Weddingbee Blog

So you might remember that I was really conflicted about my wedding dress. On one hand, it was exactly what I wanted in a dress, and, on the other hand, it put a little more cleavage on display than I wanted it to.

Okay, so you totally don’t remember, but here are a few posts to get you up to speed: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. And here’s me trying on the dress (in a larger size than I actually purchased) picture:

Because I felt so conflicted, I stuffed the dress into a closet right after I got it… and I waited. I waited until it was pretty much too late to get another dress. Maybe I was trying to tell myself that I wanted to wear the one I already had?

I knew I needed to take it to a seamstress, but I wanted the dress to mostly look the same, just with a little added coverage. I was really afraid that I would end up with a dress that looked entirely different if I didn’t give a seamstress clear directions. Honestly, I’m not sure why I was so convinced that that would happen. Well, okay, our wedding day was getting closer, my wedding dress wasn’t wearable yet, and rationality had probably long gone out the window at that point.

Zen bride-to-be? No, that was most definitely not me.

What to do? Clearly I needed a plan before I went, but I was too emotionally involved in the situation to come up with one. Luckily, my sister came up with a solution for me: Add more tulle to the illusion straps of the dress.

Of course! The illusion straps were actually relatively skimpy. Adding more tulle would camouflage the cleavage issue and retain the integrity of the dress design.

So I paid a visit to my local Jo-Ann fabric store, figured out that ivory bridal tulle was an exact match to the tulle on the dress, bought a couple of yards of the tulle, and headed to a seamstress. She added extra tulle to the straps and tightened the bodice a little bit. My last fitting was eight days before the wedding, and the dress fit perfectly.

But somehow I lost weight in those eight days before the wedding. (Okay, I admit it—I might have been a little too stressed out to eat properly.) Luckily, I wore a sari for the ceremony, so I didn’t need to worry about feeling uncovered or scandalous while saying my vows. And with the help of some fashion tape and a few, um, strategic readjustments, my dress made it through the reception pretty well. As an added bonus, I got a lot of compliments on the dress… and the tasteful cleavage. I didn’t quite expect that!

But don’t take my word for it—what do you think?

(No, I have no idea why my head is cut off in that picture. None whatsoever. But it’s still the best picture I could find of my dress. Clearly it’s time to track down more pictures…)

Have you ever been conflicted about a wedding dress purchase? Did you make it work for you or find another dress that worked out better?