What is the Best Shapewear to Wear Under a Wedding Dress?
When it comes to the biggest day of your life, you really want to look your best in that wedding dress. Wearing the right shapewear beneath it can help make you look like a million dollars and fit in that dress like it was made for you.
Which it was!
What is the best kind of shapewear you can wear with your wedding dress?
That depends on one or more of several factors that will be fairly unique to you and your circumstances.
But I can take a look at some fairly general situations and maybe that will help you decode what is right for you.
How Tight is Your Wedding Dress?
First of all, you need to try on the dress and see how well it fits you right now. It may have been perfect when you had it made at the store, but maybe you gained a few pounds since then.
I totally get that can happen with the apprehension of the big day arriving and some nervous eating happening!
If the dress is moderately tight and looks OK when you're standing up you can easily go with some lightweight body shaping to target your tummy and depending on how many pounds you gained, your backside and thighs too. You can get briefs that target the tummy and backside and they are the smallest and easiest to wear.
If you need some more heavy duty control (yeah, it can happen), a full shaping under-dress might be better. This is best for keeping everything in place and not showing any bulges where you don't want there to be bulges!
Would You Consider a Corset?
When you really do need some real firm hold and in more extreme cases, a corset might be a better choice in an emergency. Be aware that these do take some getting used to if you never wore one before.
They are most effective for giving you a good shape with good support for your breasts. The best kind would be one made to measure. However, it takes time to get used to the break where it laces up (in the corset) and it will definitely feel restrictive in there.
My own feelings are that a corset is too restrictive and unless you really have a lot to hide, I would go for the more forgiving and freer moving shape wear. Remember you will have to wear that corset under your dress for a pretty long time:
- From the time you leave home
- In the limo on the way to the church
- All the way through the ceremony itself
- Hanging around while the family photographs are taken
- Back in the limo to the reception
- All the way through a sit down meal (you will be hungry by now so don't kid yourself you won't eat anything!)
- Dancing afterward
- Another limo when you make your big exit
You may think that the most important thing is to look super slim in that dress, but after a few hours of being wrapped up very tight you will wish you could rip it all off and let it all hang out!
What is the Best Shapewear for a Bridesmaid Dress?
The same pretty much goes for bridesmaid dresses as for wedding dresses, as in it depends on how the dress fits you on the day and whether you need to cinch in an inch or so to make it look right.
Because it can be a long day and what with the amount of time you will be wearing the dress, you need something that is comfortable above all!
Modern shaping underwear is made for just this kind of occasion because it is not restrictive and still holds you in remarkably well. It also looks great beneath even the sheerest of dresses because it is almost invisible, so no one needs to know you are even wearing it!
It's your call whether you opt for a full body under-dress or smaller items like tummy shaping briefs to target the areas you want to look firm but not feel like your squeezing yourself into something too tight.
What Shapewear Comes Most Highly Recommended?
From my own viewpoint and remember this is just my opinion, but I could not recommend highly enough the shapewear from Pelham and Strutt, my featured brand on this site.
Their undergarments really are top quality yet their prices are low considering what you get.
I wrote a pretty big Pelham and Strutt review (click that link to read it) where I laid bare their stuff for all to see; the good and the not so good. And I have to conclude that there isn't much on the "not so good" side but plenty on the "good" side!
Or you could skip straight to the official Pelham & Strutt website to see for yourself by clicking the handy advertisement.
You can get their brand in some big name stores like Selfridges, but it's easiest to buy online rather than go searching for a local store that stocks their garments. As long as you know your size pretty accurately, their sizes are true to size and what you get will fit you like a glove.