Bridesmaid and breastfeeding- help!

[LilacEmmy]

I'm a bridesmaid for my best friend in just under 3 weeks time when my daughter will be just 5 weeks old. I'm obviously very excited about the day and being part of it and seeing my friend getting married, but I'm also very distracted thinking about the logistics of how it's all going to work. I'm currently breastfeeding, and uncertain and nervous about how I'm going to manage feeding her on the day of the wedding- has anyone else been in a similar situation before, and if so, how did you get on? The dress I'm wearing is going to be impossible to breastfeed in without taking the whole thing off, so I'm planning to express milk on the day so my husband can feed her as/when I'm otherwise engaged with photos etc, but obviously haven't tried it yet as still getting established with the feeding. I was going to start her on a bottle or two in the week leading up to the wedding so she gets used to it? Then later on in the day once we're at the hotel, I can hopefully feed her in our room, so the bottles are more for the church/photos, and later on during dinner.
Another thing I'm concerned about is fitting my bridesmaid dress on, which I've been putting off up to now! Guess I'll buy one of those Spanx type knicker sucker inner things to wear for the day!!!
Any advice would be appreciated please!

OK you will probably need express some milk throughout the day because you will be very full. Easiest/fastest way would be to pump and discard the milk. Give her a Bfeed just before the ceremony if you can. Spanks are great, but your body will have changed a lot. Your boobs will be much bigger.

agree with blueberry, don't forget to wear industrial breast pads as your boobs will get super full and you will leak if you aren't going to feed at your regular times. When ever you aren't 'on call' for photos or the actual wedding find an opportunity to get out of the dress and express from both boobs to 'deflate' them. I would consider talking to the bride about wearing a different dress at the reception so that you can breast feed - it will reduce hassle.
If you haven't started to try DD with bottles START NOW. babies who are BF can take a while to adjust and it can be a major fuss. The last thing you want while you are tied into a dress you can't get out of is to hear your DD crying at the back of the room while DP tries unsuccessfully to give her a bottle - not only will it distract you and the congregation but it will set your milk off and increase your boob size to painful levels.

Also try not to hold your DD while she is hungry, i did this with my DS and he suckled on my arm leaving me with bright purple lovebites because he couldn't get to my boobs.
My ultimate advice - stay in that dress for the least amount of time necessary.

Medela make a bottle ("calma") that is supposed to replicate the way a BF baby sucks so it'd hopefully be a more natural swap than going to standard bottles. Rather than a standard teat with a hole in it this teat is longer and open (like a straw) and the hole is behind the teat (you have to unscrew the bottle top to see it.) Sounds odd but check their website if you're interested. I saw this in person and it is completely different from normal bottles. It's about £15.

I did this with dd (she was a bit older 3mnths). I left expressed milk with my parents,but fed her myself at every chance. Didn't get into the dress until the last minute in the morning, fed her on the car after the service/between photos at the church. We had a room at the hotel where the reception was...do you? If not could you get one? It made it so much easier as I could go back to my room and take the dress off to feed dd. It was a bit tricky when sat on top table at the wedding breakfast but everyone understood. I found feeding her much quicker and easier than expressing on the day