Wedding Best dresses for petite brides?

[Halo]

I was wonder what wedding dresses (or even styles or designers) are best on petite brides? I'm just under 5'3" and am a size 2 in street clothes and have practically no hips. I think this may make it harder to find a dress so I was hoping you ladies could recommend dresses that may work on such a figure.

I like:
- Strapless
- Satin
- Lace
- Maybe a tiny bit of beading
- Classy + elegant

I'm not a fan of:
- Poof
- Tulle
- Ballgowns
- Corsets or boning

If anyone could make any suggestions I'd really appreciate it. Thanks

!

 

[neatfreak]

I promise that you won''t have a problem. It''s such a broad topic and not every petite body is the same. But you''ve just got to go shopping and see what you fall in love with!

 

[choro72]

People always say that petite people should choose an Empire Waist, minimal beading on skirt, and sheath or mermaid.

I''m 4''7"~4''8", I tried the recommended styles, and I ended up choosing an A Line, natural waist, tons of beading and lace. It''s Casablanca 1827. NeatFreak is right, you just have to try them on.

 

[Sabine]

The only styles that I really felt shortened my 5'' frame were dresses with extreme basque waists (come down in a v below the waist) or the ones that had beading that started at the bottom and came up in a triangle.

 

[ladyciel]

I can't speak from direct personal experience, but from what I've observed Sabine's comments make lots of sense. You'll want to look for a dress that balances you. Are you petite all over, or are you taller/shorter in one area than another? I have a friend who is about your height and size, and her problem sometime when finding clothes is that her legs are short and her torso slightly longer. Petite dresses often don't hit her waist at the right spot, but the hems on regular dresses fall lower than they're supposed to. So, the point I'm making I guess is that what fits and looks best on you depends on more than just your height and pants size. Try a bunch of different styles of dresses on, and for the fairest evaluation make sure you look in the mirror both on AND OFF the little pedestal. Sure, the pedestal will help the too-long skirts hang nicer, but they won't give you as realistic a view of what the dress would look like hemmed to your height. Oh, and that's one other thing - consider how easy/hard it might be to hem the dress and keep any skirt/hem detail intact. This may be made easier if the designer is one who will custom make the dress to your measurements. Good luck and have fun dress shopping!!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

You can look in my wedding thread. I am 5''1". Sounds like I have a completely different body type than you (I am hourglass). I bet you would look great in mermaid. I think it is best to avoid drop waists and be careful about the hem detail for hemming purposes. My sister has to now wear 4" heals as a min. for the dress she feel in love with b/c they can only shorten it SO much. Scary. But the person at the bridal store can tell you wif hemming will be a problem or not.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 10/19/2008 10:45:25 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring
You can look in my wedding thread. I am 5''1''. Sounds like I have a completely different body type than you (I am hourglass). I bet you would look great in mermaid. I think it is best to avoid drop waists and be careful about the hem detail for hemming purposes. My sister has to now wear 4'' heals as a min. for the dress she feel in love with b/c they can only shorten it SO much. Scary. But the person at the bridal store can tell you wif hemming will be a problem or not.

Another option to deal with the hemming issue Tacori mentioned if your budget isn''t small is that most of the higher end dresses can be made with "hollow to hem" measurements, which is really important for mermaid styles on shorter women. This is where they''ll make the entire DRESS in shorter proportions, so you don''t end up hacking off half of the skirt and ruining the lines of the dress.

 

[UCLABelle]

You can look at my thread too. I am 5''0-

 

[icekid]

I''m 5''1"... went A-line, strapless. Loved it

I think you''ll have plenty of options!

 

[palomablancabride]

I''m 5''3" street size 0-2. As someone already mentioned you should just try all styles on. Being short and thin I was most concerned about fit. I doubled my original budget for my dress choosing a Paloma Blanca, but the dress just fit better than the "cheaper" ones I tried on (probably because the dress is silk, thus very light some of the other dresses I tried made me feel like I was dragging around a comforter). The assymetrical bodice worked great for me since I am short-waisted.

 

[Octavia]

I''m about the same size as you, and I ended up with the Maggie Sottero Jorie. Choro''s dress, the Casablanca 1827, was my second choice...I just liked the pattern of the overlay better on the Jorie. I really disliked the look of empire waist dresses, even though they''re supposed to be good for petite brides, but I generally don''t like empire waists so I wasn''t surprised. I also didn''t like dresses with really busy tops and plain skirts, or with triangle-shaped beading on the skirt. I ended up liking dresses that had a bit of asymmetrical ruching at the waist, because they gave me hips, but none of them were "the one". Honestly, there are a million dresses out there that will look good on you, you''ll just have to envision how they look without clips in the back because most samples will be huge on you!

 

[luvinlife]

I too ordered a Paloma Blanca. I am 5''0" and weigh 100lbs. Their dress fit petite frames really well. Mikaella also makes dresses that fit petite women well. In Miami where you find a lot of petite women, most dress shops carry these brands.

Good luck!!!

LL

 

[kittybean]

I''m 5''0", about 90-95 lbs., and here is the Watters dress I chose. You can read more about it in my dress thread. Here''s a photo:

 

[CrownJewel]

hiya halo - I am 5''0" and I wore 4" heels. I usually wear a street size 0, so you can look at my wedding thread to see what an A-line, subtle trumpet shape dress looks like on a petite frame. It sounds like you wouldn''t like the dress I wore though, because it is a little puffy. The other dress I loved was a Jim Hjelm, which sounds more like something you are looking for (photo below is a Jim Hjelm model. not me):

 

[CrownJewel]

When it is on you, the dress pretty much makes you glow. It is a beautiful satin, feels so lovely on, and the top is very flattering for smaller chests like mine. The bow in the back is a little overdone in the photo, but you can do something more graceful.

the detail:

 

[UCLABelle]

CJ- That is a beautiful beautiful gown----I would have picked one like that looking back (although I still LOVE mine).