to think strapless wedding dresses aren't very flattering.

[meyesmyeyes]

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?

I agree. I would never feel comfortable with any strapless dress as it may slip down

Thanks cattycat believe me the dress is very flattering, I do have a very hourglass figure and running means my legs are Ok.

We had three long tables in pizza express for about 45 people, thankfully everyone gets on do no drama, there were twenty kids so it was very informal, just what we wanted.

It won't slip if it is fitted correctly.

If you have a good figure & great bust they really show it off. Both kinds of dresses are nice, its what flatters you that matters: its just they are more fashionable at present. I would think if you are over size 12 fitted and strapless isnt going to be the most flattering silhouette and white is an unforgiving colour as well. I wouldnt wear fitted strapless now i am heavier than in my size 10 youth. But i would if i got back to a 12. (which would be when hell freezes over/Mr Kipling goes bust).

Sounds great! We were going to do P.E with just our parents and siblings as a first plan but that would not have been enough people to have got the crazed in laws far enough apart!

5Mad^

I had beaded cap sleeves. I got married the day after the Royal wedding and the choice before then was very limited. I had to go everywhere to find a dress I liked with straps. Although straps can be added to a strapless dress its often not the same.

Of course now all the dresses look the same with lace sleeves over a strapless dress, even all the royal wedding dresses look alike (look at the recent Swedish royal wedding...)

I was a sweetheart neckline with substantial straps, beaded top half and big princess cut skirt.

That was in 2001 when it was all 2 piece dresses (corset top and separate skirt), just before they went out and strapless really took off.

I loved mine as it was unfussy overall, but very pretty and detailed (and suited my hourglass figure with chunky legs and strong arms and shoulders!).

LOVE Jackie Kennedy's dress posted earlier in thread too.

I didn't hoik mine up and had no back fat.

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

I know what you mean, but I think it's more nuanced than that.

Bridal models are typically over 5'9", under a size 10, and under age 20 (I was at school with a girl who was bridal modelling from 14). Brides are rarely any of those. The dresses brides like in bridal magazines will look completely different on the average body, but in general we aren't offered more variety than that.

My dress was bespoke, to suit a short, 10/12 busty girl. Anything in the shops would have needed so much adjustment as to be unrecognisable. I was fortunate to have the resources to do so (DM's friend makes wedding dresses for a living but did mine at cost). If I had had to go with what was in the shops I would have had to go for strapless, and I would have looked like a badly tied pork joint all day long.

It's more about the bride's shape than size, for example bust shape. Regardless of size, a pert bust will sit in the dress neater than the same size that which has a droopy shape. Toned works better than softer, fatter skin.

I still love my dress and photos several years on. It was well fitted and didn't go anywhere. The sweetheart neckline and A line skirt made the most of my small bust and waist, but didn't overwhelm me and my lack of height. It was lace which hadn't come into fashion at that point.

I agree MrsMook,
it's not about size. I have seen horrendous strapless ones on slim people as well - where the bodice is standing 'proud' from the body because there are no boobs to fill the dress and make it sit right.

Also, you don't have to be overweight for there to be back fat showing.
If the top of the dress is badly fitted and is digging in too much, then it will be flattening some areas and making other areas bulge.

I agree that it's about shape far more than size. For example, I've seen size 14 - 16 women with absolutely cracking legs. They are not thin at all but the shape is naturally perfect with a thigh gap despite not being at all underweight.

This thread has made me sad.

I wore a strapless Monsoon dress to my wedding 11 years ago and a simple veil. I was 25 and slim and on the day, felt beautiful.

But now I cringe. Too much flesh, immodest in a church. At one point during the dancing, someone stood on the bottom of my dress and it came down revealing my top half.

I just cringe now and it's ruined my memories.

It's a style which looks fab on very few people but is worn by many more than that. YANBU.

Don't be sad, Mughandle. None of us on this thread work for Vogue (I shouldn't think) so don't believe anything we say. It's just opinion not any hard fashion rules you are reading. I stand by what I said earlier, as long as the bride loves her dress it does not matter a jot what anyone else thinks. P.s I bet you did indeed look fantastic.

Strapless wedding dresses are/were very fashionable - loads of things that are fashionable aren't very flattering on many, many people. Skinny jeans, for one. Bootcut jeans, for another!

It's just fashion, it chops and changes, suits some people, but not others.

Not everyone is inherently stylish and confident enough to know exactly what suits and flatters them the best, so they're guided instead by what ostensibly looks good.

All I've got to say!

As someone who used to do a bit of dressmaking, I think the problem is with design limitations. There are very few variations on the bodice of a topless dress so designers go for the distinctiveness in the skirt. I think that this has made for some real design disasters, especially those skirts that look like Austrian blinds or some such.

My current two favorite wedding dresses.

Agree with much of what PPs have said:

• it's not just about being slim. I married in 2001 and was/am 5'9" and size 10/12 but I really don't suit anything strapless - never have, never will! I choose a sleeveless dress with a high neck & low back which suited me far better

• there was a serious lack of choice in the noughties era, I tried on loads of strapless dresses before finding something that I found something better for me because about 80% of the dresses available were strapless

It's a style that only some brides can carry off, but unfortunately seems to be one of those fashions that just takes off and everyone wants to wear it.

Personally I don't really like them as wedding dresses, even on those who can wear them. I much prefer Seneca's picture, which reminds me of Kate Middleton's dress. Simple and graceful is much nicer than strapless, or than those meringue concoctions that were so popular in the 80s. In my opinion anyway.

Oh sh!T - it sounds like I am about to commit all manner of fashion crimes and have a load of people judge me on my choice of dress.

Its my second wedding, I'm not a leggy bridal model, I'm 45, size 14 and 5' 6" with a large bust and I've chosen, from an outlet, a strapless wedding dress. It made me feel fabulous and the friends I took with me agreed it was the best. Now I'm wondering if they were as honest as I thought they were. (They were certainly vocal about some of the ones that I tried on)

I'm now going to be worried about back fat and un-toned arms rather than enjoying the day.

Would a shrug, like on here, satisfy some of these worries, particularly as we're also having a church wedding? Would some of the posters who commented earlier think this was a suitable compromise?

Why, why, why would you choose strapless of you have big jugs??

fingersandthumbs
www.morilee.co.uk/products/1862/#na

That's my dress (makes me die a little inside looking at it now, as I was 19 and skinny when I married DH...now I'm 21 with a mum tum )...strapless, but had a detachable lace shrug-thingy! I wore the shrug in the church (doesn't sit right with me to have bare shoudlers in church!), but then during the photos, one of the hooks holding the shrug in place broke, so I went strapless for the rest of the day
Go with whatever you are comfortable in! As long as it is well-fitted by a decent seamstress, I'm sure you will look stunning for your big day!!

It depends on the church.
My non-church goer SIL used a strapless. I wouldn't have felt comfortable as a Catholic.