It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then, you come across the classic disaster of a botched wedding dress. Whether you purchased the gown online, sight-unseen for an unbelievably good price (those website are never legitimate by the way), or if you ran into faulty alterations, or if a dear friend offered to make your dress from scratch, this occurrence does sometimes happen. Consider the poor bride below who ordered a cheap dress from China, who was promised the dress on the left and wound up with the travesty on the right. So what do you do? How do you cope with the tragedy and move on to bigger and better things? Here are some tips we’ve put together for just such a tragic situation.

Fixes for Wedding Dresses

Take time to mourn: Take a proper amount of time to grieve and stress about the situation. My family likes to celebrate failures. When something out of our control goes horribly wrong, we make a point to go out to dinner to celebrate. It makes the hurt of the situation sting just a little less. So scream, throw things, have a good long cry session followed by ice cream and let that be the end of it. After that, you’ll be amply prepared to move forward and find a positive solution.Photo courtesy of Logan Walker Photography. 

Throw out your old concept: The old dress, the style, the feeling can just go right out the window. Finding a replica of what has just been ruined won’t happen, so it’s better to go forward with fresh eyes. That way, you’ll have more options open to you as you’re probably on a time crunch now! Also, seek with a new budget in mind. Considering what has already happened, restructure your budget to work with what you’ve lost and what you can comfortably spend going forward. Photo courtesy of Logan Walker Photography. 

Call around for in stock dresses: If you’re on a time-crunch, which likely you are at this point, you’ll need something that’s pretty much ready to go. Call around the bridal shops to find those that carry modest gowns in stock. It’s better to find something new that needs few alterations so you don’t run into another ruined gown. Many bridal shops will carry some gowns in stock and could easily provide you with a list from their website of the ones they carry frequently. Photo courtesy of Jessie Alexis Photography. 

Don’t be picky: Now is not the time to be a picky bridezilla. Now is the time to find something lovely, that fits well, and will work for you. Considering the money you’ve tragically sunk into the other gown, work now on just finding a great second option. Realistically, searching again for the dream dress and being picky will limit your options severely and you’ll only feel more stressed and panicky as a result. So take a deep breath and dive in with an open mind an an optimistic outlook.