Wedding dress?

How long is it until your wedding? Generally a wedding dress can be taken in between one and three sizes depending on the style and construction of the dress, but if you have a lot of weight to lose, you may not like, or have chosen the same style of dress that you would after it was lost. Above and beyond that, dresses tend to lose their shape/be more expensive to alter than would be worth the cost.

Also, dresses generally take 6-12 months to come in, and can require as much as 3 months time for alterations, more if you're taking it down several sizes, so those are other things to consider when deciding when to shop and what size to buy.

In my case, I sized up from the sample size to fit my largest measurement, so that if I didn't lose weight, I would still fit my dress. Between purchasing my dress and my wedding (which is now 1 month away), I've lost about 5kg (11ish pounds), and have had to have it taken in, but not a full dress size - and I would have needed some alterations anyway, so this seemed like a sensible route to me.

I bought my dress and told them I planned to “maintain”. In reality, I changed the way I eat and have lost almost 15 pounds. My dress still fits, but it had an inner corset that can be adjusted. I would talk to the shops where you want to look at. It’s hard to predict where the weight you lose will come off.

I agree with Rosie that this all depends on how much time you have & how much you plan to lose (realistically) to be at your “feel good weight”. I would highly recommend ordering your dress a year out. So, using that number as a guideline, how much can you realistically lose before you NEED to order your dress? You can speak with your bridal shop to find out how many sizes it can be altered. Your bridal shop will take measurements & you can use the designers website to stay within the normal 1-2 sizes the dress can be altered to. So, keep track of your measurements rather than the scale.

Since your wedding is nearly 2 years away, I would definitely wait until about a year out to start trying on dresses. That gives you plenty of time to lose weight and be at the size you need to order.

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My wedding is in October of 2023 so like a year and a half.

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You need at least a year when it comes to dress shopping, ordering (if it required), and alterations, so I say give yourself at least those 6 months to lose weight and look at the type of style(s) of dress that you would prefer and like to try on.

I’m in the same position. I just ordered my dress and only have until October. But I wanted to start going to the gym because I want to lose a little more and have hit a plateau but I’m afraid I’ll drop too much weight 😅 I would love to lose about 15 pounds. The thing is I’ve lost 20 in the last year making the bare minimum of changes so the gym might be risky 😬