How Long Wedding Dress Should Be: Tips on Choosing the Appropriate Wedding Gown Length
How long the wedding dress should be? Each bride asks this question while choosing the gown for the wedding ceremony. In fact, the length of the dress can be different, depending on the style of the dress, its silhouette, the peculiarities of the bride’s body and the wedding format.
Let me show you how to choose the proper length of wedding dress and provide with the information about all the possible variants.
The Tips of Choosing a Long Wedding Dress
A wedding dress with gorgeous train
Long dresses for weddings are traditional. The majority of brides choose them as long gowns are beautiful and festive and allow to feel like a real princess. However, such a dress may cause some troubles to the bride as it’s necessary to lift it up when you move so that the dress stays in order for the whole day.
Honestly, it’s better to make the dress about 1 inch high from the floor. Such a length of long wedding gowns is much more comfortable and practical. However, in this case, you need to have beautiful shoes as they will be well-seen.
Also, the dress length can be asymmetrical. It can be an inch or two shorter in the front and longer in the back. Thus, it will be easy to move but the dress will look rather long.
Long wedding dresses may feature a train or be without it. The train has both pluses and minuses. Of course, it makes the dress look more festive and luxurious. And it’s obvious that it looks gorgeous on the wedding photos. But the problem is that it’s not very convenient to spend the whole day in a wedding dress with a train.
If you still want a long wedding gown with a train, but don’t want to lift it up all the time, there are two solutions of this problem. Firstly, you can seek for a dress, where the train can be attached to the dress with the help of a button. Each time you need it, you just unfasten it. If the dress features an ordinary train you can ask the wedding salon to make the train on a button.
The other variant is to have a train separately from the dress. For instance, it can be an additional skirt with a train, which can be put off as soon as the train becomes unnecessary. Also, the train can be attached to the hem of the dress.
The Importance of Wedding Shoes
Wear wedding shoes before the dress length adjustment
Clearly, the adjustment of the long bridal gowns depends on the shoes choice more than any other kind of wedding dress. The wedding dress must be adjusted to a certain pair of shoes. In case you want to wear high-heeled shoes for the ceremony and change them for ballet shoes during the celebration, you may face some problems as the gown will be dragged on the floor and very quickly, it will be spoilt.
If you make up your mind to buy another pair of shoes just before your wedding day, take into account that the height of the heels must be similar. Also, the wedding shoes can be wedge. It’s a good choice for the wedding as, usually, they are more convenient. However, they suit not every type of the wedding gown.
So, when you come to a wedding salon to adjust the length of your wedding dress, you need to have the shoes with you in order to make the length ideal.
The Necessity of a Third Party Opinion
Choosing a wedding dress
In fact, the third party opinion is very important while choosing the wedding dress. That’s why, it’s better to take your mum, sister or a friend to the wedding salon. Some things are better seen from the side and it’s especially important when you adjust the wedding dress to your needs.
Moreover, the person, who comes with you to a wedding salon, can make photos of you in a wedding dress and you will see yourself from the side. However, take only the person you really trust to in order to get the sincere opinion.
Other Possible Wedding Dress Lengths
The cool thing is that it’s not obligatory that a wedding dress is long. Modern brides often choose alternative variants, which are tea-length, knee-length and short dresses as well as the ones, which are of different length. Let’s see in more detail.
Tea Length Wedding Dresses
A tea length wedding dress
Frankly, a tea length wedding dress is a cool alternative to the long one. It’s suitable for the brides of small and normal height. The tall girls don’t always look good in such a kind of a dress. The variants differ from tight elegant dresses, for instance tea length lace wedding dresses, to the ones with fluffy tulle skirts.
The main plus of a dress with such a length is that it’s comfortable and allows to move freely. As many of us don’t wear long dresses and skirts every day, it’s possible that while wearing a long wedding dress, we may feel strange and uncomfortable. The tea length gown solves this problem without sacrificing the festive mood of the ceremony.
A tea length wedding gown
Such a dress length is the perfect choice for retro weddings. Vintage tea length wedding dresses look very stylish and help to transfer the spirit of the past epochs. Also, dresses of such length are less formal and are suitable for modest weddings.
