Hello Friends,
February seems like the perfect time to talk about something that’s been coming up more and more in my work—brides on weight loss journeys.
A Shift I’m Seeing in My Business
Over the past year, I’ve worked with an increasing number of brides who are experiencing significant weight changes, whether through lifestyle changes, medical interventions, or weight loss medications. This is wonderful for them, but it creates unique challenges for bridal alterations that we need to understand and plan for.
What I Learned at the Sleeve Symposium
At January’s Sleeve Excellence Symposium, I was struck by how many questions came in about working with heavy upper arms. When someone loses substantial weight, they often have excess skin on their upper arms, and sleeve adjustments for this are incredibly tricky. It requires specialized knowledge and techniques. We covered a lot of this during the Live Webinar.
Here’s something else many seamstresses don’t know:
weight loss happens asymmetrically! Your bride’s dominant side will often lose weight first. It eventually evens out, but creates alteration challenges in the meantime. Understanding how to work with these asymmetries is crucial. I strongly recommend that you make both sleeves the size of the larger arm. It ends up looking weird in their bridal pics if one arm looks smaller than the other. This is one time that perfect fit is not the best option.
An Important Contract Addition
I’m adding a new paragraph to my service contract this year, and I encourage you to consider something similar:
“If you are on a weight loss journey, please let me know. This will affect alteration decisions, timing, and strategy for your bridal alterations. I will never ask you if you are trying to lose weight. I think you are beautiful no matter what weight you are. It is your responsibility to let me know if weight loss is part of your plans.”
This gentle, respectful language opens the door for honest conversation without making assumptions or putting brides on the spot. It protects both of you and allows you to create the best alteration strategy for their situation.
Excess Skin is also a problem on the back of a strapless dress
Why This Open Communication with the Bride Matters
If you’re not prepared and aware to handle these situations, you could find yourself:
- Timing alterations incorrectly
- Taking in too much or too little
- Struggling with asymmetrical fitting issues
- Having to redo work multiple times
This is such an important conversation to have with brides. And I think that your contract is the perfect place to start. I would never want to offend a bride by asking her if she plans on losing weight. Not cool! Making it her responsibility to start the conversation is a great way to handle that potentially offensive question. And you would be surprised how many very slim brides are trying to lose weight!
My Level 3 Academy training includes a course on asymmetrical bodies. I feel that with today’s current challenges, I need to update that course to include extreme weight loss fitting issues. That’s going to be on my 2026 list for the Academy.
This isn’t about judging bodies—it’s about having the skills to serve every bride beautifully, no matter what journey she’s on.
Embrace the Challenge
Our brides are beautiful at every size and stage. Our job is to make sure we have the expertise to help them look and feel amazing on their wedding day, whatever changes they’re experiencing.
Here’s to serving brides with excellence, no matter what!
Love,
Dee Dee
P.S. Next month we will tackle weight gain from pregnancy or pre wedding cruises. Sigh… So many challenges.