Hello, Ladies! I know last time I promised to fill you in on all of the fabulous details of my bachelorette party, but my second party (high maintenance, I know) is later this month, so I’ll write on both then. Instead, this month we are going to talk about what you do when you hate your wedding dress and it doesn’t fit.
That’s right ladies, my once gorgeous, automatically loved it dress is NOT so lovable. So let’s start from the beginning. As I wrote in one of my first blogs, I immediately LOVED my dress. It was the second one I tried on and I never wanted to take it off. The dress was chosen, I was measured, and I chose to order a bigger size due to somewhat cutting weight at the time for an upcoming bodybuilding show, and my weight was the last thing I wanted to worry about during the planning process. Forward to my first fitting in January when my dress DIDN’T FIT!!!!!! Talk about mortified! It was quickly explained that the designer makes the underneath layer quite a bit smaller and it could easily be let out (sigh of relief). Other adjustments are made, details are decided, and I leave feeling slightly better.
February fitting: I make the three hour journey back to Kansas City for my second fitting feeling very antsy and excited that my dress is going to fit and look exactly how the sample did when I chose it that magical day. I couldn’t be more wrong. Let’s backtrack to the morning of the appointment when I woke up deathly sick, down 5 pounds in 48 hours (that’s one way to make sure you fit in your dress), and so weak that I can barely stand in the shower. I somehow muster enough strength to make it to my evening appointment only to find it still doesn’t fit, along with it not resembling the sample I had chosen. Cue waterworks!!!!!!! I somehow managed to make it through my appointment without recreating the food poisoning scene from Bridesmaids and head back to Omaha filling my drive with lots of tears, conversations with each of my bridesmaids and my mother, more tears, massive amounts of anxiety, and the stress of this bearing down on me. I’m sure a lot of these emotions were due to me both being sick and my dress experience, but overall it was horrendous. I arrived home to this comforting conversation between me and my fiancé (I promise he loves me):
Me: “Troy, I really don’t think I like my dress, plus, it still doesn’t fit.”
Troy: “Well, I’m really sorry babe, but you’re going to have to learn to love it because there is no way we are getting another.”
So that was that. Time to make plan. I had been working with my coach over the past few months, but I knew my gym routine and diet were going to have to get a bit more serious if I was going to fit in this stupid dress. I obtained my original measurements from August when I was sized, we compared them to my current measurements (1/2” difference across my hips), and my “wedding prep” officially began. I also created a list of my concerns for the seamstress and immediately emailed her in hopes of improving the design.
March fitting: I was feeling really confident this time and as I pulled up my dress, it uncomfortably clung to my hips, and my heart sank. IT. STILL. DIDN’T. FIT!!!!!! Well, it fit if I wanted to be standing the whole day and constantly attempting to pull it up to where it could actually get over my quads. So, the discussion was had with the seamstress to let it out a little more and go from there. The straps had also been pulled too tightly, digging into my shoulders and leaving a very unflattering neckline, so those too would have to be fixed. As I left that day, I still didn’t have that amazing feeling I had with the sample and began to wonder if that would happen again. Cue more tears.
Present: Due to scheduling conflicts, my April fitting was moved to the middle of May (insert extreme anxiety) and I am still working to fit in my dress. Under the watchful eye of my fantastic trainer, we have been full steam ahead with my “wedding prep” and I sometimes think he is secretly prepping me for a spring competition. With as hard as we have been cutting me, you’d think that was the goal! Yesterday marked exactly two months until we step foot on the plane and I began to feel the pressure of not having a wedding gown that I loved and feared I would put it on the morning of the ceremony and it either not fitting or not feel fantastic like every bride deserves. So again, I had to make a plan. I would continue working hard in the gym, follow my macros as given by my coach, continue making sure the seamstress is aware of my concerns, and improve on being very clear about my dress vision. Easy, right?!
With all of this stress, I have to admit I have been searching for the silver lining and I think I’ve found not just one, but two:
1. With all of my fittings, I’ve been required to go to Kansas City allowing me way more time with my friends than I would normally get.
2. I am going to have the most rocking beach bod the Dominican Republic has ever seen!
With that my friends, I will end my sob story and send tons of positive vibes to every bride out there in hopes that they don’t have to experience this!
Until next time!
Audrey
* You can catch up with Audrey and the rest of our real blogger brides here.
