Cap Sleeves anyone?

So you're on the hunt for your wedding gown... but your one "non negotiable" is having some sort of a strap. I hear this every single day, from brides that have either been to (or been in) a wedding where the bride is constantly pulling the top of her dress up all night. There are many reasons for this to happen, however at the end of this post you may change your mind on purchasing a strapless gown, or you may even consider adding on a custom strap, or cap sleeve like our brides did in the photos below. Either way, give this a read before you make up your mind!

A common misconception on a strapless wedding dress is that the top of the dress has to be very tight for the bride to not have to pull it up all night. However, the truth is that the waist of your gown has to be so tight that it does all the work of supporting the top of your dress for the night (therefore, no tugging required). On your wedding day, you should be putting your hands at your waist and pushing the zipper together on your gown and having your bridesmaids zip it up. Yes, it's going to be tight. However, with your body heat and you wearing it, your wedding dress will "give" a little as you wear it (remember, it's fabric).

Another reason brides are pulling at the top of their dress is because they've worn a strapless gown before, and let's face it. We've all worn a strapless bridesmaids dress, prom dress, or some other dress that cost under $300.00 that didn't fit "perfectly". This is the type of dress that yes, you do have to keep pulling at the top all night. Any type of dress that are in this price range are realistically created for a one-time wear, and have nowhere near the amount of boning and construction that wedding dresses do. Sometimes the mentality is that since you had to keep tugging at the bust of a bridesmaid dress you wore at your friend's wedding, that means you must have to tug at the bust of your strapless wedding dress too. Wrong.

You should not be tugging at the bust of your wedding dress! Wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses are constructed completely differently, and your wedding dress will be the best fitting garment you'll ever wear. It's also probably the only item you'll ever have tailored exactly to your body shape, which is absolutely, positively a different alterations experience from getting your prom dress, or bridesmaids dress altered. Once you go through the process of tailoring your wedding dress, it should fit like a glove, and you should not be fidgeting with it all.

However, if you walk in and tell me, "I will tug at that strapless neckline even if it fits me well", then have a look at what these brides did below! They both took amazingly stunning ballgowns, and added on custom sleeves. Both of these brides used the fabric from their own gowns to create their stunning cap sleeves, but there are plenty of pre-made cap sleeves to choose from as well. Some wedding dress cap sleeves are made from lace, others made out of embroidered threading and crystals, and there are even super sparkly blingy wedding dress cap sleeves to choose from and have added onto your wedding dress.

Have a look at our beautiful brides below, and at the models shown wearing the same wedding dress both with, and without a cap sleeve!

Photos courtesy of: Alvah Reida Photography, and HK Photography.
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Tags: Strapless wedding dress, wedding dress cap sleeves, Allure Ballgown, Allure Bridals 9270, Allure 9270, tulle wedding dress, tulle ballgown, rose gold wedding dress, rose gold ballgown, rose gold bridal dress, wedding dress NH, wedding dresses NH, wedding dresses MA, wedding dress MA, Allure Bridals NH, Allure Bridals MA, Allure Bridals wedding dress, HK Photogrphy, Alvah Reida Photography.