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I'm going crazy over a big dress decision and I'm turning to you bees for help! Before I picked my dress I was 100% sure that I would buy a tea length or even shorter. At 5'2", I was sure my body would be swallowed up by a huge ball gown or anything floor length. Also, I'm having an outdoor wedding and love to dance, and I don't want to be dragging a huge dress around all night getting it dirty.
I tried several on but nothing felt right to me, so I figured I would either just have one made or alter an existing dress to tea length. Then I fell in love with this beauty:
Now, when I told the seamstress of my plans to chop it off up to my calves, she looked like she was going to have a panick attack! She said I was crazy and she couldn't imagine shortening this dress. I started having second thoughts and have been going back and forth ever since. I asked her to show me what a bustle looks like on this and I hated it. It's a huge tulle poof ball with a giant train, there's no good way to bustle it!
For reference, this is how I would want the dress to look in the end (it's not that bad, she acted like it was her worst nightmare!):
I love your dress ! I think it looks fabulous as it is, but I also think it would look great tea length :) If you want it, go for it !! Great choice :)
If you really want a short dress, then go for a short dress! :) I don't like to dance myself, but I'm also not the tallest gal, and personally don't like the feeling that my wardrobe is swallowing me.
Do you have enough time to try on others? There are plenty of tea-length wedding dresses out there, you've just got to find them.
Shortening a dress like that might be tricky. The skirt is designed to fall a certain way, and it might not work right if it just gets lobbed off halfway down. Or, it could just be a matter of petticoats and underskirts. That will depend greatly on the particular dress. If you do go with something like that gorgeous ball gown, definitly talk to a seamstress or two to see how hard it would be to shorten.
You look fantastic in your photos, regardless! :)
@ScooterBride: I was in a super tight spot of time for trying on dresses with my mom. I live accross the country from my family and we only had one day to find the one! I tried on some other tea lengths but they just weren't doing it for me. I even tried on the glorious Justin Alexander dress with the little flowers. So when I fell in love with this one I just stopped and said it's cool, we'll shorten it. Thanks for the advice and the compliment!
I think you would look adorable in a tea length dress. I say go for it.
This may soumd weird but your personality jumps from your picture and it screams cute tea length! Does that makes sence? LOL
No way!!! defeats the purpose of this dress!! I tried it on and could not imagine chopping off that train! Get a fun reception dress:)
@sooner365: Haha! if I could afford it I would have like 5 dresses!
BTW I LOVE the veil!! That is what I am trying to find but no luck:( What type is it??
I think you should keep the dress as it is. Tea length dresses look pretty but I think cut the wrong length they can actually make you look shorter. If you're worried about dirtying it up, add a bustle or better yet, as PP mentioned buy a shorter lighter reception dress to party in.
You could ask your seamstress to bubble hem the dress to tea length. They can also bubble bustle it all the way around so that you can bustle it up to tea length for the reception. My seamstress was going to do this for me, but we had some financial set backs right before the wedding so I skipped it. She pinned it for me to see what it was going to look like and I loved it. Basically, they add tiny loops to the whole hem every so many inches and add tiny buttons to the inside of the lining so you can bustle up the whole thing. It was really a cute look.
Its called a bubble veil, they were charging a ridonkuous price for it so I'm thinking about making one myself.
@ElwoodBlues: LOL it is a bit heavy and rustly(swooshes alot) I re tried it on a cpl days ago and found that the wrap part at the midsection was just tooo big for my waist:( It was pretty though! I would have loved just a straight across waist like Justin Alexander's line:) I also tried JA 8569 and LOVED it but its way too much! I was sold til I saw the price:/ There has to be a way to shorten it for sure, you look amazing in it!
Do it! You would look super cute!
Perhaps get a couple of proffesional opinions to make sure you won't ruin the integrity of the dress - and because you're on the short side - to make sure if they can do it, that they cut it to the right length, as certain lengths can make short people look shorter :O
The bonus of a shorter style dress is also that you can wear killer heels that everyone will actually see!
@ElwoodBlues: ok I really want one like that but 2 layers:) Thanks!
@tksjewelry: Hmm those ideas sound perfect, but the seamstress made it sound like it could be hard to do anything with it as its all froofy tulle. I'm going to call her tomorrow and ask about the bubble hem though, that sounds like it might work!
@ElwoodBlues: My mom had to explain it to my seamstress as she had never heard of it. It was big in the 50's and 60's when my mom learned to make wedding dresses so you may have to show her what you mean.
