Wedding Blog
No. There is no problem with my dress. I still love it. The dilemma is with sister/MOH Joey’s dress.
We bought her dress months ago, way back in September, I think. This cute little number was the perfect shade of yellow, came in petite, and was on sale.
9 months later, we both still love her dress, but now were worried it won’t fit. Having just experienced an unexpected weight loss myself and being shocked by my own dress being too big, I was worried about her.
MOH Joey moved to Vicenza, Italy, in October. Her husband is in the Army. I know that while she may not be actively working out, she’s bound to have lost a bit a of weight. He dress fit her when she left, but it’s possible it will be too big when she gets back.
Alterations will make it an easy fit, right? We’re not so sure. The dress doesn’t seem like the type that’s easy to alter. On top of that, she won’t get to Seattle until 10 days before the wedding. I’m not sure we’ll have time to get it altered or will know of a place that can do it.
So I’m left with a few options. I could just buy a few dresses from places with good return policies. She could look in Italy. Or, we could just risk it and wait until she’s here.
Another option I like is to find her a nice standard black or grey dress when she’s here, and then dressing it up. We could add pleats (similar to the ones on my dress) on the bottom, or I we could dress it up like Megan from Princess Lasertron did. I have a ton of fabric leftover from the table runners. Weird I know, but it could be an interesting detail.
Lucky for us, she’s the only one. I have no other bridesmaids, so we don’t have to worry about matching.
What do you ladies think? I’m open to ideas.
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Would it be too expensive to ship it to her and have her see how it fits? Then if its too big I’m sure she could find someone to do the alterations there! If thats not an option I think I would buy a couple other dresses as back up. The last thing you want to be stressing about a week before your wedding is what she’s going to be wearing!
If it were me, I’d probably risk it and not make any moves until she comes back (unless she’s looking for a great new dress now and can justify buying one out there!). Worst case scenario: you have 10 days to find a new dress. Maybe you could have a few ideas in mind in case this occurs, and that way you’ll know right where to look.
I suggest looking for a local seamstress.
I did that for my area (Portland), and I found an AWESOME russian lady that alters wedding gowns/BM dresses.
I’m not getting back to the states until a week before my wedding - and I still need to do “touch up” alterations.
This lady I found has already altered my dress, but that was in September - I’ve definitely lost weight. She has a turnaround time of a DAY. When I told her I needed to do my alterations a week before the wedding, she said it was no problem.
Maybe that could work for you, too?
I’m with snoopnaz23… I have 3 BM’s and none of them live in the same city as me… let alone same state 
anyway, I had them all pick out their dresses, I ordered them (so they didn’t have to pay) and when they come in I will send them to them so they can have them altered if needed. Once they’re good to go, they can mail them to me so they don’t have to travel with them and I can ensure they’re pressed and ready for the wedding 
You might be surprised about the turnaround of alterations for a non wedding dress. For my sister’s wedding the alterations were all wrong, allllllllll wrrrrroooooooooong - I tried the dress on on a Thursday and the dress was fixed by Saturday afternoon. Did mention the wedding was Sunday?
Point is, you never know, you could try talking to dress shops near you or you could also trying mailing the dress certified to her and she can have it altered before she comes over.
If you’re looking to save on international shipping, I think you should just keep the dress for now until your sister gets back. If you bought it from Nordstrom, you don’t really have a deadline to return. I would just be on the lookout for dresses at stores with really good return policies too. Macys has a 90 day return policy.
has she said she lost weight to you? Maybe you should talk to her and see how she feels about it fitting. It’s so cute!
I actually don’t think altering that dress would be too difficult — since the skirt is loose and swingy, and the straps are adjustable, you’d really only have to take it in around the bodice/empire waist. (Unlike, say, a sheath or trumpet dress where a seamstress would have to take it in all the way down through the hips). It looks like it zips up the back, so a seamstress could probably just take a little bit in at each side, and it would look like side seams do on any dress. And since it looks like it’s got a bit of a vertical pleat/gather detail, vertical seams wouldn’t be noticeable.
