What Determines the Fullness of a Wedding Dress?

Factors such as the individual fitting and general style of the gown influence the overall fullness of a wedding dress.

As a woman prepares for her wedding, she will make decisions on the type of wedding dress she wants. Some brides decide against wearing a traditional wedding dress at all. Assuming that a bride does choose a traditional wedding dress or gown, such factors as personal preference, wedding gown style and foundations beneath the skirt all factor into the degree of fullness of her wedding dress. Does this Spark an idea?

Personal Preference

While a bride can make some adaptations of fullness, even when wearing an heirloom wedding dress, such a wedding garment will place some limitations on potential fullness.

Preferences of individual brides can range from the wearing of a family heirloom wedding dress worn by a mother or grandmother to a modern choice of wearing a simple tailored dress, jacket and skirt suit, or jacket and pantsuit not specifically associated with weddings. A woman getting married for other than the first time or through elopement, for example, may decide on a wedding day wardrobe that does not incorporate a traditional wedding gown or dress. A prospective bride choosing a new dress versus an heirloom gown will look for a degree of fullness that suits her taste and works well with such personal characteristics as her height and the shape of her own figure.

Style

Column or sheath style wedding dresses provide the sleekest, or least full, example of traditional wedding gown styles.

A variety of recognized styles of wedding gown offer the bride a choice in the fullness of dress or gown that she would like for the wedding dress. The style known as a Column or a Sheath Style wedding dress or gown provides a bride with the narrowest type of wedding dress, or minimum fullness. This style can make a good choice for a slender bride. A ballgown wedding dress or gown offers a much fuller bridal gown style. The mermaid or trumpet style provides another option for considerable fullness based on the style of the wedding dress in itself.

Petticoats

Certain wedding gown styles, such as the Princess or A-line styles, lend themselves to variations in fullness through the use of petticoats or hoops.

Another means of providing fullness for a wedding dress or gown involves adding a petticoat beneath the skirt of the wedding dress. Also called a crinoline or a bridal slip, bridal petticoats consist of several layers of fabric that together add volume, thus conferring a greater fullness than the bridal gown or dress itself provides. Bridal petticoats themselves come in several degrees of fullness ranging from a small amount to a fullness style that adds considerable volume to the wedding dress. Petticoats do have the drawback of adding considerable fabric underneath the skirt of the wedding gown that can prove uncomfortable in warm or hot weather weddings.

Hoop Skirts

The even curvature of this dress despites the bride's seated position suggests that hoops provide some of the fullness of this wedding dress.

Another way of adding volume to the style of a wedding dress or gown involves the use of hoops to give volume to the skirt. The design of some wedding dresses or gowns allows for removing and adjusting hoops to provide for different degrees of fullness for the dress or gown. The hoop skirt wedding dress or gown can make a more suitable choice for adding fullness to a wedding dress for a warm or hot weather wedding than the use of a petticoat for bolstering the fullness of the dress.

References

• A1 Optimization: Pick th e Perfect Wedding Gown Shape For Your Shape
• My Gowns: How to Choose the Perfect Bridal Slip or Hoop Skirt

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish