The Truth About Bridal Sizing (And Why the Number on the Tag Means Absolutely Nothing)
If there's one thing I wish every bride knew before she walked through our door, it's this: bridal sizing is its own universe, and it has absolutely nothing to do with you.
I'm not being dramatic. I'm being honest. Because the amount of unnecessary panic I see from brides before their first appointment - the spiralling, the "maybe I should wait until I've lost a bit of weight", the genuine distress over a number on a tag - breaks my heart a little. And it's all based on a misunderstanding that the industry has done a terrible job of clearing up.
So let me clear it up right now.
Why bridal sizing runs so differently
Wedding dresses are not made the same way as high street clothes. They're cut to different patterns, by different manufacturers, using different sizing charts that were largely established decades ago and haven't kept pace with how real women are actually built. The result? A size 12 on the high street might be a 16 in bridal. A size 16 might be a 20. This is not a reflection of your body. It is a reflection of an outdated system that the industry is slowly - very slowly - catching up with.
At The Bottom Drawer Bridal, we don't care what the label says. We genuinely don't. What we care about is finding the dress that makes you feel like the most beautiful, authentic version of yourself. The number is for the designer. It is not for you.
What actually happens at your appointment
When you come in for your bridal appointment, you'll try on sample dresses. Sample dresses could be a variety of different sizes and stores will generally only have each style in 1 size - and they will be clipped, pinned, and held together to give you an idea of how the finished dress will look on your body. A dress that gaps at the back in the fitting room can absolutely still be your perfect dress. That's what alterations are for. That's the whole point.
Your dress will be ordered to a size that is the closest fit to your actual measurements - and then, once she’s arrived in store will be altered to fit you perfectly. This is how it works. This is how it has always worked. And it means that the number you see on the tag during your appointment is genuinely, completely irrelevant to how you're going to look and feel on your wedding day.
The one thing I want you to do before your appointment
Come in as you are. Not as a version of yourself you think you should be. Not after the diet, not after the gym, not "once I've sorted myself out a bit." Come in now, as the real, brilliant, beautiful you that exists today.
Because that's the person we're dressing. And it helps to bring the right people with you - people who will champion how you feel, not just how you look.
That person deserves to enjoy every single second of this.
All my love
Ready to find your dress? Book your appointment at The Bottom Drawer Bridal - an exclusive, uninterrupted space in Norfolk where it's all about you.