I think ten days would be plenty of time to have it taken in — actually, I bet you might even be able to get a friend with a sewing machine and a few pins to do it in an hour or two! Of course, I can’t really tell what the fabric is or if there’s more detail that doesn’t show up in the photo, but I think ten days would be more than enough time with a decent seamstress.
I think you should wait it out. When she gets here if it’s too large on her, you can take it to Nordstrom, they do alterations there! And because it’s a non-wedding dress it can be done very quickly, so 10 days should be more than enough and it won’t be too pricey. My only other idea would be to send it to her so she can see if it even fits or not, but honestly, altering will probably be cheaper than shipping it to her.
Did she actually SAY she has lost a lot of weight so that the dress won’t fit? Who knows maybe living in Italy she has GAINED! I know i would if I were surrounded by that yummy food 
I’d wait and see how it fits - she’d still have 10 days to find another great dress if it’s way too big.
If you bought the dress at Nordstrom I believe they do free alterations. I would talk to them and tell them your situation and see if they can rush alter it for you 10 days before the wedding. They may be able to having advance notice that the dress will need to be altered.
I can’t get past the idea that someone could move to Italy and LOSE weight!?
I would look into dry clean stores that also do alterations. I have one called alterations to go in a strip mall totally random shop and they get things done within 3-4 days. I have taken all my bridesmaid dresses there. Like another poster said it is not a wedding dress so 9-10 days can totally be enough time. If you have time, send it to her, but if you don’t I would wait, that is just me.
I agree with Sweedishfish. Line up a seamstress now and tell her the circumstances. I just agreed to do a BM dres for a girl having a baby 4 weeks before the wedding in October. She wanted to have me keep that week open, and that works fine for me. The dress does not look complicated to alter. Good luck.
Maripat
LearningAlteration.com
I’ve done lots of tailoring lately (since none of my clothes fit!). I think this dress would be a quick job, as it doesn’t form fit to her whole body. It actually looks like an easier dress to tailor! I think 10 days is plenty of time, so I would just think of other dresses as backups. Keep the receipts! Then if the tailor says 10 days isn’t enough (I doubt that) then you can use plan B.
I used the extra fabric from my runners to sew tote bags after my wedding
Risk it. If it’s too big the halter neck can be tied tighter and you get her a nice bit of black fabric to tie under the bust as a sash. That’ll sort you right out about look awesome.
I had a dress similar to that (strapless and silk chiffon) altered and it was cheap and quick.
When we need to ship to our international friends, we always do so through the local military base. It’s not as risky as shipping to places where your package may be stolen by impoverished locals, and it is SUPER CHEAP!!! (comparatively) But I would say well worth the reassurance that everything fits just right.
I’m so glad you ladies know more about alterations than I do! Lucky for me there are about 6 tailors within a mile of my house — the joys of living close to Chinatown. I may still keep my eye out for other dresses.
@jmc: She doesn’t have a car and walks everywhere. She’s also a pretty picky eater
I’m sure they have a mailbox. They HAVE to. Shipping to an APO address is like shipping to NY. The military picks it up from there and picks up the rest of the shipping (I used to live in Vicenza). Seriously - send her the dress. She will get it in a week and can send it back. No big deal.
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Mrs. Joey, Seattle
Age and Occupation: 28, Project Administrator for Public Health NGO
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, High School History Teacher
Engagement Date: June 24, 2008
Wedding Date: August 2009
Venue: Eastside Catholic Chapel and Lake Union Cafe
About Me: I'm a Seattle girl through and through except for the fact that I don't drink coffee. I love my job most of the time because I get to travel and work with brilliant people who are trying to prevent Malaria. I love DIY projects of all sorts, cooking, and watching sports. I'd wear anything at Anthropologie and could spend all day on Etsy. I love to travel but shouldn't because I always get myself into unbelievable situations!
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