Wedding Blog
Rule #1 of alterations - if you can, bring someone with you. I had been worried about going to my first fitting by myself (4 of my 5 bridesmaids don’t live in Chicago), but the experience was perfectly fine except for from a photographic standpoint. I would have loved to have a ton of pictures snapped, but of course, the seamstress needed to be pinning, not snapping!
Check out my awesome photography and the front of my beautiful dress:
If you look at the waist, you’ll see the flower I ordered a while back from 5eizen on Etsy. As a part of the alterations process, the flower will be attached.
Source: Etsy
Of course, the most exciting part of the alterations process is getting the bustle done! Since my dress has so many tiers of fabric, I was intrigued to find out how the bustle would look. Here’s the back of my dress without a bustle:
And here is how the bustle will look all pinned up (I was able to get her to snap one picture!):
Apparently a French bustle (or having it go underneath) looks best for my dress… she was definitely pinning a lot, so I wonder how many hooks will be in place!
I said goodbye to my dress and will see it again in early September, sigh. Since I purchased it as a sample dress, it needs to be cleaned. My seamstress will send it out to be cleaned before I see it again - one less thing for me to worry about.
While my alterations were about $150 more than I’d anticipated spending (although, truly, I had no clue what to expect) and I having to deal with the added sticker shock of paying for the cleaning (another cost I was clueless on), I have to remind myself that we got such a fabulous deal on the dress and to just take a deep breath!
For those of you in Chicago, I went to Ms. Couture at North/Clybourn, who had great reviews online! The store is really cute and my experience was fabulous. And the best part of it? The dress didn’t need to be let out at all, and she even encouraged me not to lose any weight between now and the wedding - she definitely knows how to make a bride-to-be feel fabulous!
Did you go solo for your first fitting or did you bring along your entourage?
|
Share this post: Gettin’ Altered for the Altar
I love the bustle on your dress! The tiers look so pretty 
I’ll have to go solo, there’s no one else around to go.
Your dress looks great
Hafta echo Bear Cub — love the bustle.
Mama Bruschetta came to the (disastrous) first fitting…and then returned with Sister Bruschetta for the second first fitting. But I totally took mirror-enabled self-portraits the whole time anyway!
The bustle looks great! My mom came with me to both of my fittings, but I completely forgot to take pictures every time.
Would you say that Ms. Couture is reasonably priced for what you are having done? I’m in Chicago and am still trying to find a place with reasonable prices for alterations.
@Shanktuck:
I didn’t price out other places, so it’s hard for me to determine what a “fair” price is for this stuff in the city…but to give you an idea, I’m having the dress hemmed, an intricate bustle, cups added, the zipper replaced and it taken in a teeny bit in the chest…she’s charging me $325 for all of this, and then I’m paying an additional amount beyond alterations for my dress to be cleaned.
Quite honestly, I think it’s hard to know what to expect to spend because people won’t give you quotes over the phone, you have to actually go in there, have them pin everything, and then they tell you…hard to back out after that
Hope this helps!
Beautiful dress, I love all the tiers!! So romantic and floaty, me likey
wow beautiful dress. i love the soft flowy layers. it’s a refreshing look, and this is truly a dress that suits the french bustle!
i went alone for my dress design (it’s custom), all fittings / alterations.
Thank you all! I seriously love my dress, and it’s so good that it’s out of the house so that I stop playing dress up…I was putting it on waaay too much
I am SO in love w/ the layers of our dress! LOVE THEM!
I booked an appointment with Ms. Couture all of 15 minutes before I read this post…so happy that your first experience with her was a good one!
[...] back at the beginning of June, I dropped off my dress for alterations. This weekend, I went back in to visit my dress, check things out, and identify any [...]
| Visit our sister sites | Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Fertile Thoughts Infertility Support |
Mrs. Stiletto, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit/Fundraising
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer and Photographer
Engagement Date: March 2, 2008
Wedding Date: September 2009
Venue: The 19th Century Club
About Me: My fiance and I love living in the city of Chicago with our cats Basil and Linus, and vow to never move to the suburbs if we can possibly avoid it! We’ve poured ourselves into planning a wedding that reflects our personal style - modern and high contrast with a vintage twist. Blogging keeps me creative, baking keeps me happy, and grande nonfat no foam sugar free vanilla lattes keep me sane.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
Latest Gallery Pics