Pregnant Bridesmaids - Help!

Hi just saw your message and have popped over from baby talk. my sister was pregnant when i got married and had quite a bump and her dress fitted her, the dress shop were great they said that they could alter it for us days before if need be. i have just had a baby 11 weeks ago and am breast feeding and have been quite lucky that i have fitted into my pre pregnancy clothes already. i perhaps would order their dresses in a bigger size to allow for any weight gain and depending on what style of dress you order them see if the straps could be made with clasps that could be opened for feeding baby. (also i woould not order tight fitting around the waist as it takes a while for all your insides to go back to shape!) speakto the dress shop or a local dress alteration person for ideas. Hen night personally i would not go away for the night or weekend but i have been out for 2 nights out wedding and birthday party) since she was born although i chose not to drink due to breast feeding. i hope that this helps. good luck .v.s. xx

I can't see any reason why they can't still be bridesmaids - my brother and his wife managed to be the bride and groom with 3 children (the youngest was only 6 weeks old).

1) I personally would have found it very difficult to leave a young baby for more than one night, especially when breastfeeding but I know others who wouldn't have had a problem with it. So I guess local would have suited me better, although I wouldn't have brought the baby out with me if I could help it.

2) I'm sure that you could order dresses which could be either taken in or let out slightly if they're not at their pre-pregnancy shape (I was smaller after my first, but have never lost all of the weight I gained after my 2nd and 3rd). I'm sure some dress shop HIBS will have some practical advice.

3) Never assume pre-baby size, even if they lose a lot of weight afterwards if they're still breatfeeding they could be quite 'top heavy'.

Would it be possible for you to buy dresses off the peg reasonably close to the date? I was a bridesmaid when my little one was about 5 months old and I had a debenhams dress which I bought a couple of months before - it was quite a tight fit when I bought it, but was still okay on the day even though I'd slimmed down slightly.

Lx

Ideally, you need to be looking at ordering their dresses in the next couple of weeks.at the moment their body shape wont be too different, to what it is normally. i would then order 1 size bigger to what they measure now. if they loose all their baby weight, the dresses can be taken in. if they dont lose the baby weight, the size bigger should do the trick, or their will be enough in the seams to let the dress out an extra dress size. if you leave it much longer they will be impossible to measure. as bridesmaid dresses are completely different to high street sizes, you cant just order, say, a size 12.

the other option is to wait til after the babies are born and order the dresses on a "rush cut" this works out quite a bit more expensive though. not all designers offer a rush cut service, so you would be more limited on choice.

hope this helps, sorry if it sounded a bit harsh. but im just telling it how it is lol

I am about to have this dilemma with my best mate. I am her matron of honour but her wedding is 6 weeks after I am due to give birth. She really wants me to still be MoH so is happy to find ways to work round it (which I am really touched about). Fortunately she knows my parents very well too so I have asked if I can pay for them to either be there in the reception or (if there is not enough room) in a side room to help me look after the new baby. We are also going to have to take a total guess on the dress size because if I breastfeed who knows what size my boobs will be!!

With reference to your specific questions:

1) I suspect a whole weekend away for them will be difficult or, if they are breast feeding virtually impossible. However, a local night out should be OK because even if they are breastfeeding they could probably express enough to leave milk at home for a night (would be too much for a weekend though). If you really want to go to Dublin then I am sure they will understand (I have told my friend to do what she really wants to do and not to feel obliged to change her plans and ideas due to my pregnancy) and maybe you could have a separate night out with the two of them nearer home, or even a pamper day together.

2&3) You could take a lucky guess and try to order the dresses now. Maybe look for empire line dresses. The hardest bit will be the sizing, while their tummies may go back to normal size if they are breastfeeding this could push them up a size. I have a friend who is pregnant at the moment who is normally a size 12 top but is in size 16 at the moment due to her boobs!! The better bet might be to wait and try to get something from a highstreet store much nearer the time in April maybe. Again, you may need to consider styles with wide straps and maybe with the option for a dressmaker to alter the shoulders so they could unclip them easily for feeding.

Can you tell I have spent some time trying to figure out how on earth to make this work!! ?

Also, assuming they are with their partners, on the day I imagine they can look after the baby most of the time so that shouldn't be as much of a problem. Plus as they will both be less than 6 months they should actually be fairly unnoticed and they will just sleep and feed (tiny babies we have seen when photographing weddings are always much less trouble than toddlers). Unfortunately we can't fall back on the 'give baby to hubby' plan for my best mates wedding as hubby is doing the photos!!

Thanks everybody for all feedback.

Does anyone have any experience of the 'practicalities' of having new mothers as attendants. Do you think it is advisable for us to invite another of my friends to be a bridesmaid?

Hello there!

I too have a BM who is pregnant and due in Oct, and we are getting married June 09 also.

If they are still willing to be Bridesmaids and don't think having baby will get in the way, then let them prove it to you, I'm sure they'll be great!

WRT dress sizes, this is problem I had/have. I have now ordered my dresses from Debenhams, and we decided to get a dress 2 sizes bigger (she is a 10 and I ordered a 14) as the dresses come up a bit smaller than normal anyway! We are hoping this will be fine and she is going to sort her own alterations if she needs them.

Hope this helps and you get something sorted!

S x

Thanks for all tips.

Good idea to look for dresses from high street in about April time. Think I will do this.

On a separate note, which made me chuckle: I have had a request from my brother, who wants me to pick at least one 'single' friend as bridesmaid, in order to give all the ushers to lust over! (he says its tradition!). He'll be choosing their dresses before long!

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