Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think strapless wedding dresses aren't very flattering.

247 replies

meyesmyeyes · 18/06/2015 16:51

They look so unflattering on most people, especially if the top bit is too tight, resulting in any back and side fat 'spilling' up and over the sides of the dress.
You see Brides spending the whole day hoicking the dress up every five minutes - not a good look on your wedding day surely.

Anybody else think that the more traditional dresses look better?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
10
Idontseeanydragons · 18/06/2015 20:09

I had a strapless dress and with hindsight I wouldn't have worn it - there was a jacket to match an I wore that for the service but later on it got very uncomfortable and I did the hitching up thing. This was despite the brilliant fitting service and the fact that I was at the time a size 8 - it just misbehaved! In many photos I look as uncomfortable as I felt and if I could have found something like Kate Middleton's dress that would have been perfect for me.
On the other hand my friend who is both taller and (at the time) larger than me plus is more blessed in the boob department looked absolutely bloody stunning in her strapless number! It fitted her like glove and suited her well.
All depends on the fit and the aftercare from the shop IMO.

KiteKit · 18/06/2015 20:10

I don't like them, have been to numerous weddings and only a couple had the ubiquitous strapless dress, though my sil is getting married this autumn and I am already betting that she will go for one!

I avoided bridal shopping altogether when we got married 11 years ago, it was a winter wedding and I had a cream Marni long skirt and coast made of sort of broderie ange lace (suddenly lost my ability to spell!) and then a champagne silk alice temperley evening top once I took off the coat, bronze miu miu t-bar heels. I showed a work colleague a photo after the wedding and he said I looked like I should be on the Titanic (he meant it nicely - it did have a vintage 20/30's feel to it) (i DO know when the titanic was btw)

I shopped in Harrods and Harvey Nichols and still spent a hell of a lot less than most 'traditional' gowns and i seriously LOVED my outfit. It helped that was I 5ft 9" and was a size 8/10 back then!

Original poster
meyesmyeyes · 18/06/2015 20:12

TheCraigDealer,

Jackie O's wedding dress is beautiful.

Simple and Classy.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 18/06/2015 20:16

So it's an even split of posters saying, they look awful and those who say, oh, but I looked stunning in mine Wink.

icelollycraving · 18/06/2015 20:17

I am a size 20 so obviously I'm not slim. I did lots of toning of my arms. My dress looked bloody awesome. I got married on a beach so something with sleeves was not suitable. I wouldn't have wanted one like that anyway. My dress was basically a huge pouff of tulle. Dh thought I was going to wear a little summer dress.

icelollycraving · 18/06/2015 20:18

I find the covered up dresses with lots of lace a bit Miss Havisham.

emzii206 · 18/06/2015 20:21

To be perfectly honest, if it is well-fitted, a strapless dress can look nice on anyone (boobs permitting!). The problem starts when people decide to be cheapskates, and buy their dress straight off the rack, and don't have any alterations....The old "If it zips up then it fits" theory. More often than not, when it comes to wedding dresses, you often need a smaller size than you would usually wear, and still have it altered! I'm a hobbit petite, and didn't have time to wait for the shorter-length version of my dress to be delivered from the designer, so I ordered the regular length, then paid £150 for alterations, and it fit like a glove! No tripping over the bottom, no boob-explosions, and no "over-spill". It was strapless and I was absolutely in love with it, I have never felt more beautiful than I did on my wedding day. But it also had hooks to attach a little lace shoulder-cover-up-thingy, which made the dress look like it had some beautiful back-detail. I wore that in the church (doesn't sit right with me to have bare shoulders in church), and for some of the photos, but then one of the damn hooks broke, and I had to take it off...which turned out to be a godsend because I got married on the hottest day of last year!

5madthings · 18/06/2015 20:23

It depends on the dress and who is wearing it, my friend wore a strapless dress at her wedding recentky and it looked amazing but she's slim. Toned and tanned.

I went for a 50's style dress when I got married last month ad it suits my shape, I loved it.

to think strapless wedding dresses aren't very flattering.
Original poster
meyesmyeyes · 18/06/2015 20:24

Yes, I'm not struck on long lazy sleeves.
The short, little sleeve on this gown is pretty:

www.feedinspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wedding-dresses-uk-with-sleeves-bridesmaid-dresses-with-sleeves-uk-2014-2015.jpg

OP posts:
Original poster
meyesmyeyes · 18/06/2015 20:24

long LACY sleeves, not long LAZY Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
meyesmyeyes · 18/06/2015 20:25

A small cap sleeve is good.

