Wedding Dress Regrets, Been 3 years.

[SillyCook0]

I got married at 24, had a great day, love my husband. I felt young and daft in the shop and ended up buying the first dress I tried on.

It's been years now and I still sometimes torture myself over it. It crops up when I am anxious about other things in life.

I've attached a photo. I analyse photos and go down a rabbit hole sometimes when I'm feeling low. I don't know what's wrong and why I can't snap out of it!

The dress is gorgeous.

In 30 years you may well be looking back and wonder what the hell you were worried about especially if like the majority, babies and menopause have an adverse affect on your weight..

It's beautiful and classic. Absolutely lovely and fits to perfection.

It's a really lovely dress, classical and flattering - it won't date when you look back!

If it helps I really really hated my wedding photos. The weather conditions made the photographers job very difficult but we been so they were ... some of the worst photos of me (and others, but I was the bride) that I have ever had taken. There are only two I like. One is black and white and taken from a distance and the other is a shot with a crowd around us throwing confetti and I've actually got my eyes shut! People told me that over the years, I'd look at them in a new light and find I loved them. But nearly 24 years on, nope, they are still awful!

It bothered me a lot for a long time but once I had my children I stopped caring much, though I'm still surprised how bad they are considering how much they cost! Sorry I am blathering but I'm trying to say I hope as more time passes you won't think about them or possibly will learn to love them.

Just to reiterate, great dress!

It’s an absolutely stunning stylish elegant dress and absolutely perfect

I think it's a lovely dress and you look gorgeous in it, you have a figure that lots of people would be envious of.

Do you have ONE photo of you in it that you love? I got married outside and my hair is a right mess in most of them from the wind, but I have one or two that it looks nice in so those are the only ones I look at! If you can find one you love then make that your photo to look at yourself in and ignore the others.

You are fixating on this though and you know it doesn't matter. So try to find a way to let it go or focus on the good things in the photos or your memories. I think the current trend of heavy photoshopping and editing of photos gives us unrealistic expectations of how real stomachs and bodies look, don't let that get in your head.

It looks lovely. Stop worrying!

Your dress is perfectly lovely. So elegant! You won’t look back on that in 50 years and think ‘why….?’ As some will with ‘fashion’ dresses. It’s gorgeous, your figure makes me extremely jealous! Oh to be that slim again 😂

@SillyCook0 It's beautiful...and you have a lovely figure.
Stop worrying!
It's like a lovely vintage 1920's style Wedding dress...simple and sleek.

A beautiful, sophisticated dress and your figure is stunning 😍

Your dress is stunning and it's a timeless look! I agree with PPs saying it won't look dated in a decade because it's so classy. I know a woman who went for a trendy assymetrical dress 16 years ago and last year she wanted to post her wedding photos for their 15th anniversary. Well... she hated the look and edited the dress in some Photoworks to make it look less tacky (her words) and then made a post about it. All's well that ends well, but you don't want to look at your wedding pictures decades later and feel like you followed some stupid trend. Your dress is amazing!

OP you look lovely in your dress but I get it, I got married 11 years ago and I wish I’d worn something totally different. The dress I wore wasn’t at all me and I wish I’d gone with something else.

You really do look beautiful in that dress. It is gorgeous.

I tried on loads of dresses and ended up going with the first one I tried on! Sometimes you just hit the mark first time round.

I was expecting a big tacky strapless ballgown when I opened this thread! Your dress is lovely.

One of the nicest wedding dresses I have seen. And you had/have the figure to pull it off.

I'd see a therapist. I imagine it's not uncommon for people to feel disappointed about their wedding day though. It gets hyped up so much.

Such an elegant dress.

You're really lucky to have found it so quickly in your search.

Your dress looks beautiful. It sounds like younfelt self conscious on the day and perhaps it was stressful and the photo reminds you of this?

My friend has (imho) the most beautiful, natural, sweet picture of her and her husband on her wedding day. He is kissing her and she looks beautiful and happy. She hates the picture, as she thinks her fringe looks wonky and put up a much more formal picture where they both look quite stiff and uncomfortable in it. But the straight fringe was important to her and the other photo she liked better.

I'd take the photo down if you don't like it and put one of your honeymoon up if that brings happy memories instead. If I have a photo up in my house I want it to bring me joy!

Be kind to yourself!

I think definitely get some therapy. I suspect the dress is more of a metaphor than the actual thing. I’ve had a couple of times in life when I’ve really struggled with choice…and I’ve become locked in a weird headspace. Maybe it’s something like that, obviously you could have chosen from hundreds of dresses so that might feel overwhelming

Google, “how to stop ruminating,” and know that you’re not alone in this. Lots of people do it and there are ways to stop yourself doing it.

Timeless and elegant...unlike my typical 1980s monstrosity 🤣 (hangs head in hilarious shame...I look at my photos and laugh at how huge and frilly my frock was, and how glorious I thought I looked, bless my young heart 🤣)

YOU, however, looked beautiful...and MN doesn't lie, as I'm sure you've found if you've been on here for any length of time OP 🥰

You looked beautiful. I do understand where you are coming from. I have been married 23 years this year. I loved my dress, but I had it made because I was size 20 and shops didn't cater for that. So i regret that i didn't have the whole trying on different dresses experience. Is that what you regret more than the dress itself?

You mention anxiety, shyness, difficulty with choices, past eating disorder, rumination. Do you have a diagnosis of anything and does that explain some of these things?

It's a really beautiful dress OP, but I just want to say that you're not alone; I also look back and wish I'd chosen a different wedding dress (and I knew before the wedding really, but didn't want to rock the boat by looking for another one when everyone I tried to talk to insisted it was fine).

I remind myself that the day itself was wonderful, and that I have a great marriage with an amazing Man. The dress doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

It's beautiful and classy. Stop focussing on it, instead think about looking back at your wedding photos in 20, 30, 40 years time. You'll see yourself differently. Its definitely one of those dresses that isn't going to look dated when you look back at the photos