Should I wait and lose weight before trying on dresses??

Since you have plenty of time, I would start trying to make some lifestyle changes towards better health/fitness/weight loss and then hit the ground running with dresses as you get closer to summer/fall of this year. My wedding is in early November and I will be just starting to dress shop later this month b/c I, too, wanted to lose some weight before I started. I started limiting my daily calories to 1,200 back in mid-October and have lost 23 lbs, which let me tell you is not easy over the holidays! I would ideally like to get to losing 56 lbs as my final goal so I'm not near that yet, but still I feel like dropping the 23 lbs is enough for me to feel good about dress shopping.

I wouldn't try anything on now, regardless of your weight loss plans. IMHO it's WAYYYY too early for that.

That's part of the reason FH and I chose 2017. We both want to drop some serious pounds before then. I'm using this year to get the weight off and then I'll start looking at dresses after we're less than a year away from our date. I think if I tried to try any on ATM I'd cry because I'd hate how I look. I want it to be a happy time and loosing weight will help me prepare!

I would wait because even if you found a dress that you loved the way you looked in now, you could hate the way it looks on you after any weight loss since the dress may not be the best style for your body anymore.

Honestly, I would wait.

I got my dress last March and am now in total mother fucking freak out mode because uh..I've eaten my way about 20 pounds. No way in hell am I fitting my dress right now.

I second what @beachbride said. It's about making lifestyle changes for you and your health, not to simply lose weight for the wedding. You're setting yourself up for failure if you focus is only to drop weight for the wedding.

One thing I will say is to do it slowly and make lifestyle changes rather than trying to go on a harsh diet. I yo-yo'd for years and it doesn't work. You have to make changes you can stick with.

Also, trying on dresses now doesn't make much sense if you plan to lose weight. You may or may not just be a smaller version of your current body. You may change shape as well. So a dress you like on your current body might not look good at all once you lose weight. IMO, your best best is to lose whatever weight you plan to/are able to/etc and then consider dresses. Try to stay at a consistent weight for a little while before shopping if you can. Also, no matter what be sure to allow yourself plenty of time before your wedding so you don't end up not being able to get anything at all. Unless you plan on going off the rack this means 9 months+.

What Reggie said.

Thanks to everyone for their words of advice! I won't be trying anything on until this fall. Amanda that is something I hadn't even thought of and makes total sense. Dresses are going to fall completely differently on my body now then they will if I am 25 lbs lighter.

Congratulation BeachBride, thats an amazing accomplishment. I've been journaling my food all week trying and staying under 1,400 calories a day. FH also is also in the same boat and that been great to have that support system so we both can to get back into a more healthy lifestyle.

I've been putting off stepping on the scale because I was nervous how high the number would be, but I finally took the plunge this morning and it wasn't as bad as I was picturing my head. How often do you weigh yourself? I find every time I am trying to loose weight I get to caught up in what the scale says.

Wait. It's too early, and alterations cost $$$$. I agree with everyone else; make some changes, exercise, eat cleaner, and see what happens!

And congrats on your accomplishments, BTW!

I would wait, for all the reasons pps said.

As for losing weight, focus on non-scale victories like pants that used to be snug, being comfy, going down a belt hole, etc. FH and I are using the My fitness pal app and it's like a game tracking everything we consume. He just started and has already lost 12lbs, I've been doing it for a year and am down 25. Best of luck!

I don't know if my advice will help since you have already received the same advice! However, I'm going to share my story since you are date-wise where I was. I tried on dresses in January last year even though my wedding wasn't going to be until fall of 2016. Initially, I wanted to find the silhouette that I would look good in so that I could sew my own dress. I ended up falling in love with a dress that would be cheaper to buy than to make and would not require 100s of hours of my time! So I purchased it! During that spring I also made my rehearsal dress. That summer, I had to go on an anti inflammatory diet for health reasons (which I never in a million years would have anticipated). Fast forward six months to now and I'm down 22lbs. My rehearsal dress now needs to be taken apart and re-sewn and my wedding dress has to come in a few sizes (which I'm sure won't be cheap and I refuse to do my own alterations...even though...ironically, it is my goal to retire from teaching high school sewing to doing wedding dress alterations!!). Anywho, now I'm going to spend more in alterations plus the cost of the dress than it would have cost to make! On the plus side, I won't be wasting the hours sewing and I'm still in love with my dress! on the flip side, my sis had the opposite problem. She purchased a dress too small anticipating losing the weight and ended up gaining. She was devastated! Again, on the plus side, suck it in wear saved her! She wasn't comfortable but she looked gorgeous!

To early to dress shop.

I agree with PPs, wait until 9 months to a year out to try dresses on. Dress sizes are based off your biggest measurement of the three they take, so even loosing 10-15 pounds could mean a different dress size.

FH and I were in a similar situation where we both wanted to loose weight before the wedding. As others have suggested, we are viewing it as a lifestyle change. I have lost 45lbs (it was 50 before the holidays) since March and FH has lost almost 100lbs since February. I went dress shopping about a year out, but luckily the place I got my dress from was willing to remeasure me in Sept. Had they not said that when I went to buy the dress, I probably wouldn't have bought it until a few months later. It also would have been two sizes+ too big compared to my current size. Since you have well over a year, I would definitely wait.

Wait wait wait! From working in a bridal salon, I can tell you that brides are always pissed off when they lose a bunch of weight and then find out how expensive alterations are. I've seen a bride spend almost double on a dress due to the amount of alterations she needed from a major weight loss. A year to 9 months out is plenty of time to find your dream dress.