Wedding Dresses

Princess, A-line or mermaid, and the petticoat underneath:

the shape of a wedding gown depends as much on what goes under it as on the gown itself. A princess gown gets its full skirt from a hoop petticoat, and with the wrong one the skirt collapses and the train drags more than it should. An A-line wants a lighter petticoat or none at all, while a mermaid or a straight column is cut to fall without one. The train matters too: a cathedral train looks right down the nave of a church and gets in the way at a garden reception. Short, simple dresses for the civil ceremony, which many couples hold on a different day, are the ones most often worn again, and gowns for the bridesmaids or the mother of the bride sit under dresses.

Long lace sleeves and the illusion back:

they turn up on a great many Guatemalan church gowns, and they decide how far a used one can be altered. A strapless bodice with a lace-up corset back can be taken in or let out by about a size. Lace sleeves and an illusion-tulle back are cut for one pair of arms and one back, and a seamstress can take them in but can rarely let them out without the join showing. If your measurements fall between sizes, a corset back is the safer buy.

Mori Lee, Eve of Milady and the gown with no label:

a used US-label gown with hand-sewn lace and beading, its hoop petticoat included, tends to change hands at around Q3,000 to Q5,000, while gowns with no label start from about Q1,000, often with the veil thrown in. The difference is the label, which lets a buyer look the style up, and the handwork in the lace, which is what a label gown is really charging for. Rental shops fold the veil, the petticoat, the cleaning and the alterations into one price, so a used gown sold bare is up against a fuller package than its own price suggests.

A gown that was rented out, or worn once:

ask plainly whether it was ever part of a rental stock, because shops clear out their gowns in sales and some of them come back onto the market. A gown that many brides have worn shows it on the inside: foundation along the inner neckline, deodorant marks in the lining under the arms, lace edges lifting where they have caught again and again. On a lace-up back, look for loops that are pulling loose. Hold the illusion tulle at the back and sleeves up to a window, because small tears there are almost impossible to mend invisibly. If a gown is sold as a US label, ask for a photo of the inside label with its style number and look the style up; a “Mori Lee” with no label at all is simply a gown with no label. Open out the petticoat too: the hoops should be round rather than kinked, and the drawstring at the waist should still adjust.

Your gown, its petticoat and the veil in one listing:

say piece by piece what goes with it: the petticoat and how many hoops it has, the veil and its length, the headpiece, and whether the wedding lasso, the coins or the ring cushion are included. Give the label and style number, the size, and the bust, waist and hips measured on the gown. Photograph it in daylight, since ivory, champagne and white look alike on a phone screen and very different next to a white veil. Say whether it has been dry-cleaned and what was altered. A veil or headpiece sold on its own belongs under accessories. And tell a bride driving in from Jalapa or Escuintla to try it on to bring someone who can lace a corset and to allow time, because a gown with a hoop petticoat underneath is a two-person job to put on properly.