How do i shop for a dress when I'm planning massive weight loss?

You either get a dress that will alter down well or wait.

You don't shop for the body you plan to have, you shop for the body you currently have.

Shop for the body you have now and get it taken in if you lose. I could also stand to lose +/- 70lbs but I gained 10 in the months preceding my wedding.

I would start the weight loss program as soon as possible AND delay the wedding to 2016. You don't want to put unnecessary stress on you which will have a negative effect on your weight loss.

Either push out your date for another year so you have time to lose the weight and THEN shop for a dress or shop for the body you have now. Most good seamstresses will be able to take in a dress 2 to 3 sizes and depending on where you lose the weight from it shouldn't be a problem. Don't plan on losing 100 lbs and buy a dress based on that or else you're setting yourself up for potential disaster.

I can't believe that anyone would advise you to push the wedding out a year so you can lose weight! Set the date; then talk to one or two shops and find out the drop dead date for shopping and then start a reasonable diet that will give you 1-2 lbs a week lost between now and that date. Then pick a style that can be altered.

But seriously, having been in mortal combat with my weight for my entire life, I can tell you that you shouldn't make anything contingent on what you will or will not do in that area. Concentrate on lifestyle changes, adding exercise, and developing habits that will make your entire life, (not just your wedding) more as you hope.

I agree with Celia....pushing back a wedding date to loose some weight is just ridiculous.

Start dress hunting and talking to shops NOW ab when to order/what you have time to order. dresses can take 10 months to come in. i can tell you right now, Allure takes 6 months. i bought my dress in September and it will be here in March.

also, i second what everyone else said. shop for the body you have now. talk to the girls in the store and ask them what are the best dresses to be altered substantially.

Easy, buy the dress and when you lose the weight, get it altered.

Honestly, if the weight loss is THAT important to her then she should if she absolutely knows that that is what she wants by the time she gets married...rather than trying to kill herself losing 100 lbs while planning a wedding at the same time. 100 lbs in 9 months is NOT going to be easy and planning a wedding keeps you busy and stressed out enough without trying to accomplish such a huge goal. If 100 lbs is her goal but she still wants to get married in 9 months then obviously the better advice IS to shop for her current body and not her future one. At least then she doesn't run into issues of having a too small dress when September rolls around and she hasn't reached her goal.

Do not push off your wedding to lose weight because

1) You're making your wedding contingent on something very difficult.

2) He put a ring on it just how you are now.

I moved my date up 3 months (which coincidentally is the date you have!) and my whole family literally gave me a panic attack when they said I would not find a dress in time. When I tried dresses on I made sure to source via time, it was ready in 3 weeks. See where you are weight-wise in about 45 days. That will tell you a whole lot about your next steps. GOOD LUCK!!

You can always buy a dress off the rack, which might be the way to go. I lost 100 pounds in from July 2012-July 2013 and I dropped about 12 sizes...no dress can be altered down that much, so your goals are possible. I would just start looking around to see what potential you have and when the last possible moment to order what you think it your dream dress would be.

Couldn't agree with Snarky more. And Celia.

He wants to marry you as you are now so don't feel like you have to make hugw changes! But I totally get wanting to be happy with yourself FOR yourself. Get a dress that fits you when you go shopping and get it altered to fit as you lose weight, talk to your bridal shop about your plans as well.

Good luck!

Okay, for those saying to postpone the wedding: the goal isn't to lose 100 pounds before I get married. The goal is to lose 100 pounds between now and when I die.

As for shopping for the body I have now and then having the dress altered... if I lose the safe amount, which is 1 to 2 pounds per week, and the wedding is in approximately 36 weeks (we don't Have a date set, but this site made the date field mandatory.... we're looking at September or October 2015): is it even possible to have a dress altered to accommodate a 40 to 75 pound change?

I mean, I can see 5 to ten pounds being easy and 20 pounds being possible.... but not knowing much about seamstressing - is it possible to alter a dress by 50+ pounds of loss?

Don't operate under the assumption you will linearly lose weight for that entire time. It's very hard to continually lose weight for 8 months straight. As the others have said, you'd be surprised if you're operating under the assumption of 100% success. That's not to say that you won't be successful in losing some weight, but do not buy a dress assuming you will.

You buy your dress for the body you have now. You can always take it in but it's harder to make a dress bigger. Get one with a corset back and that should help

Some of the things to consider - Where do you tend to lose weight? For me, I see the biggest results in my back, arms, and stomach, and very very very little change in my bust....so even if I lost 40 lbs my bust size isn't going to be a lot different so I'm still stuck buying a larger size to accommodate it and having the rest of the dress altered down. Where do you want to buy your dress from? If you want it from a boutique then make sure to consider that most designer dresses can take 5 to 6 months to arrive after you order them and you seriously need to start shopping now and plan to buy by February at the latest. If you're purchasing off the rack or from David's Bridal then you have a TON more time to lose weight before you shop. What does your budget for a dress look like? I ended up spending around $170 in alterations just to have my bust taken in, some minor hemming done, and to have a bustle put in plus some other small adjustments. From what I've read, I think I spent around the mid to lower end on alterations costs. Major adjustments to your dress are going to be quite a bit more, so are multiple appointments to continually have your dress taken in.

I think getting a corset style dress is great because it'll be easier to adjust just by tightening it if you're still losing weight before your wedding. A good family friend of ours lost a bunch of weight before her wedding through weight watchers. Her seamstress basically kept making small adjustments right up until a few days before her wedding day and her dress looked pretty phenomenal.

I'd set the date you want and go to an off the rack bridal shop and get the dress at least 3 months ahead of time. I got my dress off the rack, saved $800 from its original price, and it's on perfect condition.

I would get started TODAY! If you can, wait about a month or two to see how your body looses weight then you will have more of an idea how much you can lose before the wedding. The smaller you will get the harder it will get to finish it off.

Go girl, stay motivated.