---
title: "Altering a wedding dress to your figure: how many fittings and when to start"
description: How many fittings a wedding dress needs for a perfect fit, when to start the alterations and what can and cannot be put right. Advice from FREYA atelier, St Petersburg.
url: https://en.freyawedding.ru/blog/protsess/podgonka-svadebnogo-platya-skolko-primerok-nuzhno-i-kogda-ih
date: 2026-07-14
section: Процесс
tags: подгонка платья, примерки, свадебное платье СПб
---

# Altering a wedding dress: how many fittings you need and when to plan them

Even a perfectly chosen dress needs altering to your figure. Here is how many fittings to allow, how many months ahead to start, and what can and cannot be put right.

Category: [Процесс](https://en.freyawedding.ru/blog/protsess)

## Why alteration is not a formality

A ready dress from a catalogue is made to a standard size grid, and every bride's figure is her own. Even when the measurements match exactly, the fit at the bust, the waist and the length almost always needs adjusting - that is normal, and it does not mean you chose the wrong design.

### How many fittings to allow

- **The first fitting** - straight after the dress is made, or at the moment a ready dress is bought. We mark what needs taking in or letting out, and the length for your heels.
- **The second fitting** - two or three weeks later, after the first round of corrections. We check how the corset sits, how the zip or the lacing works, and the length of the train.
- **The third and final fitting** - one or two weeks before the wedding, in the underwear and shoes you will wear on the day. At this stage everything is judged: from how the hem lifts to how the dress behaves when you move and when you sit.

### When to start the process

Best three or four months before the wedding if the dress is being made to order, and one to one and a half months if it is a ready design from a catalogue bought for alteration. Do not plan the final fitting closer than a week before the day: if your weight changes (which happens often before a wedding, from stress or dieting), there will be no time left to put it right.

### What can be adjusted

- The measurements at bust, waist and hips - within one or two sizes.
- The length of the skirt and the train.
- How the straps sit and the depth of the neckline.
- How tightly the lacing or corset is set for a particular figure.

### What is hard or impossible to change

- Changing the silhouette outright (turning a full skirt into a mermaid, say) - a bad idea in terms of cut and construction.
- Taking a dress in by more than two sizes - the fabric and the decoration start to distort.
- Letting out a dress with dense embroidery or beading - matching material almost always has to be bought in, and an exact match is not guaranteed.

### Advice from FREYA

If you are hesitating between two sizes, take the larger one: removing fabric is always easier than adding it. And tell the maker in advance about plans to lose or gain weight before the date - it affects the fitting schedule.

Making a dress with several fittings to the figure from the very start is how we work at FREYA. More on wedding dresses made to order in St Petersburg is on the ["Wedding dress made to order in St Petersburg"](/svadebnoe-plate-na-zakaz-spb) page.