The first fitting is where every decision about your gown gets made. Turn up prepared and the rest of the process is smooth. Turn up with the wrong shoes and you will pay for the same hem twice.
The three things you must bring
1. Your shoes, the actual pair
Not a similar pair. Not “about the same height.” The exact shoes you will wear down the aisle.
The hem is measured from your shoes. A half-inch difference in heel height is a visible difference in hem length on a floor-length gown, and re-hemming is the most common avoidable expense in bridal alterations.
If you genuinely have not bought them yet, bring a pair at precisely the same heel height and buy the real ones before the second fitting. Then bring those.
2. Your undergarments
Whatever you will actually wear under the dress. Shapewear, a particular bra, nothing at all if the gown has built-in cups. It changes the fit of the bodice considerably more than brides expect, and the bodice is where most of the alteration work happens.
If you are not sure yet, say so at the fitting. It is a decision worth making before anything is cut.
3. The gown itself, on a hanger
Not folded into a bag. Bring it hanging, in a garment bag if you have one. A gown that arrives creased has to be steamed before it can be properly assessed, which eats into your appointment.
Bring these if you have them
- Your veil, belt, sash or headpiece: anything that affects the neckline or the back
- A photo of how you want the gown to look, or a detail you want copied
- Whoever will help you dress on the wedding day
- Your wedding date, venue, and roughly what the day involves
That last one matters more than it sounds. A hem for a lawn ceremony is not the same as a hem for a ballroom. A bustle that has to survive four hours of dancing is set differently from one that only has to look right in photographs.
Who to bring with you
Bring the person who will help you into the dress on the wedding day. Usually your mother, your maid of honour, or both. They will be taught the bustle, and learning it in the room beats learning it from a phone video at the reception.
Bring one or two people, not six. A fitting is not a group event. Too many opinions in a small room is the fastest way to end up second-guessing a gown you already loved. The people whose opinions you actually want are the ones who will be honest with you.
What actually happens
You will be helped into the gown. Your seamstress will look at how it sits and ask you to move: walk, sit, raise your arms. Then she starts pinning what needs to move.
She will also look inside the gown: seam allowances, boning, lining and how the beading runs. That is what determines what is possible.
Then you talk. What bothers you, what you would change, what you are worried about. Say all of it, including the things that feel too small to mention.
Finally, the quote. You should hear the price and agree to it before any work begins.
Plan on about an hour. Getting into and out of a wedding gown takes longer than anyone expects.
Five mistakes to avoid
Coming with the wrong shoes. Already covered, because it is the big one.
Planning to lose weight before the wedding and fitting for that body. Fit the body you have. It is far easier to take a gown in later than to let it out, because letting out depends on seam allowance that may not exist.
Staying quiet about something that bothers you. The fitting is the moment to say it. Small worries do not go away; they turn into the thing you notice in every photograph.
Bringing a committee.
Leaving it until six weeks out. Two to three months gives everyone room to work properly.
After the fitting
Most gowns need two to three fittings in total. Wear the shoes in a little between appointments. And if your body changes between fittings, say so when you book the next one rather than hoping nobody notices. It very often does change, and it is entirely normal.
Book your first fitting or read what happens at each appointment.