The lowdown on Alterations

Alterations can be an anxiety-inducing process with lots of unknowns, especially if you’ve never had a garment altered before. We are here to help guide you in the right direction with your alterations process.

First off, let’s be real and tell you alterations is not a glamorous or necessarily a fun process. Altering your gown is akin to doing surgery on it. That’s why it’s crucial you work with a reputable, verified BRIDAL seamstress for your wedding gown alterations (when you purchase a gown from us, we provide you with our list of recommended bridal seamstresses). Wedding gowns are much more involved than say, hemming a pair of pants.

During the first round, the seamstress will be pinning the heck out of your gown (like with metal pins, not Pinterest pinning, lol), you will do a walk test with the pins at the hem, your gown will probably have pins by the shoulders and bust area too, and it’s just physically uncomfortable and awkward. Then, at the end of this round, you have all these pins in your gown and trying to take it off by yourself without sticking yourself with the pins is almost impossible, so someone (probably the seamstress or someone on the seamstress’ team) to gently help you out of your gown. Are you stressed just reading this? Of course we don’t want that, but we DO want you to understand the process and know what to expect, and we DO want the process to be as smooth as possible for you.

Side note- the first round tends to be the one that involves the most pinning, and decision making (how tight do you want it, do you want a bustle, do you like it bustled this way or that way better, do you want cups sewn into the bust and if so let’s show you the different cup options and see which ones you like the best, etc- lots of questions and lots of decisions!) and the subsequent rounds are more about fine-tuning everything. Alterations is definitely A PROCESS.

Because we did in-house alterations for the first 8 years we were in business, we as bridal stylists are more knowledgable of the gowns and gown construction in general, and we can inform you of what can and can’t be done to a gown during your actual bridal appointment. For example, custom sleeves can be added to most gowns, but there are some gowns that are constructed in such a way where adding sleeves isn’t a viable option, and we know this just by looking at the gown.

Examples of custom alterations we have done in the past and can advise on (or advise against)- adding long sleeves to a strapless gown or a gown with spaghetti straps, shortening long sleeves to desired length, doing a hi-low hem, taking a gown from floor length to tea length, adding a custom detachable train to a gown, using the same lace of a gown and adding it to a plain veil so that the veil exactly matches the gown, adding buttons to the back skirt of a gown, making the back of a gown more open, making the front bust of a gown more modest, taking a gown in from a size 12 to a size 0, making a full skirt fitted, making a flowy skirt more poofy, adding sentimental fabric to the inside of a gown, etc…

The following alterations are considered standard and are to be expected most of the time- hem, bustle, raising the shoulders (if the gown has straps), taking in at waist, taking in at bust, adding bust cups, adding boning to top of gown for more support/structure, adjusting straps, attaching belt if you are wearing one.

Most places want you to start alterations 2-3 months before your wedding, so plan accordingly and contact your seamstress to discuss how to schedule your appointments. Some seamstresses offer expedited alterations for a fee.

We always recommend trying your gown on about 2 weeks before your wedding (or your bridal portraits, whichever is first). If you try it on and feel like it needs any last minute adjustments, contact your seamstress to get seen for a last minute minor nip or tuck!