Looking Good, Feeling Great - For those of you who got married at your heavest weight...

Now that you have lost weight, are you tempted to try on your wedding gown again to see how it fits? I got married last august, and weighed in at 255. I'm now 219, and I'm SOO SOO tempted to try it on.

I was at my heaviest when I got married. However, my dress isn't anything I even want to keep around. We got married pretty quickly. We knew we were going to get married sometime in the near future and for financial reasons at the time, it made more sense for us to get married quickly. Our inexpensive 'romantic park' wedding turned into a disaster when EVERYTHING went wrong, including all the decorations being blown away, my dress not fitting right (it was a sundress, made too long in the torso so the waist was around my hips), and not even being able to hear the minister over the wind.

But all in all I ended up with a wonderful husband which is what really mattered. He promised me that when I'm ready, we can renew our vows and have whatever wedding I want. So I'm waiting until I get down to a comfortable weight so I can wear one of those big puffy princess gowns I've always dreamt of.

I got married at around 210-215 lbs. I know my dress was size 20, but it wasn't really formal and I didn't keep it. I did keep one pair of my old size 20 Levis' though that I like to try on sometimes.

I say go ahead and try the dress on and you will be swimming in it. It does feel good!

Hahaha! This post made me laugh... I didn't get married at my heaviest, but getting back into my wedding gown was a NSV for me - and I made it on Sunday. I've now packed it away again. After this, it'll always be too big! ;)

How bizarre to read this now, having just done this!

Hi Tamaralynne. I got married at my heaviest weight, prepregnancy. Actually it was the first time I realized just how overweight I was at the time. The camera tells no lies. :s: About seven years later I did finally lose the weight and tried that dress on again. Needless to say it was too big, that was a given.

The real NSV was that I could fit into the dress of my bridesmaid who had a very nice figure at the time of my wedding. Somehow it had been stored with all of the other wedding things. :sssh:Honestly, her dress was a little roomy in the waist and hips. I came sauntering out asking DH to guess which bridemaid wore this dress. :p

Gosh, I don't even have our wedding photos out. They just don't look like us anymore, we are both fitter and well, ten years older. I do have a current photo framed that I just love. Its the real us, dressed in black, much fitter, and ten years older. My mother said that we are the kind of people who just keep getting better looking as we get older. I wouldn't go that far...:o

I'm about to get married and I didn't quite make my goal before I had to order the dress. I'm hoping it will be too big soon- but after the wedding, given the cost of alterations!

Here's a thought: I'm 5'4" so even the size 00 was too big... lengthwise ;)

I started gaining weight when I got engaged. I slowly gained weight for the 6 months of engagement, and the 4 months after the wedding. Then I decided I HAD to stop. Now I'm on the way back down! I've been working on it for 2-3 months and have lost 15!

I spent $750 on my formal gown - on sale from $1200, so I'm not about it get rid of it anytime soon. I'm hoping that when we renew our vows, I can have it downsized (the seamstress promised me that it can be sized down about 8 sizes).

It's such a beautiful dress :)

I wasnt at my HIGHEST, but I was at the heaviest since meeting DH when we got married.....I gained like 50lbs in 4 years :yikes:

I dont have my actual dress anymore, but I do have one very similar to it, sadly (well not really) it is a smaller size than the one I got married in. I got marrried in a size 14 gown and the one I have is a size 10 or 12 (cant remember). I have NEVER tried it on though.

I spent $750 on my formal gown - on sale from $1200, so I'm not about it get rid of it anytime soon. I'm hoping that when we renew our vows, I can have it downsized (the seamstress promised me that it can be sized down about 8 sizes).

It's such a beautiful dress :)

Tamara, We are on the same page.....I was with in about 10lbs of my h/w when i got married last June. I really want to have something done w/my dress for my 1yr anniversary ...I just love it so much. I was thinking about getting a professional portrait done of my DH and Me since I was so big in our wedding pictures. I would finally have something I'm not embarrassed to hand up in the house.:D

Cherry-that is an awsome idea...I never thought of that...I should do that for our 5th anniversary. I love the idea of having an actual REASON to put my gown on, like others have said, it is sooo pretty that you hate to have it just sit in a box!

I'm getting married in June and I just picked up my dress last Saturday. When I originally tried on the showroom dress I tried on an 18 and it fit like a glove so I ordered a 16. When I tried on my dress this past weekend it was beautiful...but it'll definately be better in another 10lbs. I have lots of time and it's even possible that I'll have to have it taken in if I actually lose the full 20lbs that I want to in the next 3 months.

While I won't be at my heaviest for the wedding I won't be at goal either. We're going to a friend's wedding in December in the Dominican and silly as it sounds I want to be at goal by then. I know most people would want to be at goal for their wedding. But I'm not going to torture myself with unrealistic expectations. I do hope that one our 1 year anniversary (which will actually be our 18th anniversary since we're getting married on the anniversary of our first date June 1, 1991) I can put that size 16 gown on and it will simply fall to the floor! LOL That would be incredible.

