordable, and they ship quickly and have a good return policy) and wait until closer to the wedding then pull the trigger if you have to. Lulu's has a 30 day return policy but styles do sell out and take time to restock so its best to have a few options in mind.

I have a dress I like at Lulu's that, if in stock, I think I may order just a couple weeks before the wedding. This way I have a backup option for bad weather or a dress malfunction, or if I just decide I want to change my dress into something else for dancing, but if I end up not needing it or not liking it and don't use it at all I can still return it within the return window.