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When to start wedding dress alterations

How far ahead to book, what happens at each fitting, and what to do if your dress arrives late.

Most gowns need three fittings, and each one needs time in between for the sewing itself. That is why I ask for the first fitting eight to twelve weeks before the wedding. It is not padding. It is the time the work actually takes.

Booking early does not mean starting early. Bodies change in the months before a wedding, and a dress fitted too soon has to be fitted again. What booking early buys you is a place in the schedule, so the fittings land where they should.

If your dress arrives late, tell me the day you know. I can often still do it, but the order of the work changes and some things get simplified. The worst version of this is finding out with two weeks left, when the only honest answer may be no.

Bring your shoes and the undergarments you plan to wear to every fitting. Hem length depends entirely on the shoes, and the bodice fit depends on what is underneath. Without them I am guessing, and guessing is how a dress ends up wrong.

  1. 12+ weeks

    Book your first fitting

    Get on the schedule as soon as the dress is ordered, even if it has not arrived.

  2. 8 to 12 weeks

    First fitting: bring your shoes and undergarments

    We pin the hem, mark the bodice, and decide on the bustle.

  3. 4 to 6 weeks

    Progress fitting

    You try on the altered gown and we correct anything that has shifted.

  4. 2 to 3 weeks

    Final fitting and bustle lesson

    Bring whoever will bustle you on the day so they can practice.

  5. Wedding week

    Pickup, pressed and ready

    The gown is steamed and bagged, ready to go.

Questions this did not answer? Send me a request.