6 Tips For Measuring Yourself For A Wedding Gown At Home
You’re taking a trip down the aisle - but, let’s not make it an actual trip (yikes)!
Measuring yourself for your wedding gown is a crucial step in the dress search process, not only do you want the dress to fit like a glove, but you want to avoid any potential mishaps on your wedding day. Since we are in the time of COVID-19 many brides-to-be are having to move their gown search online and take their measurements at home. If you’ve never measured yourself before, it can seem daunting, especially for something as important as your wedding gown, but the overall process is quite simple. You can refer to our sizing guide for a few basic pointers, but if you want some in-depth tips, we’ve laid out a complete guide for measuring yourself at home below!
What You Need
You want to have a soft measuring tape on hand so you can bend it to the shape of your body to achieve precise measurements. If possible, have a full-length mirror and another household member on hand to help you with your measuring.
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This way, you can have someone hold the tape while you gauge the appearance and fit of the tape. Pro-tip: wear the same or similar undergarments and shoes you’ll be wearing with your wedding gown, so there will be little to no discrepancy in your dress length and size.
Dress Length
Dress length is one of the most important measurements you will take - write down the wrong numbers, and you could be tripping over your gown fabric all night (oh no)! So, if you plan on wearing heels on your big day, make sure you measure your dress length while wearing heels of the same height.
Photography by Ria Mackenzie Photography
To get an accurate dress length measurement, you want to measure from the hollow of your neck (the dip at the center of your collar bone) to the bottom of where you want your dress hem to lay.
Bust
Be careful not to confuse this measurement with your bra size! You want to wrap the tape measure around your entire bust, encompassing the fullest part of your chest and the wider part of your back.
Photography by Ria Mackenzie Photography
Make sure the tape goes under your armpits, isn’t sitting above or below your bust, and forms a complete circle. If you don’t have the correct undergarments that don’t compress your bust, you can end up with inaccurate numbers.
Waist
Hips don’t lie - except when you think they’re your waist! The hips and waist can often be confused for each other in the measuring process, but your natural waist is the space between your bust and your hips, falling right above the belly button but below your ribcage.
Photography by Ria Mackenzie Photography
If you don’t know how to find it, bend to one side and see where the natural crease appears. Don’t suck it in, if you want to be comfortable (and able to exhale) on your big day, you want an accurate number. So double-check this number a few times before committing.
Hips
Now for the infamous hips - which can be one of the more difficult measurements of this process. You don’t want to just wrap the measuring tape around the top of your hip bones, which is an easy mistake to make.
Photography by Ria Mackenzie Photography
For the correct placement, stand up straight with your feet together and wrap the measuring tape around the widest part of your hips - including your backside.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Now that the major tips are out of the way - here are some extra pointers so you end up with a gown that you can comfortably eat, drink, and dance in all night long! Try to stay relaxed throughout the measurements so as not to accidentally suck it in or tense up.
Photography by Ria Mackenzie Photography
Also, make sure not to pull the measuring tape too tight, you want the gown to fit well, but not at the expense of your comfortability. Ultimately what it boils down to is that you need to be honest with your measurements - no estimating, downsizing, or exaggerating your numbers or you could end up with an ill-fitting gown.
Share this with a bride who needs to measure herself for her wedding gown. If you need some more tips on measuring yourself at home, check out our measurement guide for some more guidance!
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