Not as frumpy as a long sleeve, but still shows a lot of arm.

OP posts:
Original poster
meyesmyeyes · 18/06/2015 20:28

5madthings, It's fun, different and you look amazing!
(love the shoes)

OP posts:
Lweji · 18/06/2015 20:30

I married 16 years ago in short sleeves and I still would. It was fairly cheap then too.
My SIL married in a boring strapless.

TheCraicDealer · 18/06/2015 20:30

I love the coloured underskirt on yours 5mad!

5madthings · 18/06/2015 20:32

We just had a registry office wedding and then lunch in pizza express, very low key and relaxed wedding so the dress was perfect. And yes I love the shoes, I chose those first and planned everything else around them! Thanks myeyes

Lweji · 18/06/2015 20:33

I love that dress, meyesmyeyes

Not that different from mine (slightly longer sleeves and more plain).

5madthings · 18/06/2015 20:34

I had the petticoat made to match my shoes, both the dress and the shoes were made for me by honeypieboutique.Co.UK and only cost me £230 in total. The dress fitted perfectly it laces up the back, I was so nervous ad I had left everything til the last minute so the dress arrived four days before the wedding!

Milliways · 18/06/2015 20:39

My DD was worried about strapless, but she was a young very slim size 8, and with it professionally fitted so she felt confident she looked stunning. The dress was very simple lace and amazing on her. Her only problem was she was ill a few weeks before, lost over half a stone so was eating madly before the wedding so the dress wouldn't be too loose!

LadyFlumpalot · 18/06/2015 20:39

Mine looks amazing! I'm a leggy 5ft4 size 4/6 though. I don't have boobs so don't have any overspill to worry about.

I have asked my seamstress to make a removable halter neck strap for it though in case it feels like it needs hoiking due to the aforementioned lack of boobs!

It's funny, I always said I wouldn't have a strapless dress and now I'm walking up the aisle in two days time in one!

RiderOfDragons · 18/06/2015 20:40

YABU I've seen stunning brides not experiencign that.

They look so unflattering on most people, especially if the top bit is too tight, resulting in any back and side fat 'spilling' up and over the sides of the dress

Their dress is not fitted properly due to seamstress of them losing/gaining weight just before wedding.

You see Brides spending the whole day hoicking the dress up every five minutes - not a good look on your wedding day surely.

The wonders of tit tape for those who do lose just before!

Anybody else think that the more traditional dresses look better?

Example? My aunts traditional wedding and bridesmaid dresses were fucking awful. Remember those weird dolly things on toilet rolls...so bad!

RiderOfDragons · 18/06/2015 20:42

I've seen your example, I find it frumpy. That's why there's so many different types nowadays. Grin Best one i saw was strapless, second best was vintage style.

CattyCatCat · 18/06/2015 20:49

You look amazing, 5mad and what a fantastic figure. Would never guess you have five children. I nearly married in exactly the circumstances you describe but unfortunately dh's divorced parents hate each other so much we felt a small table at Pizza Express might end in a fight. We ended up having something a bit bigger at a hotel, with 25 guest to dilute the hatred. It also enabled poor old dh to keep parents at a safe distance apart Grin.

StackladysMorphicResonator · 18/06/2015 20:56

IMHO strapless dresses don't look good unless you have very slim shoulders and arms, and even then they must be correctly fitted to avoid the dreaded 'back fat' or boob spillage.

Most people look miles better in something with straps or sleeves, but I appreciate that that isn't the fashion so it's more difficult to find one like that.

elderflowerlemonade · 18/06/2015 21:11

I was a nice slim size 10 when I got married - not in a sleeveless dress - but IME most brides scrub up well.

This is turning uncomfortably into 'only slim women look good getting married'.

Caboodle · 18/06/2015 21:17

Yabu...I looked lovely in mine Grin
As did my relative recently in hers and she is a larger lady. Thing is, we both made sure they fit us perfectly; no back fat and no hoicking.
I also had my skirt made slightly shorter at the front so I didn't do the holding up of the front of the dress thing most brides seem to do to enable them to actually walk.