To buy a wedding dress 1/2 sizes too small

[nailnc]

I am a size 10 on top and some bottoms, but a size 12 in jeans.

The wedding dress I have fallen in love with is over budget at £2,300. The thought of spending that on a dress makes me wince.

I have found the exact dress, second hand, in perfect condition, for £800. But it's a size 8. It hasn't been altered.

Wedding is 14 months away.

AIBU to buy it and diet and exercise my way into it? Or more accurately, am I being stupid?

Have you ever been a size 8 before? Do you know how much weight you would need to lose to fit into it?

Have you tried on the dress in your usual size and do you know whether you would currently need a 10 or a 12?

I think at your height dropping to a size 8 in 14 months is probably very doable as long as you are disciplined about it.

I'm taller than you and I lost 5kg in about 3 months before my wedding which meant I had to get my size 10 dress altered to a size 8. I wished I'd just bought the size 8.

I lost a stone to get into mine. Mine was on sale too at half off! Fruit and vegetables all day, ever day and 20 minutes of exercise. It's definitely doable if you have to will power. However if you don't, then do not get it. My friend held off her wedding dress to lose weight. She had a year to lose weight. 3 months before the wedding she was exactly the same size! She ended up buying one in her exact size last minute. If you find a bigger size cheaper, you could have it altered?! That would be better than losing weight and worrying about fitting into a tiny one?! Also the sizes of the wedding dresses aren't the same as high street sizes, they are way smaller. If you get one that laces up entirely at the back it will give you leeway.

Get the size 10 body suit.

If you're five foot nothing then the original skirt would need so much shortening to stop you drowning in it that you might as well get a dressmaker to make it up from scratch. It won't be cheap but it'll be way less than two grand.

Try in a size 10 and 12 at full price before deciding.

Be wary of buying the 8 and then trying to resell it - secondhand bridal is notoriously difficult to sell - only buy it if you're happy to potentially lose a lot of money. I'm in a few bridal reselling groups and lots of dresses sit for months, if they sell at all. It's like a brand new car - as soon as the dress leaves the bridal shop, the value plummets and the older the design is and the more owners it's had, the less it's worth whether you've worn it or not. Ellis Bridals make beautiful dresses but they're kind of a mid range bridal designer so they don't hold value the same way a top end designer dress would. I'm just mentioning it to be wary of spending almost a grand on a dress you might not be able to wear or resell easily.

It's silly because a beautiful dress is a beautiful dress, but most brides want to buy new and if not buying new, they want rock bottom prices.

I did this - and it worked. Went on the cabbage soup diet and dropped a stone. This was in 1998 and I was 26. So possible ... I am five foot ten and went from ten and a half stone to nine and a half. Best of luck!

Seems it’s Ellis bridal, in which case the sizes are the same as (most) usual high street sizes: https://ellisbridals.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Ellis-Size-Chart20567.pdf

So an 8 should be 34” bust, 26” waist. Depends what your body shape is etc whether you can slim down to those measurements.

No don't do it. My sister used to buy clothes too small, as and incentive to lose weight. "I'll slim into it" she always said.
2 wardrobefulls of unworn clothes later she realised it would never happen

It's easier to fit a larger dress to a smaller body, than it is to fit a smaller dress to a larger body. I bought mine size 12 and then lost a stone so had it taken in.

In bridal, a size 12 is usually a high street size 10. So a bridal size 8 is more likely to be a size 6.

I've never been a size 8, I was skeletal at a size 10 but I'm taller and wide boned, so it'd be unachievable for me.
For you though, you're petite in height, have been a size 8 before. With intense exercise and really cutting all the crap I think you could.

I wouldn't. There is more to fitting into a dress than weight. A size 8 true to old school sizing should have a 24" waist, which unless you're built a certain shape, may never be possible for you. It also may also be cut too narrowly for your bust/ribs to fit. You may lose weight in places you dont expect rather than equal inches everywhere reducing you all over. These are the reasons we need to try clothes on the bodies we have, not rely on a number on a label, especially when the price tag is high and the occasion important.

Good advice to buy the bodysuit in a 10 (from the link here) and get the skirt made. That is honestly a super easy skirt to make so wouldn't be too expensive and at least it will fit!

When I got married my measurements were 34,23,36 and I needed a size 12.

I lost quite a lot of weight before my wedding and went from a 14 to a 10. I didn't want to put pressure on myself though and buy a dress for a size I hope I could be, as you have no idea what will happen in life.

Buy for the size you are now, or at most, a snug size which you can lose a small bit of weight to make more comfortable (or can be let out). You do not want the stress of knowing your wedding dress does not fit you, either now or potentially on your wedding day!

You have to be careful with wedding dresses. They all fit differently and size differently. I am a high street 12. When i was trying on, some were 12, 14, 16 that i tried. The size depended on the shape and style of the dress. The wedding dress i ought was a high street 18 that I had altered on the waist, straps and length. I am quite large chested but with a small waist and larger hips so it was easier to buy bigger to fit those areas and alter smaller in other areas.

I wouldn't buy one in the hopes to lose weight because this will give you 2 issues. Number 1 is you won't manage to lose enough to fit the dress and then you will be annoyed with yourself with little time to find another one and 2. you will lose the weight and wear the dress but you won't like it once you've done it because it will look completely different on your new shape to when you originally tried it on.

I would go to some bridal shops, try on all different styles and shapes and see which one you like and roughly what size you are, then look for it cheaper elsewhere if its not in your budget. Then if you do lose weight you can have it altered instead.

You could go on a real weight loss mission, size 10 to 8 should be easy enough.

Or you could spend an extra £200 and get it altered to let it out a bit/add in an extra panel if the style would allow it.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Trying on at a shop this weekend and will be buying via your link if it all fits.

Someone else has linked the bodysuit in a 10 also for £233, equalling £683.

Cheaper than the £900 size 8 second hand one I've seen for sale!!!!!

Honestly can't thank you enough. Let's hope it looks ok on me after all this 😂

YABU. Usually, the dress needs to be at least a size or two bigger to allow for the alterations, but to put yourself under such pressure is silly regardless.

You need to try on the bigger dress to see if it fits at your normal size. I found I needed a size bigger for my wedding dress and it fits perfectly after I'd lost another 6 pounds. For some unknown reading wedding dresses are always smaller.

Good luck op! Got everything crossed for you!
It's a stunning dress.

Good luck @nailnc - let us know how you get on! 🤞🤞

I hope no one else buys it first, let us know how you get on.

Good luck and please update us.

Well no one can tell you whether you will be able to lose the weight or not.

But it's silly to put yourself in a position where you will have so much pressure in the lead up to your wedding.

Weddings are super stressful anyway. The last thing you want is to be starving yourself in the lead up.

I did this 🤣 they gave me discount at the shop as it was ex display, would be cleaned etc....but it was a 10 and I'd just had a baby and was a 12-14.

It showed me how unmotivated I am even with a dress to fit into! However, three months before the wedding, having given up crisps only, I realised I had to actually try. Juiced for five days a wk for two meals a day, normal eve meal (for about a month) didn't give up wine and walked for 1-2 hrs a day.

It worked. I looked good but probably could have done with an extra half stone off.

However, I saved a grand. On balance, probably worth it.