Weddingbee Blog

OK, hive, today’s the day: I’m finally going to show you pictures of me in my wedding dress.

(Disclaimer: I still feel really self-conscious about posting lots of photos of me in my wedding dress for the sole purpose of everyone looking at me and my dress. I guess I’m still a little uncomfortable being the blatant center of attention, but I know all of you lovely people will be more than nice. And please excuse the horrible tan lines, which I received on a recent trip to the beach.)

After we finished looking at menswear, Mr. Parasol, Brother Parasol, and I headed over to Priscilla of Boston for my first dress fitting. My entourage may seem strange but, trust me, they both really wanted to come. Brother Parasol wanted to see my dress before anyone else in my family did (a feat made infinitely easier given that Sister Parasol was at work and Mama Parasol was out of town), and Mr. Parasol, of course, wanted to partake in anything wedding related, even if he wasn’t actually going to look at me in my dress. He’s funny like that, but I still love him all the same.

The fitting went beautifully. We had the entire salon to ourselves (or at least it felt like it), and my dress was just as gorgeous as I remembered.

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It felt so good to be back in my dress, like seeing an old friend for the first time in years. Maeve is far and above the best piece of clothing I own, and I absolutely loved wearing her again.

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Thankfully, I don’t need too many alterations. Apparently my height (5′ 7.5″) is perfect for this dress, so the hem doesn’t need to be taken up or let out at all. Good thing I’m wearing flats!

I was crossing my fingers that the bodice would be too big. Even though the sample size fit me perfectly, the manager kept asking me if I wanted to order a bigger size, “just in case,” but I didn’t want to. I totally understand why they suggest that brides order a bigger size; a dress can be taken in, but it can’t really be let out all that much, and I can’t imagine how hard it is to deal with a devastated bride whose dress just won’t zip up. But I’ve lost some weight since I bought my dress so, of course, I was hoping that my weight loss was noticeable enough that my dress would have to be taken in.

How thrilled do you think I was when the seamstress had to do this?

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Pretty darn thrilled. The bodice was absolutely huge on me—I basically had to hold it up with my arms so that it wouldn’t fall down. The seamstress will be taking it in quite a bit, as well as adding cups (TMI?) so that I don’t have to worry about my strapless bra peeking out from the back.

She’s also putting in an American bustle, which I absolutely love. I actually did very little research on bustles prior to my fitting. I knew I had to have one put in because my dress has a train, but I never really liked the way bustles looked. Turns out, I’d only ever seen French bustles, like this one:

Image via An Excited Bride

I know that French bustles are really popular right now, but I don’t really love how they look, especially on Maeve. I’ve seen pictures of Maeve with a French bustle and, to me, it looks like the bottom half of the dress has been stuffed into the middle of the dress, and I can’t help thinking that the middle is eating the bottom or something crazy like that. Needless to say, that was not how I wanted my wedding dress to look, but I thought it was my only option.

Then my seamstress did this, and I was in love:

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I couldn’t believe how amazing this bustle looked—it was almost more beautiful than the train! It’s a really simple bustle—three points at the waistline—and it adds some stunning draping to the back of my dress. I couldn’t take my eyes off the back of my dress, and I made Brother Parasol take lots and lots of pictures of it. The seamstress offered to show me what a French bustle looks like, but I was adamant: I wanted an American bustle, and I didn’t need to see any other options to make my decision.

I still have two more fittings until I finally get to take Maeve home with me, and I have no worries that they will go just as well as the first. As I said, there’s really not that much that needs to be done to my dress, and I love it so much just as it is that I’m not making any major or minor design changes. I briefly flirted with the idea of adding straps when I first saw the pictures and had a momentary freak out. I’m just not used to having so much of my chest, shoulders, and back exposed, and so my knee-jerk reaction was to add straps to cover them up. But then I calmed down, I realized I didn’t look half bad showing some skin (right?), and I decided I didn’t want to risk ruining my gorgeous dress. Then I remembered how I felt wearing my dress: amazing. And who wants to change anything when you feel that good?

Just two more months until I get to wear my stunning wedding dress and feel this great (for more reasons than one), and Mr. Parasol can finally see me like this!

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What was your first fitting experience like? Did you have a lot of alterations done, or was your dress pretty much ready as is?