So, I had my first wedding dress fitting this weekend. The good news - the woman agreed to take the dress in enough (I bought it when I was an 18W, I'm now a 14 and shrinking, and most seamstresses refused to go from the womens sizes into the regular...).

The bad news - she has to completely deconstruct the bodice, and take in every seam...and she has to reshape the chest area completely (take out all of the boning, reshape to shrink down the bustline). She's also adding in a corset (ribbon tie) back so it has a little more size flexibility (ie, if I shrink between the final fitting and the wedding, we can still make the dress work).

The final cost to take the dress that fit PERFECTLY when I bought it to the size that fits now?

$300.

A very expensive NSV indeed.

Mandalin,

Wow! Congratulations!! On such a happy, special day, you'll have more than your marriage to celebrate

And worth EVERY penny too!

Very expensive, but I'm sure it will look beautiful!

How exciting. Sounds like a lot of work...but obviously worth it.

I bet its about the best $300 you'll ever spend...well this year anyway....

In any case, its cheaper than a new dress, and I really like the seamstress and the idea of getting the corseted back...

I'm going to rock that dress. I went in for the fitting and she started pinning it back and I thought to myself "whoa....whose waist is that???"

Now the second hurdle - getting past the mental block of "I'm fat" so that I don't feel self-conscious in the dress. My brain just needs to catch up with my eyes!

Thank you all so much - you made me feel a lot better about the expense associated (what can I say, I'm kind of cheap, and an extra $300 to the wedding budget is not exactly what I needed right now).

Mandalinn, that is a $300 well spent. How much longer til the wedding? You will look stunning in it I bet. Are you going to show pics of the final product? And better yet, with you and your newly svelte self in it? I would love to oooh and ahhhh over it. I love weddings, they make me all teary-eyed

ps. I just LOVE your clavicles! I'm still trying to find mine

The best $300 you've ever spent -- your future husband cannot complain about that wedding bill. I look at it this way -- over the time you've been losing, do you think you would have probably spent that much on junk food instead?? I know I could come up with $300 a year in junk I've ingested and just think how good this $300 will make you feel (and look). I bet you will be so HOT your husband will have a hard time taking his eyes off of you!!!

Under 100 days now...April 21st. And yes, I'll post photos once the dress is actually fitted.

It sounds beautiful! I can't wait to see the photos!

I'm just gonna have to agree with the others - Money VERY well spent!!!! Looking forward to seeing you and your collar bones in the dress. Your collarbones will be showing, won't they?

$300? Worth every cent, and then some!! As Shelby said, I'm sure you've saved more than $300 in junk food....I know I have! And RockinRobin is right about those collarbones....I can't wait to see them. You ALREADY have collarbones to die for and you're not even to goal yet! You go, girl!

The dress is strapless - the collarbones will be in FULL display.

Its so funny - I've been wondering if a necklace will send attention TO the collarbones, or distract FROM the collarbones...

That's a great NSV! I think a beautiful, simple diamond solitaire would most certainly showcase those collarbones! Or a single ruby, saphhire or pearl if you have objections to diamonds.

Money well spent- you'll be stunning!

Mel