I'm not worried about holding on to the dress. I'm actually doing a trash the dress photo shoot with our photographer the week after the wedding. If you've never heard of it...google images = Trash the dress. I've seen a ton of cool pictures and I think I'll go horseback riding and then get some good shots of the mountains (running through a pasture maybe) and some in the mountain waterfalls. My photographer wants rain that day to really soak us down, but I'd be ok with dry ones...LOL

Cheers,
Tamara

I would love to figure out something to do with the dress. I would like to have something made from it. I'm just not sure what??? I don't see it as a dress to be handed down through the generations. My daughter would not fill it out, nor is it her style. Maybe a throw pillow or 2 or 3 or more (lots of fabric!) &/or a white evening purse? Any suggestions???

I had 5 bed pillows made out of my wedding dress. (the most expensive pillows you'll ever find!) I selected beautiful decorative ribbon to also be used that included the color of my brides maids dress too.

I've also heard that some brides have a baby blanket made out of their dress to be used for their newborns to come. (My DH and I are older and won't be having any kids.)

My mom made her wedding dress into baptism outfits for both of my kids (and on topic -- my wedding dress was actually a 16 and I'm a 20 right now -- I'll get there :D). She also took my bouquet from my wedding, as well as mine from being maid of honor in my sisters and made an awesome floral arrangement with them (silk flowers).

Ooohhhhhh... I may "trash the dress" in hawaii this year... could you imagine??

The bottom is dirty anyway, and i haven't had a chance to dry clean it LOL. Might as well trash it first then dry clean it/preserve it etc.

Of course it might be in bad taste, as we are going to my BIL's wedding.

I dunno, but I really love the idea now LOL and Hawaii WOULD be such a good place to do so. We leave on the 2nd, their wedding isn't until the 8th, and we'll be coming back home on the 9th....

What do you think?

I was not at my heaviest weight, but I was heavier then I am now. My heaviest weight ever was 230 and I was somewhere around 190-200 when we got married. I didn't get on the scale around that time. I know I gained weight between buying my dress and the wedding though, it was a bit tight.

I have tried it on and it pretty much falls off.

I like the idea of having it made into cristening outfits when we have kids. I'm not going to wear it again.

Just reading through the threads and thought this one was interesting. I LOVE the trash the dress idea. What great photos that would make. tamaralynn, I think Hawaii would be a GORGEOUS back drop for wedding dress trashing. The beautiful surf and waterfalls. <sigh> Maybe you could get your BIL's photographer at a discount <wink>.

I weighed 259, my highest weight, when I was married 11 years ago. I'm at 214 now. I've often thought about putting my gown on just for kicks, but I hate the thought of trying to figure out how to refold it so it fits back into the storage box. I'm sure it would just fall off me, though. As a side note, I often look at my wedding photos and think 'how could I let myself get to that weight?'

I wasn't at my heaviest when I married, but I was close. I managed to lose some and had to have the dress taken in about 4 sizes before I could wear it. I actually donated it to Brides Against Breast Cancer last week. They resell the dresses at trunk shows - I don't know anyone who sews well enough to have had the dress made into a blanket, baptism gown or bassinet.

I wasn't quite at my highest, but I was married at 228. Wonder how that dress will fit 60 pounds later? I actually thought about this the other day, because we were moving stuff around in the closet, and my dress was in there.
I am not really attached to my dress - wasn't my dream dress, since I couldn't find that in my size, so burning it might be kind of fun. LOL!
I think I might just give it away soon, though.

I recently got married and still have the dress. The dress can be used for other semi formal to formal occasions. I used it because it looked so daggone good on me. I'll probably fit into it for awhile as the elastic on the skirt is stretchy enough and should shrink. I might be able to have it retailored to fit.

I never even really thought about trying on my wedding gown again! I was actually planning to sell it, but now I think I might keep it around as a reminder of where I was at. Unlike other "before" clothes, it's not really something I have to worry about actually wearing again!

My Mom made Christmas ordaments out of her wedding dress and then gave them to each kid when they moved out of the house. They hung on the Christmas tree each year until then and I still have one that I hang on my tree every year.

Morgan4699, what a neat idea. I preserved my dress so that someday, my future daughter will want to get married, look at me lovingly, and say,"are you NUTS? Why would I want to wear YOUR dress?!?!"
Seriously though, taking some of the beads/pearls off for Xmas ornaments would be cool.

I love the trash the dress ideas! Wow how fun would that be!

I didn't have a wedding, just wore street clothes to the court house.

I was not at my heaviest when I got married, only afterwards so I would have to judge it by my bridesmaid dress for my friend's wedding. That's when I felt the most enormous and when I decided to get on WW was shortly after that. So yeah, once I get down to my wedding dress size (another 10lbs or so, I'd like to try on the bridesmaid dress to see how much I've lost. I like that dress though, would love to use it again (hopefully I could get it altered, not sure though as it was a handmade dress).

ShannanA - Same here.
Sometimes I wish I had a wedding dress. The idea of making baby blankets or baptism gowns out of it sounds so cute!
Hubby and I got married 9 years ago and since I was not a citizen of his country, we had to get married at the city hall. We could have had a religious ceremony in a church afterwards but, we both decided since neither of us were religious it made no sense.
I was also almost 8 months pregnant at the time so, the only thing I could find to fit me was a maternity dress. Hubby and I were almost late to the city hall because we spent too much time drinking coffee, laughing, and talking - without watching the clock. I ended up just throwing on the dress, running a brush through my hair, and going! I didn't even have time to do up my hair or put on a little make up. :lol:
Oh well, all that mattered was that I married the man that I love so much!