no more doubts.

So I haven't posted anything about my dress since it arrived in March. My reason being that I was just SO unsure about it. I felt like I had jumped in a little too fast and bought my dress without doing much research, and I wasn't sure if it was really "the one" for me anymore.

Despite my hesitation, I had my first fitting on the weekend of my bridal shower. I'm getting my alterations done by a friend of Mr. M's family, who actually altered both of his sisters' wedding dresses as well. I would have had no problem altering my dress at The Bride's Room, where I bought it, but I figured I'd save the money and get it done at home. By someone who knows me. Or at least knows my soon-to-be family.

For the fitting, I brought my dress, veil, shoes, and jewelry. My mom, future mother-in-law, and littlest sister (and BM) Gaby all came with me. It was my mom's first time seeing me in my dress, so I wanted to make sure she got the full effect. I also wanted to make sure that I got the full effect, and was hoping it would get rid of the doubts I had about the dress. I put it all on and we got right to work figuring out what needed to be done.

Since I'd lost some weight since I bought the dress (officially 10 pounds as of today, yippee!) it was too big on top and needed to be taken in about an inch on each side. I'm decently tall (5'8") and wearing flats, so the dress length was perfect. I talked to her about removing some or all of the beading on top (I am really not a fan of beading and sparkles) and we decided to take it slow and just remove the sequins in the centers of the flowers for now. No problem. The only other thing we had to worry about was the bustle.

I had no idea how I wanted the dress bustled, but I did know I wanted it to blend in with the tucks and draping on the dress. Immediately the lady tried the overbustle approach. I wasn't feeling it. Everything on my dress flows down and to the side, so pulling the train up and over all of the draping just didn't look right at all. At first I was hesistant to say anything, but since I was already feeling a little so-so about the dress, I didn't want to like it any less!

I suggested we try an underbustle. She said she wasn't sure how it would look, but tried it anyway. Then she proceeded to "ooh" and "ahh" about how beautiful it looked and blended in with the details on the dress! She put a few pins in and told me to come back the next time I came home.

I went back a couple weeks ago while I was visiting my parents. She had already taken the sides in, and had worked on pinning the bustle exactly how she would sew it. She had also removed the weird sequin centers of the flowers on the top of the dress, just like we talked about.

Although she had taken it in a tad too far on the sides (nothing a little more diet and exercise can't fix in the next 3 months, or worst case -- letting it out a bit), the rest of the dress was perfect! I love.love.love the bustle. So much, in fact, that I will be wearing it bustled...all day. As in, including the ceremony. No train for this bride!

I love that I'll be able to move around without an entourage fixing my dress during the ceremony. And that no one will be worried about learning how to bustle it correctly before the reception. The best part is... I like my dress again! The train was just all wrong for me.

Did you have doubts about your dress? What did you do to get rid of them?