The Best Bustle

A bustle lifts your train so that it does not drag on the floor, but there are many different ways to do it, and your seamstress can help you choose the style that works best for your wedding gown.  For some great ideas and a video, go to WeddingWire.com/Wedding-Ideas/Wedding-Dress-Bustles.

The places on your gown where there are loops on the outside or ribbons on the inside that lift up your train are called bustle points.  Five is the most common number of points, but a really complicated bustle may have as many as twenty or thirty points.

Loops on the outside fasten over buttons or beads at your waist, but ribbons are tied into bows underneath your gown.  Whether you have loops on the outside or ribbons on the inside and no matter how many points there are, begin with the center back of your train and work outward.  Seamstresses often use colored ribbons or sew colored threads onto ribbons or use ink to number the ribbons to make it easier for you to match ribbons correctly.

If you can, take the person who will help you on the day of the wedding to your last fitting so that person can practice.

For some gowns such as a lace gown with a satin slip, you will also need to bustle your slip separately from your gown. The same rules as above apply, and it is not likely you will forget because your slip will show if you forget to loop it up, too.