Hi everyone... So I'm a bridesmaid in a summer 2013 wedding. The bride is having us get measured and order our dresses next week. I've dropped two sizes in the last two months so I would prefer to wait a few months before ordering my dress(I know funny things can happen but we surely don't HAVE to order eight months out and drop the money right before the holidays to boot? Ugh) But I don't want to make a stink, so...

Should I just order the size I am now and trust that alterations will be fine?

Am I wrong to think it shouldn't be a big deal to wait a few weeks or months to order the thing (still five months or so before the wedding?) it's a standard bridesmaid dress.

While I never recommend irritating a bride, I'd talk to the bridal shop or a tailor, and find out what the limits of the dress are alteration wise. This is iffy, but I did have a friend drop a significant amount of weight prior to a wedding, and she was planning to, so she ordered a few sizes down. Like I said that's risky, but maybe check the return policy and see if you can remeasure and reorder a little later?

I would suggest either talking to the bridal shop to see how long you can wait to put your order in or ordering a size smaller.

Last December, I was a bridesmaid in my brother's wedding and I ordered the size I was currently at, at the time. We also ordered our dresses about eight months before the wedding. Big mistake. I paid about $100 to have the dressed altered-twice. I even went to a pretty reputable tailor too. In the end, the dress was still a little too big on me. A dress can only be altered so much. If you know you'll still be losing I'd say go smaller.

I wouldn't argue with the bride , do as she requests, If you delay ordering the dress you may not get the same material. A skilled seamstress should be able to alter a dress very effectively. Making it larger is a different story but making it smaller should not be difficult, brides gowns and bridesmaids gowns are altered all the time.

Is it a typical dress? Like David's Bridal? You can possibly find one (worn once) on ebay! That's what I did.

Part of me wishes I had ordered a smaller size and worked my tail off to lose. The "seamstress" I found did a horrible job on my dress. I honestly could have done a better job myself. She actually told me to just wear a bigger bra and stuff it instead of having her take in the bust of the dress! I'm already a D!!

5 months prior to the wedding is typically a good time to order a bridesmaids dress. I wouldn't put it off. If you're certain you are going to make every attempt to stay on your "lifestyle change" then I would order 2 sizes smaller. 5 months is a significant amount of time to lose, however, the smaller you get the more difficult it will be to lose weight so 2 sizes would probably be a safe bet. Talk to the seamstress at the bridal shop and ask for her advice as well.

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

Yes, it is a standard bridesmaid dress. It's supposed to take about 6 weeks to come in. The wedding isn't until late August and I should be very close to goal by then. We should be getting the dresses in by January. It sounds like a good idea to talk to the people at the bridal shop (although I'm sure they hear the 'but i'm going to lose weight' thing all the time) about how much it can be taken in before looking mucky.

I could understand 5 months, but 9 just seemed excessive, plus it wasn't something I had realized I had to pay for NOW, so the whole thing just caught me off guard.

You can also see if they have other sizes available in the shop, in that same style/color. If you leave the dress in new condition, they might be willing to swap it out for a smaller size.

That's a really good idea. Thanks!!

I was in a wedding and ordered the dress about 6 months prior to the wedding. By the time the wedding came, I was a size smaller. I lucked out as a bridesmaid dropped out of the wedding and just happened to be one size smaller than my original so I just took her dress. It still had to be made a bit smaller but at least I didnt buy a new dress.

As suggested, I would see what the bridal shop says and then relay that information to the bride.