Ooh is that the Cinderella dress? Very pretty! But I agree with PPs who said they can't imagine chopping it...it's so pretty how it is! But I would consider finding a new seamstress who can do more styles of bustles. But I don't know if a bubble hem is possible with the way the tulle in that dress lays - I wanted a bustle like that, where it just kinda gets tucked up into the skirt, and it was impossible to do with all the different layers of tulle.
@tksjewelry: That sounds like a really cute, creative, doable idea!!! Awesome!
It does have tons of layers of tulle... hope you can do something though!!
I love tea length (although I am not going to do it for my wedding.... I don't know why.... ) so I say.... CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP!!! 
@sarizzle: I DO have some killer shoes to take into consideration!
@coutney1188: yeah with all the layers of froof it's hard to do anything but hem it. My seamstress suggested a high-low cut instead but it wasn't very cute and looked wierd with the train being so long.
I voted to keep the dress long, but I honestly think you'd look great either way! How do you picture yourself walking down the aisle? Make it look like that :)
You look GORGEOUS btw :)
Yes, yes, yes! Chop it off! If the seamstress you choose thinks that it's doable I say go for it! It'll look awesome.
chop it and add more tule underneath to really make it poof like the picture! Super cute!
Chop chop chop! I feel as though you want it to be tea length, but have been put off by what the seamstress said. It is your dress. Find yourself an amazing seamstress who you are confident understands what you want to do.
Just think, it will mean that your dess is one-of-a-kind!
CHOP IT!!! def do i! i think it is what you want.. dont listen to the seamstress, listen to yourself!!! If you want to chop then i say CHOP!!!! really you do know what you want but dont you??
Chop it!!! Its your day and you should not have to be restrained by a ball of puff..... Go for it!!!!
Good luck
I'm typically not a fan of the tea-length dresses (but my wedding personality is basically uber traditional/formal), but for you, I think it's an awesome idea! The second picture you posted is super cute, and I definitely can see you rocking that! Maybe your seamstress isn't comfortable doing that much alteration to one dress. Is it possible to get a second opinion from another seamstress? That way you'll have two experienced opinions before chopping up an already-beautiful gown.
Let us know how it turns out! I'd love to see the tea-length changes if you go with them!!
I love tea lenght dresses! I say if it's what you really want than go for it! I think the dress will be stunning either way :) Let us know what you do!
I think it would look great in tea length, but if you can't find a seamstress that thinks it's feasible, another possibility could be to just cut off the train so at least you don't have to bustle it.
CUT IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had a tea length dress and I LOVED IT!
I dont regret the decision at all! it fit the wedding so well! (summer, outdoor wedding) everyone commented on how much they loved it and it was so "me" I think the dress you have would be perfect if you cut it off! :D
The seamstress was probably just taken back because tea length dresses arent big right now. My aunt is a seamstress and I showed her this pic and she said just from looking at the pics its seems very easily doable! (shes the one that made my dress tea lenght!)
if you want to cut it, cut it and to hell with what your seamstress thinks. what are you paying her for, anyway? lol. i agree with the PP though...you have to be careful because if you cut it to the wrong length it'll make you look shorter, especially if you want it poofy like that. for the record, it doesn't look like it's swallowing you in your pictures. if you're considering leaving it full length but don't like the way a bustle looks with it, have you considered just cutting the train off?
I think you look so great in the regular (long) length gown. Not swallowed up at all.
I think your gown is beautiful!!! I also think tea length would be so cute and fun and flirty!
I think it will look great as a tea length, but if you are doing it because you are short, I actually think tea length will make you look shorter. You do not look short in these photos at all.
@stargurl101: totally agree. I voted to leave it as it, because although I love tea length and think you would rock it, I do think it's likely to make you look shorter than the full-length dress will. I also second PP's point that the dress might not look exactly how you envisioned once it is hemmed; the skirt is designed to fall full-length and be fullest at the floor, whereas a tea-length skirt would probably have been designed to be fullest at the calf. I'm concerned that if your seamstress hasn't done this before, then she might not be able to get your dress to have the fullness of the one in your inspiration image.
Another option, since you don't like the bustle, is to have her just cut off the train, so that you have an all-one-length ball gown that is hemmed to just brush the floor as you move. That was what I was planning to do if I'd decided on a dress that came with a train.
Let us know what you decide! (And BTW, you are gorgeous!)
Try going to a different seamstress for another opinion on shortening the dress to a tea length. If you wanted to leave it long, you could have the train removed so the dress doesn't have to be bustled.
For the record I voted for the tea length.
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