Moreover, tea length wedding dresses with sleeves and without them are suitable for many other formats of wedding. If you plan to get married on the river or ocean bank or want to have a rustic ceremony, with a dress of such length, you don’t need to worry that the dress will be spoilt. The weather conditions are also unimportant here.
Knee Length Wedding Dresses
A knee length wedding dress
Knee-length dresses are the most popular among short wedding dresses. They are the optimal variant if you want to have a short dress, but aren’t ready for too daring outfit. They are suitable for the brides of any height and complexion.
A knee length dress allows to look sexy, but, at the same time, prevents from being vulgar. As a rule, such dresses are worn for small ceremonies, where the number of guests is rather small.
A casual knee length wedding dress
Unlike minis, the knee-length dress looks more modest and is more suitable for a wedding ceremony. Some brides choose such dresses as the second ones and put them on for the reception, while wearing traditional gowns for the ceremony. Moreover, such a dress can be worn after the wedding and serve as a cocktail dress.
Short Wedding Dresses
A short lace wedding dress
Short wedding gowns are, first of all, chosen by brides for informal weddings and the ones, which are held in a small family circle. Also, the girls, who don’t want to follow all the wedding traditions, may give preference to short dresses and put them on even for the luxurious weddings.
To tell the truth, a short wedding dress doesn’t always mean a modest and casual variant. Sometimes, they can cost pretty much and don’t look simple at all. For instance, the dress can be decorated with beads and rhinestones and feature the hand-made embroidery. Also, a short lace wedding dress looks gorgeous while it still helps to deviate from traditions. It can be fully covered with lace, have the lace top as well as feature lace applications.
Just like a long gown, the short one may also have a train. In this case, it will look more like a high low dress, which will be discussed in the next paragraph.
Next, knee length and short bridal gowns are the perfect way out if you are on a tight budget. In the majority of cases, they cost much less than the traditional gowns. The casual dresses for weddings can be bought not only at wedding salons, but also at ordinary clothes shops.
Finally, short wedding dresses can be worn after the wedding. They look like evening and cocktail dresses and can definitely be used for many other purposes. There are some casual wedding dresses, which can even be worn in everyday life.
Wedding Dresses with High Low Hem
An elegant high low wedding dress
If you want to get married simultaneously in a short and long dress, this variant is the best option for you. In the front the dress is shorter and in the back it’s longer. The difference between lengths varies from several inches to a meter (in case you choose a dress with a train).
High low wedding dresses are ideal for beach and rustic weddings. They look creatively, but, at the same time, are closer to traditional gowns than any other type of dress, discussed before.
A high low wedding dress
The length of a high low hemline dress can be different. It can be mini in the front and long in the back. It can be of tea length. It’s also possible that the difference between the length in the front and the one in the back will be only a few inches.
The silhouettes of such dresses are usually ball gown, a-line and the empire waist. However, some wedding designers manage to make cool dresses of trumpet and mermaid shapes with high low hems.
Transformer Wedding Dresses
A mermaid wedding dress with a detachable skirt
If you want to get 2 in 1, you definitely need to pay attention to transformer wedding dresses. By acquiring such a dress, you will be able to create two absolutely different looks for your wedding. Usually, such dresses consist of two parts: the main dress and the detachable skirt.
It’s very convenient as you can look luxurious and traditional at the ceremony and later put off the detached skirt and look less formal but feel more comfortable. The main dress can be of different length: from mini to long one.
A transformer wedding gown
If you choose the short dress as a basis and the long detachable skirt, you have a chance to look absolutely traditional and absolutely creative within the same day. We like this variant very much.
The long transformer dresses allow to have dresses of two different silhouettes at the same time. For instance, the base dress can be of a trumpet shape while the fluffy skirt can turn it into a ball gown one.
In essence, we have discussed all the possible lengths of wedding dresses. You see that there is no exact answer to the question of how long wedding dress should be as all the variants are possible. No one except the bride can decide how long her wedding gown must be. But while choosing the dress for your wedding day, pay attention not only to how the dress looks but also how it suits you.
